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Dear friends

Dear friends

Please help me compile a list of Byzantine - rite Catholic and Eastern Orthodox parishes that have daily or near-daily liturgical services [i]faithfully served according to the authentic traditions of the East [/i]. Therefore, parishes that do daily Divine Liturgy during Lent don't count, sorry, but those that have Liturgy of the Presanctified do. "Stand-alone" Divine Liturgy unaccompanied by the prescribed parts of the Horologion also won't count.

I'm also interested in parishes that may not have weekday services, but which are models of pure liturgical praxis.

Among the Orthodox, I am aware of the following:

www.theforerunner.org [theforerunner.org] -- Antiochian
www.saintjohntherussian.com [saintjohntherussian.com] -- ROCOR - PSCA
saintjohnwonderworker.org -- OCA
www.slocc.com [slocc.com] -- Jerusalem Patriarchate
www.saintmichaels.info [saintmichaels.info] -- ACROD
stbenedict.orthodox.org -- ROCOR (daily Western-rite Mass, Byzantine DL on Sundays)

Among Byzantine Catholics, the following:

www.byzantinecatholic.com [byzantinecatholic.com] -- Annunciation (Fr. Loya)
www.saintelias.com [saintelias.com] -- Saint Elias in Brompton, Ontario
www.patronagechurch.com [patronagechurch.com] -- Patronage Church


I'd also appreciate info on parish practice in Russia and Greece. I keep hearing rumors that it is common for Russian parishes to have daily Hours, Liturgy and Vespers. Is that true?

Yes, it is common for urban parishes in Russia and Ukraine to have daily Hours, Divine Liturgy, and Vespers.

Fr. Serge

Pretty much any ROCOR parish would go on this list.

Also, while Annunciation parish has a very Eastern temple to celebrate in, I was surprised to see it on the same level as a St. Elias in terms of 'pure liturgical praxis'. Unless it was an anomaly, the two times that I've been there I did not see a 'full' liturgy like at St. Elias, nor did I see the rubrics followed like at St. Elias. Is it one of the more Eastern Churches in the BCA, yes, but that isn't really that difficult to do is it? I hope that those who attend Annunciation don't take umbrage with my statements, all I can say is go and attend Liturgy at St. Elias in Toronto and you'll understand what I'm saying.

I can't comment on Patronage since I've never been there.


Monomakh

St. Elias, Brampton, Ontario; (UGCC)
Sts. Volodymyr and Olha, Chicago; (UGCC)
St. Michael's, NYC; (Russian Greek Catholic)
St. Nicholas Cathedral, Chicago, has Great Vespers on Saturday evenings and before feasts (UGCC)

I would add my own: Holy Cross Melkite Greek Catholic Church, Placentia, California.

Fr. Deacon Ed

I would put St Phillips Melkite Greek Catholic Church in San Bernadino. It is mission parish but Fr Justin is wonderful and really knows the Liturgy.

By the way I was at Holy Cross for Theophany and it is great!

I think the list I made is quite confusing. The Orthodox parishes I listed are parishes with daily services. The Byzantine Catholic parishes I listed, on the other hand, are parishes noted for liturgical observance and, shall I say, "Byzantin-ness".

Just clarifying, folks.

I appreciate the inputs here so far. I take it that the comment that just about any ROCOR parish should be on this list refers to the purity of liturgical praxis rather than to daily or near-daily services, since parishes with daily services seem to be quite rare in the diaspora.

Actually, I'd appreciate info on parishes with daily services most of all (no "recited liturgies" please)

I would add St Stephen Byzantine Catholic Pro-Cathedral in Phoenix. (See the liturgy schedule from 2007, unfortunately not updated for 2008).
St Stephen BCC - Phoenix [ststephenbyzantine.org]

I'm interested in knowing about the extent of daily liturgical services in the Byzantine Rite parishes today because of my interest in the role and practicality of liturgy in the LAY FAITHFUL's daily life in the URBAN SETTING.

As one who tries to attend Mass daily and to privately recite Lauds, Vespers and Compline according to the Paul VI Liturgy of the Hours, despite my corporate warrior life, I am keenly aware of the incomparable richness and spiritual benefit that comes from participating in the liturgy every day. At the same time, I am also a first-hand observer of the negative impact on the liturgy, of the Latin - rite Catholic Church's attempt to make liturgy relevant and possible in the context of daily life.

In the Philippines, daily Mass remains popular and all urban parishes have at least one daily Mass. In many shopping malls and business areas, chapels have been established so shoppers and workers can attend Mass at lunchtime or after work. This is potentially positive, because it allows hundreds of thousands of Catholics to worship Our Lord and to receive Him in Holy Communion everyday.

At the same time, it has led to a terrible impoverishment of the ideals of worship. It is not uncommon for Mass to be celebrated in a hurry, finishing everything in 20 minutes or a little more than that (even with a sermon stuck in the middle!). In the chapel I normally attend, weekday Mass is always finished in 24 minutes flat, even with a sermon and many communicants and some extraliturgical prayers stuck in. Innumerable irreverences occur, and one wonders how many Mass goers are actually spiritually disposed to attend Mass and draw fruit therefrom. I mean, can you spend several hours shopping or working then just drop into Mass (with little or any preparatory prayer) and receive Communion about 15 - 20 minutes into the service? Sometimes, shopping malls organize masses inside their premises (sometimes at the busiest spaces, where the Mass has to compete with the noises of commerce) not so much to spiritually assist people, as to encourage people to shop there. Isn't it nice to go to a mall where one can have every service desired -- from the sensual to the spiritual? (I'm being sarcastic in the last sentence, just to be clear.)

When parishes do add to the daily Mass schedule, these normally add novenas. The Liturgy of the Hours -- even though Paul VI Lauds or Vespers can be reverently but simply chanted in a church in just 12 - 15 minutes -- is the great unknown in Catholic daily worship in my country.

All these lead me to wonder: if most parishes can't even do a proper daily cycle of liturgical services according to the minimalist and short Paul VI liturgical books, is it still realistic to expect Traditional Latin or Orthodox parishes to cope with the daily cycle of liturgical services, according to the ideal posed by their respective official liturgical books? Is daily liturgy in complete conformity to the age-old ideals of liturgical worship (as presented in the service books of East and West) still a possibility in our ever-harassed, ever-busy, ever-utilitarian world?

If it is true that the Russians are showing that this is possible in the URBAN setting, that is a great consolation. It means that the old ideals of communal, liturgical prayer are still vibrant and fully alive and have not passed into an unrecoverable history. In this we have much to learn from the Russians, and I say this despite my love-hate attitude towards Orthodoxy.

I wonder how the Old Believers, with their Stoglav and strict rules of daily prayer, are faring as witnesses to daily prayer in today's world?

I'm glad you enjoyed my parish. I trust you also enjoyed my sermon!

And, yes, Fr. Justin is wonderful about keeping the Liturgy as it should be prayed (he's also my spiritual father so I'm always reluctant to mention his parish for fear he will be too busy for me).

Fr. Deacon Ed

SS Cyril and Methodius Byzantine Catholic Church in Cary, NC: http://cyrilandmethodius.com/

Matins, Vespers, Royal Hours, three Presanctified's each week duirng Lent, proskomedia as part of each Divine Liturgy...it's an amazing parish.

Chris

I'm going to put ours down too- Holy Angels in San Diego. Although I don't think the website is working right now. www.holyangelssandiego.com [holyangelssandiego.com]
Matins, Vespers, Great Vespers with Litija, Royal Hours, Presanctified during Lent

Three? I thought it was Wednesday and Friday?

hawk

Hawk,

I haven't been there since August 2007, so things may have changed a bit. Or I could just have my info mixed up. I usually went on Wednesdays.

Chris