www.byzcath.org Forums Faith & Christian Life Parish Life & Evangelization On survival and evagelization

Friends,

I have come to a conclusion on how to solve the problem of the dying UGCC here in the States.

Most of our pews are empty and in ten years, it will be even more desolate. Generations have been lost to RC and Protestant churches, and some have left any religion at all, aside from Easter and Christmas.

Ultra nationalism may have driven them away, not feeling welcomed, or perhaps not feeling spiritually fed. We all here know that our Eastern Christian faith is a deep, deep well of grace and blessing. We all know and have experienced the beuaty of our Liturgy, the holiness of our traditions, and the sanctifying grace of tasting the Fountain of immortality which we find in the Eucharist. How can this, the richness and beauty of our EC faith bring back the lost sheep, and new faithful?

The answer is the restoration of authentic, traditional Eastern Christianity. It has so much to offer, and the graces that our from it are countless. Excellence in liturgical life, prayer, clergy formation, education, and living Christianity is the key. I know this to be true because it is in this spirit that the Apostles were able to bring 4,000 people to Christ in one day.

And we can do the same. Our Church brings people to the Light of Life!

It is not the name of the church, parish, or community. It is the spirit. I know countless "non-cradles" who attend parishes with the name Greek, Russian, Ukrainian, Serbian, Antochian. People flock to authentic Eastern Christianity, because of the beauty for all it has to offer.

Everyone knows the story of the advisors St. Volodymyr sent to the Hagia Sofia. They were overcome through the beauty of way God was worshiped there. Was it the asthetics? Was is the vastness of the cathedral? Was it the glowing mosaics? Was it the mystical elements in the Divine Liturgy? The answer to all is yes. What they felt was the Grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. They were moved spiritually by it all, not just their senses.

I relate this story to one of my own. I visited St. Elias in Brampton once (secretly, of course!) I was deeply moved spiritually by everything. The icons, the singing, the authenticity in the services. They all brought me to prayer and guided me in worship.

And this is the effect of traditional worship in the EC. This is not to say any other way of worshiping God is of lesser value; I am just convinced excellence and purity of heart in the Eastern Tradition is bursting at the seams with graces and spiritual food for the soul.

We have examples here in North America. Sts. Volodymyr and Olha in Chicago, St. Nicholas and the most famous St. Elias in Ontario, the UGCC mission in Ukiah. Look at some ROCOR and OCA parishes. I have been to almost all of these, and from what I saw and experienced, these churches are growing because authentic Eastern Christian is their evangelization. It draws many to Christ.

There are also great places of education like the Sheptytsky Institute, and the radio programs that broadcast our faith to all.

This I feel, is the key to the survival of the UGCC here in the States, and all EC churches. We have so much to offer. Let's explore the vastness of our Tradition. It has so much to offer that thousands died for it. Let us all live our faith.

Let our EC faith be our Evangelization.


Ok, enough of my late night ramblings. I just had to get this off of my chest.

-uc

I agree.

Whither ecclesia Byzantia ?

I am confused. I am a Latin Rite Catholic, and I have been considering switching rites/jurisdictions to Eastern Catholicism because I love Eastern Christian theology, spirituality and liturgy.

What gives me pause is the declining numbers of Eastern Catholics in the U.S. In the Eastern Catholic parishes which I have visited, and in the Eastern Catholic parish which I attend, the people seem to be mostly old; they seem to be on the verge of dying out. It makes me wonder if the Eastern Catholic model is a historical anachronism that is fading out in the U.S. due to smallness of numbers and overall cultural assimilation.

Yet, I can�t easily conclude that because of what I have also witnessed: the spirit of Eastern Catholics to preserve their way of life and religion. At the Eastern Catholic parish I attend, the community is alive due to the spirit of its members. They love being Eastern Catholic, and they will not give it up.

So, it seems to me that the Eastern Catholic Churches seem to have the potential for a vibrant future: if they can figure out how to attract new members.

If that is the issue --how to attract new members to the Eastern Rites-- the answer seems to me to be in two parts.

One part of the solution is better marketing. Almost no one outside of the Eastern Catholic Churches (and the Orthodox Church) knows of the existence of the Eastern Catholics. I might be wrong. I am still an outsider looking in (and I am a sinner). But, the issue doesn't seem to be whether a parish has pews or not; the issue seems to be spreading the word that you (the Eastern Catholics) *exist*.

The other part of the solution --and the far more serious and imperative part-- is our own life in Christ. Holiness. Theosis. It seems to me that Our Lord told us the one thing necessary: holiness.

People who are spiritually seeking (and there are many these days) are attracted to people who are genuinely holy. Thus, in addition to better marketing, advertising and outreach, perhaps what is needed is more effort on sanctification -- more Vespers, more fasting, more promotion of (and praying) the Jesus Prayer, and so on; in short, more theosis.

If the goal, ultimately, for the Eastern Catholics is to be Orthodox Christians who are in full communion with the Bishop of Rome, shouldn�t we be more Orthodox in our daily life ?

Hence, I also think we need more celebrations of the Divine Liturgy at our parishes. Orthodox monasteries celebrate the Divine Liturgy every day. Eastern Catholic parishes should do so too. Yes, there should be vespers in the evenings; but it is imperative that we offer the Divine and Life Giving Mysteries of Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ to the people: every day.

But, as I said, I am an outsider looking in. Hence, I am writing these ideas to you. What do you think are the main issues facing the survival of Byzantine Christianity, and what do you think are the solutions? Thank you for your time.

a sinner,

-- John

Gloy to Jesus Christ,

Your post is quite to the point. Both exposure and holiness are what is needed. In order to more fully understand your perspective may I ask, do you live near Cleveland? It is clear that we have far too many parishes in Cleveland hanging on for a few more years before they die thus tying up clergy efforts that may well be better utilized in new areas.

We have some vibrant growing Churches but not many in the old areas.

Dan L

Dan,

I will send you a pm.

-- John

To add to the confusion the average basic text book leads people to think the various Oriental Churches are just like the Orthodox just they are with the Pope. How wrong this is. In many cases if you want to see some old out of date long ago abondoned practices of the Latin rite, then go to see an Eastern Rite Church. The changes being brought in now like dropping the Filioque should have been done nearly 40 yrs ago. They were aberations then. One of the postings in this thread makes mention of pews. There is no place for such items in the Byzantine Liturgy. There is no central office to organise and stimulate the leaders of the church to de latinise. I have noticed only recently in photos that one bishop was wearing a real Omophorion and not those fakes that look like over grown palliums. Notice the pope is wearing his pallium like the Orthodox and the melkites. I bet you the Ukrainian and Ruthenian bishops look the otherway rather make similar adjustments to their own vestments. We can go on and on. I am amased the changes that have happened so there is still hope. It is just so frustrating to see the date in the one document on the Oriental churches and see how little has been done to implement it. So what will we see in another 40 yrs...let me think ...no more low masses...hmmmmm

Pavel,

You point out the need for leadership. I agree.

CDL

Harmon3110, there are significant differences between east and west when it comes to service priorities. The full cycle of eastern services is usually Vespers in the evening (The Church's day starts at Vespers. It lasts about 45 minutes at my parish.), followed by Matins, and Divine Liturgy (1 & 1/4 to 1 & 1/2 hours) in the morning. These services flow from one to the other, offering their own special portion of the miracle that is Christ's ministry to us. For example, there is a sharing of blessed bread and wine at Vespers that is not the actual Eucharist, but a foreshadowing of the Eucharist to come the next day.

It takes dedicated resources to have all 3 services for Sundays and feast days, plus the devoted following of rubrics, the typikon, and so on, to make it work. Knowledgable human resources can be difficult to develop for that many services. It takes a fairly well established parish to do it, what with everyone's having to make a living besides.

My parish has approximately 62 families, and has Vespers, Third Hour (easier to have than Matins), and Divine Liturgy on weekends, with liturgy on holy days during the evening. There are many other services during the year as well, especially during Great Lent and Holy Week. When a parish expands its cycle of services, it has to be ready with sufficient people to follow through every week- every day, ideally, as you suggested. I would love for us to have Matins, too, but it would really tax our existing resources to do that every Sunday. For one thing, it would pretty much take our priest away from the people prior to social hour (probably less opportunity for confessions prior to Liturgy except on Saturday), since it lasts anywhere from 45 minutes to an hour and a half, depending on how thoroughly it is offered. Lots to think about, I'd say.

Jim Sprinkle, Cantor
St. Thomas Church, Gilbert, AZ

Jim,

Sorry I didn't notice your post till now. Thank you for your response. Indeed, you *have* given me a lot to think about: very practical matters, which I appreciate learning about. Thank you.

--John

John, it also has to be taken to the domestic churches, as we are so spread out. In our area we have Reader's Vespers and/or Compline or some other Byzantine service in the homes of the families on a regular basis, followed by dinner and conversation with seasonal variations for Great Lent, etc.

We alternate priestly Vespers and other services at a mission chapel in a somewhat central location with the fixed, established "nuclear" parish.

In the Byzantine tradition, one can easily adapt nearly all of the services for use without a priest (Reader's Services). Since we have only one full-time Byzantine priest for 1 1/2 states, we make ample use of these to expose the faithful in the domestic churches of the hinterland to the riches of the tradition.

Dear Diak,

Wow ! That's amazing! So the laity hold Reader's services in people's homes? Because of a severe shortage of priests? To keep the Faith alive? God Bless you !

How do you organize these services, get trained for them, and get permission / authorized to serve them ?

Also, would this be a possible vehicle for evangelization? I.E., perhaps hosting a Reader's Service in a community hall, church building, etc., and inviting people to experience a bit of Byzantine Christianity? Followed by a social afterwards?

Please, tell more ! The more I think on this, the more I think this could be a real (and a cheap) way to evangelize, as well as to keep the Church alive and vibrant.

-- John

Not necessarily. My parish is a mission parish with approximately 35-40 families. We started in 2002 and we meet in a rented space that has to be torn down and put away every week. We have vespers, orthros and liturgy every weekend. That's on top of all the feast days and so on.

Andrew

John, the first thing is to be familiar with them. A great place to start is Fr. John Whiteford's site for Reader's Services: http://pages.prodigy.net/frjohnwhiteford/services.htm

If we had enogh Priest would people stop defecting you think?

We have enough priests for the present if they were properly distributd. At least that is the information I have. If we had a vision of evangelization we would have several priests in training now to meet our future needs. Pray for what Pani calls, and I think she's right, "revival".

CDL