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These are making the e-mail rounds. They are from the Russian Orthodox Church of the Nativity in Erie.

Thankyou!

Yes, thanks very much!

Do these represent what the Old Believers' texts were back before the Nikonian reform? Or, have they seen an evolution?

They are pre-Nikonian texts (the Slavonic bits). The English is obviously a recent translation.

Thanks. So does this instruction from page 263 from the Old Rite Divine Liturgy of St John Chrysostom show the pre-Nikonian custom of Communion:



If so, that'd answer some questions from other discussions re: how the commemorative particles were viewed in the pre-Nikonian era.

Wow you have opened a can of worms there, DT Brown. Precisely the opposite description is given in my sluzhebnik from belo krinitsa. EVERYTHING is put in the chalice in the belo krinitsa sluzhebnik rubrics, but the instructions given in the Erie one follow CURRENT ROCOR practice (which I didn't notice, being more interested in the vigil text - I have all the liturgies from belo krinitsa).

A few things need to be remembered about the Old Rite parish of Erie; it was priestless for a long time, and it is thus only natural that its priestly practices might resemble those of ROCOR in some ways.

My understanding of this question has always been that the Old Rite is like the Ruthenian rite in that the commemorative particles are put into the chalice after the communion of the clergy and before the communion of the laity.

Whether this practice is right or not is a question for a totally other thread that has been debated ad infinitum!

Ned is quite astute in his observations. The adding of everything is also in some of the early Venice Greek texts as well as some of the pre-Nikonian Kyivan texts. Like the use of the eiliton over the antimension, there are aspects of pre-Nikonian practice that continue even amongst some Greek Catholics.

The Erie text says to put everything into the Chalice before Communion of the people too (as is done sometimes by the Greeks). It's just that the Erie text is clear to state that Communion should only come from the Lamb, and not from the commemorative particles. As I understand, this is also how the Greeks handle it if the commemorative particles are put into the Chalice before the Communion of the people.

Current ROCOR practice is actually different: only the Lamb is put into the Chalice before the Communion of the people and then the commemorative particles are put into the Chalice afterwards (which appears to be the normative Orthodox practice nowadays).

The instructions are a bit hard to follow. The rubrics on page 279 do specify that "all the portions and crumbs" are to go into the cup, but the presumption may be that there will not be any communicants. That seems so in the wording of the rubric on page 281, where the editor has added a comment in English that is not in the Slavonic.

Also, there is the prior instruction at the fraction, page 263: [Emphasis added]
This indicates that "other portions" are not put in the cup until after "all have received Communion."

You're right, they are hard to follow. Does anyone know who one could contact at the Erie parish for clarification?

Serendipity strikes again - I'm not sure whether this will make the puzzle easier or harder. However, I noticed that in several places, the prospective "Erie edition", so to speak, is inconsistent with the editions approved by the h Old-Ritualist hierarchy of the Bielaia Krinitsa concord.

As it happens I have two different copies of the Divine Liturgy published by one or another of the small groups who do not accept the Bielaa Krinitsa concord. One of them appears to have been printed in 1912, without any clear indication of who authorized or blessed it. I began comparing it with the prospective Erie edition.

My suspicion was right - the Erie edition appears to have been made from tha 1912 edition! All I can surmise is that when the Erie parish accepted a priest (their former nastavnyk) and began to have the Divine Liturgy, the books were still incredibly scarce, and they had to use whatever they could get. Probably someone either had a copy of the 1912 edition or a manuscript reproduction of that text.

That is understandable - but it is now 2010 and there is no difficulty in obtaining the relevant books from the book-outlets of the Russian Old-Ritualist Orthodox Church; there is no need to continue using something of such uncertain provenance.

Fr Serge

You could contact Fr. (Archpriest) Pimen, one of my closest friends is a member of the parish and he speakers very highly of him. Fr. Pimen also instructed his parishioners to ask for a blessing when they would attend events at Ss Peter and Paul Byzantine Catholic Church in Erie.

They have a new website [churchofthenativity.net] new website up and running too, I don't know if any of the posted information will be of any help. If you click on the Old Rite menu, you can access different information. The odd thing is the only drop down option is for the Chant.

I think highly of Father Pimen - it was his patience and effort which led the parish to accept their restoration to the Church's full sacramental life. God bless him for many more years.

Fr. Serge

Thank You....