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Re: Kyiv Cathedral Iconostas
Hope the decision makers have considered the magnificent iconostas gracing the Ukrainian Catholic Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in Philadelphia for ideas.

The Moscow Liturgies are basically performances by the choirs. The Ukrainian Liturgies invite participation by the congregation.
Do we attend Liturgy to be entertained or to take an active part in worship?

I have watched hundreds of liturgical videos over the course of the last two or more years on the Moscow Patriarchate youtube channel and I have seen plenty of times when the congregation is singing or responding with the choir. I also watched the short UGCC video at the beginning of this thread and did not see the congregation singing the Axios with the choir. But I do not know that that is the norm in the UGCC, so it is simply a single observation.

Well, I know in the Ruthenian tradition, everyone has a part in the DL, I mean, that's a given. As far as I'm aware the UGCC follows this tradition... Since more and more Ruthenian Churches are doing away with choirs, since a lot of parishes don't have the people for that anymore, which is sad, it does become more important for those in the congregation to sing along with the cantor or cantors throughout everything.

This is so true. When I was a High Church Anglican we took the liturgy very seriously, and put our absolute all into it so that things were accurate down to the most minute details. I must admit that I was very disappointed after my conversion to Roman Catholicism in 1988, because the liturgy was treated like it was a common and basically unimportant activity that needed to be done as quickly as possible. If it lasted more than 45 minutes something was thought to be wrong with it.

Moreover, I always found it strange that as a Roman Catholic I was taught that the Anglicans do not have a valid Eucharist; while the Roman Church's Eucharist is the true body and blood of Christ. Yet High Church Anglicans treated the "sacred elements" and liturgical rites with great care and dignity; while Roman Catholics treated the sacred species as common things that could be handled by anyone with no concern for their possible profanation, and also appeared to be more interested in being entertained by contemporary music than in offering worship to Almighty God.

When I was working on my MA in Theology at Franciscan University I went - with several friends - to a UGCC parish in Pittsburgh and the congregation was as quiet as a Church mouse during the liturgy. The choir did a fair job though I think the choir at the Ruthenian parish I normally attended was better. They also used female altar boys at the UGCC parish, which I was not pleased about.

If there is a case where a Ruthenian Church does have a choir that performs, then by all means, I'm sure they will be the ones to sing all the responses and all the hymns for everyone, and the congregation would be pretty much quiet except for the Viruju and the Otce Nas, much like in the ROCOR, or even in UGCC parishes as you describe. So I see where you're going with this.

Back on topic with the Kyiv Cathedral now. Although I'm sure it was a good move to relocate it from L'viv to Kyiv, it makes me wonder if this might be a start to reunify Ukraine's Churches, and hope that Pope Francis will indeed seek reunion of the UOC along with the UGCC as one. Wondering if that was the strategy behind that move.

Actually, when I was Ruthenian, our choir "led" the responses--all we added were some harmonies--and the people belted out the melody. Sometimes it wasn't quite clear if we were leading them, or they were leading us.

That's rather common even in ACROD parishes, especially parishes with a strong prostopenije tradition. Ours developed a magnificent choir while still Greek Catholic in the 1920's and the congregation is fairly silent today, even when chant is sung every other week.

Unfortunately I've never been to Moscow, have you? so I can't comment on your first assertion.

To take an active part. The nave is a slave ship, not a cargo ship. I do however remember being scandalized at a UGCC where the DL was merely said, and said only by the priest it seemed.

By and large, it's true. They are trying to get away from that and back to congregational plainchant, but old (bad) habits are hard to break.

As a newcomer to the Byzantine liturgy I find myself somewhat torn on this issue.

On the one hand, I love attending the English language liturgy at my local UGCC parish wherein the congregation fully participate, reciting and singing their parts. As a Roman Catholic, this is what I am used to.

On the other hand, the choral liturgy in Ukrainian which is sung so magnificently by the choir is simply breathtaking and really causes my spirit to soar. Sometimes it's nice to sit back and let the angels sing, so to speak, and feel yourself quite transported.

Sometimes I like to go attend Eastern Orthodox liturgies which are always sung by magnificent choirs and at which nobody ever seems to respond or sing or otherwise follow the celebration. Instead the worshippers mostly move about and light candles or venerate icons. I think there's perhaps something to be said for both approaches, actually.

It seems to me that the ideal liturgy would involve a mix of congregational participation and choral singing. Need it be either/or for some reason?

I think one problem, is that a stranger walks into a perfectly happy, functioning parish that is happy with either its choral liturgy or congregational singing and says, "You know what you are doing wrong?" A good response from the congregation might be, "Yes, we didn't lock the door when we saw you coming."

As the Russians say (though I was told it by a Belarussian from Poland), "don't take your old rule to your new monastery."

Change should not be imposed from the top down, but neither should abuses gain acceptance from the bottom up. The objective should always be to move deeper into the Tradition, which should always be in the mind of the bishops, and which, through proper catechesis and patient education, in the hearts of the people.