Dear Father Deacon,
Yes, this is an interesting liturgy. But, unlike the goings on of today's Protestant missionaries, that liturgy was composed for the purposes of Ukrainian Catholics who voluntarily left their church in the 1930's.
They had crossed swords with their local priests and hierarchs over a number of issues and decided to leave.
Their decision was not, I am informed, based on missionary work among them by Lutherans, but other considerations.
To be Orthodox in western Ukraine at that time was a no-no. One would be under suspicion of being pro-Russian etc.
They wanted to leave Catholicism period and so decided to join with the other group that was the German Colony in Ukraine - the Lutherans.
I met one of these German Ukrainian Lutherans - he spoke perfectly in both languages.
Again, they imagined that there wasn't that much difference between the two faiths.
This mix-up also occurred in the U.S. when Lutheran immigrants arrived there and American Protestants, seeing their vestments et al. thought of them as Catholics and therefore Lutherans suffered discrimination along with the Catholics.
Lutheran preachers would often leave the Catholic ritual alone for the most part in Scandinavia, that was Christianized rather late by comparison the rest of Europe.
People followed their leaders in terms of religious affiliation and often didn't see the difference when little change was introduced in the public services.
There is a Lutheran group in the U.S., however, that is going the opposite way. That is, they are Lutherans who are "Orthodoxising" themselves, by embellishing their Lutheran liturgy to resemble that of St John Chrysostom, invoking saints etc.
They are in talks, I believe, with the Antiochian Orthodox Church to be accepted into union with it and thereforew with World Orthodoxy.
They are the "Evangelical Catholic Church." One issue is that Martin Luther is in their calendar, they say he was favourably predisposed toward Orthodoxy (which is true).
In every other which way they resemble the High Church Anglicans.
Alex
