www.byzcath.org Forums Faith & Christian Life Faith & Theology Differences between DL in Ruthenian and Melkite Churches

Actually, there's no such thing as "extraordinary minister of the Eucharist", as you need to be ordained to minister the sacrament, that is for the consecration to occur. Ministering Holy Communion is a different thing. This is precisely explained in Redemptionis Sacramentum:

http://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/orientchurch/Istruzione/pdf/istruzione_inglese.pdf

Page 55, row 5nn.

Whatever. The fact is, this is a very common abuse within the Latin Church.

Got it. Thank you.

Thank you for your insights and thoughts. It seems most of what I experienced there was part of a beta for for liturgical direction. If, as has been suggested, the participation of the laity in the Prayer of Thanksgiving is a reflection of the unity of the priest and congregation in prayer, instead of the priest as the spokesman for the group, I don't see automatic difficultly. However, as a post Vatican II RC, I agree that items that take over the unique role of the ordained are potentially problematic, and can easily abused, as is the case of of the Extraordinary Ministers discussed earlier (the distinction between Eucharist and Holy Communion is not relevant for the topic at hand). I am sure that the majority approach this ministry for the right reason, but the theological truth, and the opportunity to have it lived out in liturgy (for we are material creatures and belief sometimes follows doing - remember what the Jewish people said at the foot of Sinai - "We will do and we will believe".

Thanks again for your thoughts.

Lech

This is abused in the Roman church too. How many times have I seen a member of the laity reading the petitions of the prayer of the faithful, while the deacon stays at the chair. Even in televised papal masses.

Yes Stewart, you are right - I attended during the Pascha season, but not on Pascha proper.

Lech

Hello Everyone: Slava Isusu Khrystu!

It's nice to participate in this forum once again. Time and busyness have kept me away, but I hope to be here when I am able . . . I have read through this thread which touches on some interesting and diverse topics.

There is one thing however, that I would like to focus on. It is the historical evolution of the celebration of Vespers and Matins in Ruthenian-usage parishes. It could apply to both those of the Ruthenian and Ukrainian Greek Catholic eparchies (as well as the ACROGCD and probably Ukrainian Orthodox churches).

A regular Sunday and holy day celebration of Vespers and Matins was indeed a normal part of parish life in the Ruthenian churches. In Europe, it appears to remain more prevalent, particularly in rural and cathedral parishes. In the the United States particularly, (as well as in Canada and South America to a similar degree), these services began to fade from the general consciousness of the church beginning in the later 1940s, through the 1950s and 60s.

Countless priests and cantors who have served the Ruthenian Church in the USA have personally told me about the original practice of celebrating Vespers, Matins and the Divine liturgy (separately) each Sunday and feast day. In the early days of the "first immigration" some parishes were without priests to celebrate the Divine Liturgy every Sunday. In these cases, it was common for the cantor (still often an ordained lector in those times), to chant Vespers and Matins, with the people's participation (obviously leaving out parts logical only for the priest or deacon).

In addition, the archives of bulletins and liturgical books of many older Ruthenian parishes would indicate that there was a regular celebration of both Vespers and Matins. If not, such books as the Lenten Triodion and the Oktoikos (in Church Slavonic), huge volumes published in Lviv at the turn of the century, would not have be needed. I am fortunate to have received copies of these two now rare books.

This historical precedence for the celebration of Vespers and Matins, as well as their harmony with the typikon, can quite possibly be a reason for their emphasis and discussion in the "Ordo Celebraciones" and the "Liturgal Instruction".

The regular celebration of the third or other "hours" appears to have been much rarer in the Ruthenian usage. Certainly monasteries and seminaries have used and do use them, but they do not seem to have been a part of standard parish life. This is actually sensible, if one remembers the historical development of the liturgy and the fact that there was at one time a "cathedral" or urban usage and another distinct "monastic" observance. Vespers and Matins were very much a part of the "cathedral" usage, although in a somewhat different form than today's order, which was adopted from the monastic usage when the typikon became standardized to reflect the latter.

The chanting of the hours in parish churches would appear to be most popular in Slavic jurisdictions which follow the standard Russian recension. This is sensible if one remembers that in many aspects the Russian liturgy generally prefers the monastic traditions. The hours seem less known in churches of the Greek and Slavic-Greek (which includes the Ruthenian) usages.

Focusing on the Ruthenian Byzantine Metropolia in the United States, it is important to note that popular prayer books published until around 1945, still contained excerpts from Matins and Vespers, for the faithful to follow. This would indicate a significant usage of the services through that time.

With greater latinizations in the spiritual life of the church, the focus turned to a greater emphasis on the Divine Liturgy or "mass" as the center of the church's activities. While this concept is certainly theologically true, a poorly understood application led to the disappearance of the fuller liturgical life of the Byzantine Rite, which formally enriched the church.

Interestingly, with a strong focus on the Eucharistic Liturgy, came also an increased interest in popular devotions borrowed directly from the Latin Rite - sometimes entirely intact and sometimes "Byzantinized" by incorporating them into the ritualistic structure and prayerful style of the other liturgical services. Some examples of these are the Stations of the Cross, the Moleben to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, devotions to the "Five Wounds" or "Seven Sorrows" and more.

Two things would be important to note at this point in the discussion: (1) these devotions were not entirely new to the church and for a time (both in Europe and America), lived side by side with the more native services of Vespers and Matins and; (2) Molebens themselves are a shortened for of Matins, and their popularity kept the clergy and laity somewhat familiar with it's structure and hymns.

Another observation would be the comparison of Molebens to the way in which the Akáfist service is celebrated. Both retain great popularity in Ukraine and other parts of Eastern Europe, among both Orthodox and Greek Catholics. In the USA, it would seem that the Akáfist in its "received manner of celebration" is more popular in certain Orthodox jurisdictions and Molebens would predominate in Greek Catholic and some Orthodox churches. The "normative" celebration of the Akáfist is within the order of Matins. The "common manner of celebration" is to chant the usual beginning, then the entire Akáfist hymn, followed by a "mini-matins", with a prokeimenon, gospel reading and certain other parts. In general Ruthenian churches in the USA celebrate the Akáfist by singing only the odes and kontakions of the hymn(with the usual beginning and dismissal). I personally have not seen this practice in any other usages.

In regards to the so-called Vesperal or Matinal Divine Liturgies, these seem to have become popular in the 1980s and 90s, after the Saturday evening "vigil liturgy" had long been in practice, to fulfill the "Sunday obligation" following the post-conciliar usage of the Latin Church. It was a well intentioned attempt to reintroduce Vespers and Matins, without depriving those used to attending of the Eucharistic liturgy. The structure was in direct imitation of the services of Passion Week and the Eves of Christmas and Theophany.

We should remember that these solemn days have natures particular to themselves and in no way can be compared to a Sunday or standard holy day. The celebrations of the Eucharist with Vespers in Passion Week and on the Eves of the Nativity and the Baptism of Christ have their sensibility in the fact that these days are ones of strict fast and the Eucharist would not be received until the evening, when the day came to a conclusion. The reasoning is quite similar to that of the Presanctified Liturgy. The difference can be seen in the fact that Holy Thursday, Holy Saturday, Christmas and Theophany are major holy days in and of themselves and therefore, the typikon foresees the offering of the Eucharistic sacrifice (See also the prescriptions for the Annunciation.)

Although the "vesperal liturgy" seemed to be a way to teach the faithful more variety in the liturgy, the result appears to be that these inventions have now become so standard (in some places with episcopal approbation and/or mandate), that they will be as hard to remove in favor of normative Vespers and Matins as would have been the "vigil-mass".

Well, I hope these observations will be helpful and most of all, shed some light on the historical development of the celebration of Vespers and Matins in churches of the Ruthenian usage. Most of all, the long precedent, both in Europe and America, of celebrating the complete Sunday and holy day cycle of services should be a catalyst for their re-integration into parish life. The difficulty will lie in the 60+ years in which the church has not emphasized, with any unilateral effort, the fidelity to the typikon which Fr. Nicholas of Holy Resurrection Monastery is indicated (elsewhere in this thread) to have said is necessary for this re-integration to occur. I agree with that observation.

Z'bohom . . . Fr. Joe

In the pew book of the Archeparchy of Beirut I have the Thanksgiving prayer is said jointly, as also a prayer of offering (that one who says about the "unwareness of people"). That practice is also observed in my parish.

By the way, in Brazil we may have an unique practice: after the Axion, the askings of the priest, for the Church, for the dead, for who helps the poor are intermediated by an intercession of the people, looking like the adaptation ad experimentum of the Roman Rite the Brazilian Latin Conference did (whose time has already expirated in theory!). When the celebrant remembers the dead, we say "Give them the rest where shines the bright of Your Face"; when he remembers the Church, "Give to all the salvation"; when he remembers the hierarchy, "And of all (masc.) and all (fem.)" ("E de todos e de todas"). In the city of Juiz de Fora, they say "E de todos e de todas as Igrejas".