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I doubt you were in Romania since you write these lines. In Romania, with the exception of some Othodox Ukrainians, a Bulgarian parish in the capital and one Arabic in Bucharest ALL the churches (except maybe the un-canonical ones!) both Greek-Catholic and Orthodox use only Romanian as liturgical language.

The first Slujebnik in Romanian goes back to the 1570! And from the 18th century there records of Slujbenik in Romanian. With an exception of about a century (between the 18th and 19th century, under a very strong Turkish influence) the Greek was used in the Church. But since the 1860's there is NO record of using in the Orthodox Church other language than Romanian. The Romanian Greek-Catholic Church used only Romanian in its liturgical services, and this goes back to 1700!

LS,

My (limited) knowledge of liturgical languages in Romania would generally agree with your statement, but I do have one question.

It's my understanding that the Greek-Catholic Eparchy of Maramures of the Romanians serves according to the Little Russian (Ruthenian) Rescension of the Byzantine Rite, as opposed to the other Greek-Catholic jursdictions there, which serve according to the Great Russian Rescension. Is Slavonic perhaps in use as the liturgical language in Maramures?

Many years,

Neil

As I wrote previously the only liturgical language for the Romanian Greek-Catholic Church is Romanian. In the geographical Maramures it is used ONLY Romanian, with some exceptions that refer only to some Ukranian Greek-Catholic parishes, but as far as I know they are under the direct jurisdiction of the Ukranian Greek-Catholic Church.

The origins of the Greek-Catholic recension of the Liturgy go back to ... an Orthodox Slujebnik, published around 1715. All the Greek-Catholic recensions of the Slujebnik follow the Romanian tradition which is a mixture between Slavonic and Greek tradition. Before 1948 (the year when our Church was "dissolved") the Typikon was closer to the Greek tradition.

Bless, Father Roman,

Actually, Father John (Bajcura), of blessed memory, (who pastored Holy Protection of Mary Byzantine (Ruthenian) in Homer City, PA for 38 years, during the last 20 of which he simultaneously served Holy Cross in Coal Run, PA and St Jude Thaddeus in Ernest, PA) introduced English into the Divine Liturgy in 1950. Apparently, Father did so from a conviction that use of their spoken language in worship would positively influence the faithful, especially the youth, toward continued participation in the Church of their spiritual and cultural heritage.

Then-Father Joseph (Raya), of blessed memory, was transferred from St Ann's in Paterson, NJ to St George's in 1952, a year or two after the events in PA. It was while in Alabama that he began translating the Divine Liturgy to English. His reasons for doing so were essentially identical to those that motivated Father John.

We know that Bishop Sheen, of blessed memory, served in English at Uniontown in 1954 or 1955. He did so again at the 1958 Melkite Convention, where he was standing in for HB Maximos IV, of blessed memory.

Certainly, by 1958 (post-Convention), then-Archimandrite Joseph was serving in English because Archbishop Thomas Toolan, the Latin Ordinary of Mobile, forbade him to do so. That happened sometime in the final months of 1958. (I suspect that Archimandrite Joseph began doing so after Bishop Sheen served it at the Convention - which Archimandrite Joseph helped to arrange - because he would have seen the Bishop's use of English as a valuable endorsement that could be used to stave off Latin objections.)

However, the ban by the Latin hierarch was short-lived as the Patriarch heard about it almost immediately and was reported to be outraged. He is said to have protested directly to HH John XXIII who, in turn, instructed Toolan to rescind his order forthwith. By March, 1959, Archimandrite Joseph was again serving in English and several other Melkite clergy followed suit shortly thereafter.

I'm sure that Archimandrite Joseph was the first Eastern Catholic presbyter to be routinely/regularly serving the Divine Liturgy in English, but he probably was not the first to do so.

Many years,

Neil

LS,Aren't there also Serbian Orthodox in Romania?I've met a few Serbs from the Banat region,including one priest,Fr. Miosav,who began his pastoral service in a Romanian Orthodox Church.Today,he serves a Serbian Orthodox parish 20-30 miles from my own(St.George,they will be celebrating their Slava next Sunday).He can speak Romanian just as well as Serbian,maybe even better,since he probably recieved both his seculor education and seminary training in Romanian.Years ago,while still in Cleveland,I met a very old Romanian Orthodox priest,also from the Banat.He could speak Serbian and serve in Slavonic;he told me that during WWII,he was sent to that part of Ukraine occupied by Romania(the Nazis awarded Romania part of Ukraine to "compensate" them for the part of Transylvania given to Hungary.Then there are also descedants of Russians and Ukrainians who found refuge in Romania after the Bolshevik revolution.I remember one man with a Ukrainian surname,who spoke heavily accented English.I thought he was just being polite,then I found out he was from Romania and could speak neither Russian nor Ukrainian!

My trip to Romania took me to Bucharest, Timosoara, Cluj-Napoca and Constanta. Perhaps along the way I ran into immigrant parishes? One of the churches where I heard Slavonic and Romanian together was the one just behind the Atheneum on Calea Victoriei. The deacon and most of the choir were members of the Romanian National Choir, and in addition to singing works by Romanian composers, there were pieces by Rimsky, Bortniansky and possibly Kedrov. On the other hand, right across the street, at the Kretzulescu Church, there was no choir, everything was sung congregationally, in Romanian (in what I assume was Romanian plainchant), led by a very competent cantor.

I was amazed at the density of churches (a lot of them under renovation), and that each one seemed to have its own unique character.

I suppose that the 1st Liturgy you attented was something completely special. I was at that Church once and there was nothing out of the ordinary, except the fact that it had a deacon.

The liturgical chant in Romanian covers every taste - from psaltic to congregational! But on the television of the Romanian Orthodox Patriarchate the daily liturgy and other live celebrations are using mostly psaltic music, with the exception of Sundays and some important Feasts when the Choir of the Cathedral gives the responses to the Liturgy.

And yes, there is a Serbian Eparchy in Timisoara (the West of Romania), under the Serbian Patriarchate of Belgrade. But all the Romanian Byzantine Churches use only Romanian as a liturgical language. There is one Greek Church in Bucharest that uses both Greek and Romanian, and it has a Romanian priest. But this is one of the very few exceptions! Romanian is used in liturgy all the time. In fact the Romanian Slujebnik (Liturghier) is published quite often by the Romanian Orthodox Church. Last edition was published in 2008.

Just a side note - in Spain where I was based for many years there are numerous Romanians and many of them knew the Slavonic versus of prayers. At the Greek Church where many languages were used during a service, they would recite (for example) the Lord's Prayer in Romanian, then in Spanish and then word-perfect in Slavonic.

Is it possible that perhaps years ago under the Soviet influence, Slavonic was found in the Romanian Churches more commonly? Perhaps through Soviet migration? - Just a thought...

Whilst I acknowledge that they are not "Romanian" Orthodox - it would be remiss of me to not mention that the many "Lipoveni" in Romania use Slavonic all the time!

I think those Romanians that Michael78 mentions are not in the Romanian Orthodox Church. I was speaking about main-stream Romanian Byzantine rite canonical Churches (both Orthodox and Greek-Catholic). There are cases of very few Romanian in other canonical or non-canonical structures, especially abroad,and in these cases - that can be of a wide variety - I cannot pronounce myself. But the Romanian Orthodox Church uses only Romanian! The very same thing for the Romanian Greek-Catholic Church.

I never heard in a Romanian parish form Spain - that I visited last year - any Slavonic chant.

Shlomo Stuart,

Also in this country all Anti0chene Churches are suppose to use the vernacular; but many Churches including the Maronite one here in Las Vegas defy both the Eparch and the Holy Synod's requirements.

Our priest here does a mismash of the Roman and Maronite Liturgies during "our" English Service that I have had to flee to the Ruthenian Church up the way so that I can have a canonical service.

Fush BaShlomo,
Yuhannon

I read somewhere that there were many MOLDAVIANS in Portugal,perhaps there might be some in Spain as well?Most of the population of the former Moldavian SSR,now the independent country of Moldova,are ethnic Romanians.Many who grew up in the old USSR would also have known Russian,therefore they might have had access to Slavonic services as well.Just a hunch.

I read somewhere that there were many MOLDAVIANS in Portugal,perhaps there might be some in Spain as well?Most of the population of the former Moldavian SSR,now the independent country of Moldova,are ethnic Romanians.Many who grew up in the old USSR would also have known Russian,therefore they might have had access to Slavonic services as well.Just a hunch.