www.byzcath.org Forums News & Events Church News Re: Pope Benedict XVI to lead Vespers in Melkite church in Holy L

To what Divine Liturgy do you refer?

Fr. Serge

Oops... sorry, it was Vespers in the video. I'm assuming that it was Psalm 141... I could be wrong.

Psalm 140. It the Lamp-lighting psalsm, when our Patriarch chanted in Greek.

Actually, it was not EWTN providing the English commentary. It was using the English commentary from Charles Collins of Vatican Radio. He identifies himself at the end of the coverage.

If you want to send an e-mail to Charles Collins in care of Vatican Radio and inform him of his error, you can send it at: english@vatiradio.va

For those still interested, I have just heard back from those who organised the prayers and who chanted in the choir with the pope (Vespers service in Melkite cathedral, Jordan).

1. You may be interested to note that since there is no Fimi for the pope, they used the one for our Patriarch Gregory and merely changed the name.

2. The service had to be shortened and altered slightly at the Vatican's request. The local Church had initially wanted to celebrate a full, normal Byzantine service of Great Vespers.

Very interesting.

So the culprit of the not-so-Byzantine service was the Vatican itself... Quite obvious.

There is certainly a Fimi for the Pope - it was sung solemnly at the Mass which marked the beginning of Pope Benedict XV's pontificate.

Fr. Serge

duhhh...what's a fimi?

A Fimi is the solemn string of titles of a given hierarch, chanted when the hierarch serves. Sometimes these titles are quite startling:

GREGORIOS, our most holy, most blessed, most venerable, our chief and lord; Patriarch of the great city of Antioch, of Alexandria and Jerusalem, of Cilicia, Syria, and Iberia, of Arabia, Mesopotamia and the Pentapolis, of Ethiopia, all Egypt and All the East [of the United States and Canada, Australia and all North and South America], Father of Fathers, Shepherd of Shepherds, Pontiff of Pontiffs and Thirteenth Apostle! Eis polla eti, Despota, Eis polla eti, Despota, Eis polla eti, Despota!

I remember singing this acclamation while Patriarch Maximos V processed into Saint George's Church in Birmingham - when we reached "Eis polla eti, Despota", the Roman Catholic bishop behind me said in a puzzled tone of voice "ora pro nobis?"

The portion I put in brackets is (so far, at any rate) normally used only in the diaspora. The honorific "Thirteenth Apostle" indicates that the Patriarch is of such significance as to be ranked next after the Twelve.

Fr. Serge

Very, very disappointing.

Not to nitpick so much, but I'm really beginning to wonder about the massive gap between the Pope's writings on the liturgy and his actual approach to its celebration (despite the modest restorations of the past few years). I find it ironic that he praised the Eastern Christian tradition even as he was presiding over what can only be described as a travesty of its liturgical tradition.

"Not to nitpick so much, but I'm really beginning to wonder about the massive gap between the Pope's writings on the liturgy and his actual approach to its celebration (despite the modest restorations of the past few years). "

He's 86 years old, for crying out loud. Cut the guy some slack.

He is 82 years old and in excellent health, and none of the changes to the Vespers service are attributable to old age.

AHA - but did he know of the alterations ? Or was it just the Vatican staff deciding that they knew what was wanted - the old 'pastoral sensitivity ' thing ?

I tend to agree. JP II spent a lot of time taming the curia and reminding them that it was he God, St Peter, and the cardinals and put in charge.