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The Roman Masses we've attended are locked into what some of us call "Blue Grass Hymns". They lack reverence and beauty. In plain English - they're awful!

For a very good reason. Prostopinje is the plainchant of the Carpath-Rusyn people. Put another way, the Ruthenians invented the true folk mass, taking the chants they inherited from Kiev and adapting them to their own unique melodies and folk harmonies. Whereas the introduction of polyphony in Russia in the 17th century resulted in increasingly elaborate arrangements that could only be sung by trained choirs, in the Carpathians (and also among the Old Ritualists in Russia) the older tradition of congregational singing continued unchanged.

Gardner wrote about this during his 1920s excursion to the Sub-Carpathian, in a quote I have cited several times already (my emphasis in red):


This, then, is the ideal towards which the Metropolia should strive. I might point out that this is still the case in Mukachevo and Uzherod, and it was very much the case in some of our better parishes. Recent services at which the visiting Theodore Romzha Seminary Choir led the responses--in Slavonic--proved that this spirit and this ability is still present in our faithful. It is our bishops and our clergy who have lost faith in us and in the power of the Tradition.

Fr. Deacons Lance and Paul have asked the question regarding the service of the deacon during the funeral of Metropolitan Basil, which has not been answered, so here goes a third request from a third deacon- what specifically was the problem with the "deacon's deaconing"?

Brother deacons,

Apparently someone was just venting and its not really an issue.

Anything to find fault (with the RDL). There is never a time when everything goes smoothly, especially during such a rarely served liturgy. I commend you Frs. for your service to the church.

When Chesterton said, "Anything worth doing is worth doing badly", I don't think he was advocating it as the norm. "Close enough for liturgical work"? I don't think so.

Don't blame the deacons - they are doing what they were commanded to do. They need watch a video of the funeral with the Ordo at hand to see all the differences.

I also understand emotion at funerals. But most people go into auto mode and function according to what they were taught. Clergy communion was utter chaos. Following the rubrics would have made it dignified and faster.

I can't remember all the deacon differences from the Ordo. I think the one video shows the deacons facing west for the "Wisdom! Be attentive!"? When in doubt face east. Or maybe the RDL has changed that, too.

Again, don't judge the deacons - the Ruthenian rubrics are verboten!

Thank you; I appreciate the reply; allow me to reply. Below is a quote from Ordo Celebrationis, the rubrics according to the Ruthenian Recension (just before the Prokeimenon):

125. When the Trisagion is finished, the deacon comes near the royal doors, holds up the orarion with the first three fingers of his right hand says: Let us be attentive! Blessing the people the priest announces: Peace be with all. And the deacon again: Wisdom! Be attentive! and returns to the priest.

There is no mentions of the placement of the deacon except (the deacon) "comes near the royal doors" which is what we were taught. Keep in mind that the role model in our first year of training was (then) Fr Deacon Valerian who was trained and ordained in Ukraine.




I take it that you are referencing Ordo Celebrationis when you reference "Ruthenian rubrics." I appreciate your sympathy, but I don't recall anything from Ordo being forbidden, except perhaps we were told not to put the discos on our head for the Great Entrance. it really wasn't forbidden, though.

IMHO, your suggestion to face east when in doubt makes sense; however it makes sense that a deacon would default to what a priest would do if he has no deacon (deacon parts,so as not to be misunderstood).

You've got the wrong "Wisdom! Be attentive!" Watch the first video and you'll see the deacon is facing west when he raises the Gospel Book and says "Wisdom! Be attentive!" See the Ordo #122. The priest blesses towards the east. The deacon presents the Gospel to to the priest to kiss (and this deacon presented it to Bishop William twice and he ignored it twice). The deacon stands before the priest. It does not specifically say the deacon faces east but he always does at the Little Entrance. It is simple lack of knowledge that comes from our church's abandonment of its own liturgy.

Parts of the Ordo are forbidden. Do a rubric by rubric comparison and you will see that there is a lot missing and a lot that is different. The RDL Liturgicon by mandate of the Council of Hierarchs replaces the Roman mandates for the Ruthenian Liturgy and the Ordo.

There were a number of such mistakes - most coming from simple lack of knowledge. But I blame the bishops for their destruction of the liturgy.

That was definitely an error. At the Little Entrance, the deacon, upon presenting the Gospel to the celebrant and then receiving back, should be facing the Holy Table when he elevates the book and proclaims "Wisdom". I have never, in any celebration Orthodox or Catholic, seen the deacon face the people to do this.

As to Bishop William's performance, my observations of him on several occasions makes me wonder how he celebrated as a priest, and by virtue of what knowledge he was entitled to rule on the acceptability of the RDL. That's a polite way of saying he doesn't know his way around a Liturgicon.

In order to get a complete set of rubrics for the Ruthenian recension, one must take both the rubrics in the Liturgicon and the rubrics presented in the Ordo Celebrationis. In some cases, rubrics missing in the Liturgicon have been restored in the Ordo; in others, the rubrics are expanded, clarified or corrected. In a few rare instances, a rubric given in the Liturgicon is omitted from the Ordo. So you have to correlate the two in order to get a complete picture.

At Hierarchical Liturgies, many (Orthodox) deacons will face east for "Wisdom, be attentive!" and then face the hierarch (i.e. west) for "Come, let us adore..." so that the hierarch is coming, adoring and bowing down before Christ, as iconically represented in the Gospel Book. Perhaps the deacon had this practice in mind.

Having served as a subdeacon and now as a deacon at hierarchical services, I can say with certainty that it is very easy to get flustered at such celebrations. One missed rubric in a sequence of rubrics can throw you off. I do believe that we should strive for well-executed liturgies, but harping on about a deacon making a mistake at a funeral is just not productive.

Deacon David
(ACROD)

Ok, I'm with you now. Yes, I noticed that, too, and I think your observation is correct about the gaff. Normally the deacon WILL face east.

On the "forbidden" subject, I guess you could say that some things were on the "forbidden list" even before the RDL, to be fair.

The Ordo Celebrationis does not address the rubrics for the deacons during the Hierarchical Liturgy.

Fr Deacon David has commented on the practice of "many" (therefore, not all) (Orthodox) deacons. I'm afraid I do not read Slavonic so I have no idea what the ARCHIERATIKON states as the proper direction for the deacon at the end of the Little Entrance before the Holy Doors.

The rubric in our English translation of the Hierarchical Liturgy states:

"the first deacon then presents the Holy Gospel to the celebrant who kisses it. The first deacon kisses the celebrant's right hand.

The celebrant and deacons proceed closer to the Holy Doors. The second deacon goes first carrying the censer. When the last refrain of the Antiphon is concluded, the first deacon, at the solea, turns and faces the Celebrant. Raising the Holy Gospel, he intones," Wisdom! Be attentive!

Eternal Memory to Metropolitan Basil!

On the question of which way the deacon faces for the "Wisdom! Stand Aright!" of the Little Entrance, he faces East. Always. If someone suggests otherwise make them prove it with documentation. Note, however, the RDL very often departs from our tradition and cannot be trusted as accurate. [And the deacon was correct to follow the instructions given to him.]

The Ruthenian Church has forgotten so much. I dare say that the good people in charge of the funeral did not have an inkling that when he is resting in the temple the deceased Metropolitan should have been facing EAST, not WEST. If anyone is interested in seeing this done correctly they can visit the videos for Patriarch Alexi's funeral last year [ YouTube Link [youtube.com] ].

In translating the rubrics of the Archeiretikon some time back, I do not remember anything implying that the deacon should face the bishop while proclaiming wisdom. A project to publish an accurate study edition of the book has been hanging fire for some time, but I can vouch for the accuracy of the translation. Just how closely it will match the translation issued by the Joint Intereparchial Liturgical Commission is an interesting question. Experience would tell us to set our expectations on low.