www.byzcath.org

Dear Reader Andrew,

I sometimes talk to myself . . .

I understand that is fine as long as you know that it is YOU that is doing the talking . . .

And I chastise myself too. But not too much. It gets to be kind of fun after a while

Alex

Hmmmm .... well, speaking strictly as a Latin, the monthly cycle of the Psalter has been so thoroughly incorporated into the Liturgy of the Hours that I don't see it ever going back on a weekly cycle (unless read privately outside of the Hours, of course).

But as for fasting, abstinence and vigils ... what a glorious common heritage we Catholics have!

Khrystyna

Dear Khrystyna,

Yes, that is what I mean - there is no reason why any Catholic cannot pray the entire Psalter through in one week.

The Eastern Churches actually pray the Psalter TWICE in one week during Lent and the added readings are "tacked" on to Matins and the day hours.

Monasteries on Mt Athos often expect their monks to pray the entire Psalter once DAILY in Lent, in addition to their extended Divine Office.

The Celtic Church had this as a daily rule - the Daily Office AND the entire Psalter daily.

If a monastic could not complete the Psalter, the Beatitudes recited 12 times replaced it.

The Rosary is, as you know well, the substitute for the daily Psalter in the West, as is the Paternoster Psalter or 150 Our Father's.

When I visited St Paul's Cathedral in London, U.K., there is a street called "Paternoster Row" near it.

This was where the ancient guild of the "Paternosterers" had their shops where they busily made prayer beads (like our Don from Kansas and Joe Zollars, to name but two Beadsmen here!).

They then sold these to people as they left Church after daily Mass. An Italian Cardinal in London writing in the 14th century said this:

"All the English attend Mass daily and afterwards recite Our Father's on long strands of beads . . ."

It is amazing that England broke with Rome when it did, especially since England had more Churches dedicated to St Peter than ANY OTHER COUNTRY in Europe, including Italy!

The Westminster Abbey is not just a quaint old Royal Cathedral - it marks the spot tradition says St Peter himself preached!

If so, then London/Canterbury has the right to be a Patriarchate in a united Church too . . .

And, in England, when a bishop died, the monks and people took turns reciting the Psalms no less than 600 times for the repose of his soul!

When a person died, the Psalter was immediately recited over the body. And then, over night, people took turns reciting it continuously four more times before the funeral . . .

It was divided into three "fifties" (after which, again, the Rosary was shaped), and monastics in Britain and Ireland often recited it standing in cold water to prevent falling asleep.

The Greek tradition also prescribed a night vigil (I think night vigils are especially great for Lent!).

This tradition, as Fr. Robert Taft SJ states in his monumental work on the Divine Office, had the Psalms recited in groups of fifty, with a "Scripture break" after each throughout the night vigil.

Taft also bemoans the fact that Catholics in North America are "completely innocent" of the tradition of the vigil either for a funeral or during Lent . . .

Alex

I received a humorous e-mail last week about healthy eating, and I thought the excerpts below might bring a smile to some of y'all.

Q: Should I cut down on meat and eat more fruits and vegetables?
A: You must grasp logistical efficiencies. What does a cow eat? Hay and corn. And what are these? Vegetables. So a steak is nothing more than an efficient mechanism of delivering vegetables to your system. Need grain? Eat chicken. Beef is also a good source of field grass (green leafy vegetable). And a pork chop can give you 100% of your recommended daily allowance of vegetable slop.

Q: Is beer or wine bad for me?
A: Look, it goes to the earlier point about fruits and vegetables. As we all know, scientists divide everything in the world into three categories: animal, mineral, and vegetable. We all know that beer and wine are not animal, and they are not on the periodic table of elements, so that only leaves one thing, right? My advice: Have a burger and a beer and enjoy your liquid vegetables.

Q: Aren't fried foods bad for you?
A: You're not listening. Foods are fried these days in vegetable oil. In fact, they're permeated in it. How could getting more vegetables be bad for you?

Well, I hope this has cleared up any misconceptions you may have had about food and diets. Have a cookie... flour is a veggie!

-- Ed Klages, sinner

Dear Alex,

Oh most definitely, the East has been deeply nourished by the Psalter. Actually, even in the current Anglican tradition with its strong Benedictine spirituality (it was my Episcopal Christian friends who introduced me to the Benedictine Lectio Divina) I would guess there is a better appreciation of the Psalter by the laity than in the Roman, especially since Anglicans/Episcopalians have kept the services of Matins and Vespers.

Many Roman Catholics are surprised to learn that in the early Church the laity prayed the Divine Office right along with the ordained clergy. Vatican II restored the responsorial Psalm to the liturgy and it is my hope that as more Roman Catholics are exposed to the Liturgy of the Hours there may be a fuller recovery of the Psalms.

In the meantime, as you rightly point out, there is nothing to keep anyone from praying the Psalter weekly (or, for those of us who can't get enough of the Office of Readings with its rich feast of Patristic writings, East and West, praying them at least daily )

Khrystyna

Dear Ed Klages,

"a sinner"

From a health POV, that IS putting it mildly!

Alex

Dear Khrystyna,

Yes, the responsorials have been a significant part of good Psalm-chanting.

The Assyrian Church of the East have what they call "Farcings" or antiphons that differ with each Psalm and that are interspersed during the psalm-chanting.

The Celtic Church had psalm antiphons that were recited after each Psalmic verse, by another reader - these can be seen at celticchristianity.org

When the Byzantine Church chants the Magnificat, it divides it into six sections, after which it prays the popular "More honourable than the Cherubim" prayer.

During Lent, the Beatitudes have the prayer of the Good Thief, "Remember me, Lord, when You come into Your Kingdom" recited after each of the nine Beatitudes (we have nine, you have eight - you have six Church commandments - we have nine - ah, the significant differences are endless . . . ).

One method I use is to repeat the first verse, or something from the first verse, of each Psalm after every two verses of the same Psalm.

I find that the first verse encapsulates the meaning or theme of the entire Psalm that follows.

The Celts also had/have a laborious ascetical exercise called the "Cross Vigil."

One makes a prostration after every two verses of the long Psalm 119 - including the psalms immediately following until 100 prostrations are done.

The Celtic Church was the only Western Church that performed prostrations.

Alex

Dear Alex,

A veritable feast! Thank you for painting such a rich picture of how the Psalter is prayed throughout the Church.

Khrystyna

Dear Khrystyna,

And thank you for participating in the Forum's Lenten vigil!!

Alex

A Bulgarian Dish:

SHROPSKA SALATA:

3 firm tomatoes
1 fresh cucumber
1 onion
2 green peppers
1 cup of olives [preferable from the Balkans! ]
1/2 cup of olive oil
1/4 cup of vinegar
Salt and pepper
Feta cheese


Cut the tomatoes and the cucumbers into slices and the onion and the peppers into rings. Place in large salad bowl, sprinkle with salt and pepper and add the olives. Cut some feta cheese into chunks and add to the other ingredients. Pour the oil and vinegar over the salad.

Simple..but nice!

***

Velikdenski Biskviti (Easter Biscuits....or Cookies for you North Americans!):

2-1/2 cups sifted pastry flour
1/2 cup sifted powdered sugar
1/ 2 lb. sweet butter
1 tablespoon brandy
1./ 2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon almond extract
1 egg yolk
Whole cloves
Extra powdered sugar (if feeling wicked.....)


Soften the butter at room temperature and then whip it for about 30 min. with the electric beater until the butter is white and fluffy. Add the sifted sugar, egg yolk, almond and vanilla extract and the brandy. Mix this well.

Add sifted flour and beat again until the dough is easy to handle, then you need to knead the dough for a few minutes by hand until the dough forms a soft ball. Shape the dough into walnut size balls and place them on a ungreased cookie sheet.

Place a whole clove in the middle of the cookie. Bake for 15-20 min. in a 350F oven. When done place the cookies in some wax paper and let cool, cover the cookies with sifted powdered sugar. They must have lots of powdered sugar on the cookies.

I'll ask my mum for some more recipes if you're interested! Hope you enjoy these two - if you decide to make them!

Anton

Dear Anton,

It is interesting that "Hot Cross Buns" originated as Lenten sweetbreads that came "pre-blessed" and thus the Cross on top.

One would always carve a Cross on top of a new round loaf of bread - but since this was considered close to "work" and inappropriate for Lenten Fridays, the Hot Cross Buns were made with the blessing already on them.

And a local Jewish bakery I know does sell them - but without the Cross .

At least they know their history!

Alex

Dear Friends in Christ,

All this talk about Benedictines....

As far as the weekly Psalter, Alex is correct this was the orginal Benedictine practice, but even this was a dispensation from the daily recitation of the ENTIRE Psalter that the desert monks practiced. If fact Benedict chides his monks about this:

"For those monks show themselves too lazy
in the service to which they are vowed,
who chant less than the Psalter with the customary canticles
in the course of a week,
whereas we read that our holy Fathers
strenuously fulfilled that task in a single day.
May we, lukewarm that we are, perform it at least in a whole week!"

Concerning fasting, our modern Benedictine observance is not as strict as that of the Eastern churches, taking our cue from the rules of the Latin church. For our community though we do add a few customs to the prescriptions Krystyna mentioned. We have NO deserts throughout all of Lent [feastdays excluded - and there are 3 'biggies' in Lent = St. Joseph (March 19) Transitus of St. Benedict (March 21) & Annunciation (March 25)!] Since we abstain from meat every Friday in the year, in Lent we add Wednesday and eat simpler fare. So instead of fish sticks we get tuna, chesse, and [as mentioned before] lots of hard-boiled eggs!

In addition to general communal fasting, every monk has to meet with Father Abbot to discuss his bona opera (good work) that he is undertaking to prepare for Easter. This is a personal commitment a monk makes before the Lord under the supervision of the abbot. It includes 3 components: renunciation, charitable work, spiritual endeavor. This is to correspond with the 3 classic Lenten practices of fasting, almsgiving, and prayer. I find this more challenging than the fasting since one just eats what one is given. Our abbot keeps us on our toes since he requires that you submit your bona in writing AND he compares it to previous year's ones that he has on file. He says that we should always strive to do better! :p

PAX

Dear Benedictine,

As I understand it some Benedictine, Trappist and a couple of other orders I can't remeber at the moment follow a daily vegetarian discipline. How do they adjust for the Lenten fast?

Khrystyna

Alex,

Your mention of Hot Cross Buns brings back such heartwarm memories of both my Lutheran and Roman Catholic grandmothers. Oh, how they could bake according to the liturgical year!! Even a humble bun became a source of evangelization for this little girl who was moved to ask why these buns only appeared during Lent and what they signified. To this day when I don't have time to bake it's one of the first things I seek out at the store during Lent.

Khrystyna

On the salad front, if you want another tasty treat - try Russenska Salata

3-4 tomatoes
1 cucumber
4-5 peppers
1 onion
150g brined sheep's cheese
parsley, vinegar, sunflower oil and salt

Bake, peel and seed the peppers. Cut into small strips and add the diced tomatoes,
cucumbers and onion. Add salt, oil and vinegar, and mix. Serve in the shape of a pyramid, top with chopped parsley and grated cheese.

***

MANASTIRSKA SALATA (Monastery Salad...very popular with monks, as you can imagine):

200g white beans,
2-3 carrots,
1/2 a celery,
1 onion,
1-2 tomatoes,
1-2 peppers,
1-2 chillies (peppers, by choice),
parsley, mint, sunflower oil, salt.

Soak the beans in cold water for 3-4 hours, drain and pour fresh water. Boil (in an earthware if possible...) pot together with oil, finely chopped carrots, onion and celery. The sliced peppers are added later; the grated tomatoes and mint, when the beans have turned tender. Salt and boil for another 15-20 min. Serve sprinkled with finely chopped parsley.

I make Martha Stewart green with envy.....I got plenty of recipes but I don't want to appear to hog this thread!



Anton