www.byzcath.org Forums Faith & Christian Life Faith & Theology Ukrainian rule of prayer?

Glory to God for all things!

Dear friends,

Can one speak of a Ukrainian rule of prayer? I have noticed that several of the Byzantine Catholic and Orthodox churches have produced English translations of their daily prayers (Russians, Serbians, Greeks, Syrians, Carpatho-Rusyns.) The Ukrainians have not. Aside from books of church services (liturgy, baptism, crowning, panachyda, etc.) Such a book of daily prayers (morning, evening, mealtime, Communion, etc.) is currently not in print. Would either a Russian or a Carpatho-Rusyn book be similar to a Ukrainian prayer book?

Presviataya Bogoroditse Fatimskaya, spasi nas.
RusOrthCath martyrs and confessors, pray for us.

I have a bunch in Old Slavonic but published by ukies from my uncle when he was at the seminary. My Divine Friend had a bunch along with Liturgy but its riddled with Latin stuff. The Ukrainian Orthodox have a good one. It has everything, but it's in Ukrainian. My pastor gave me the Byzantine Book of Prayer from the Ruthenians. He said he uses that and it has all of the home personal prayers. Maybe other Ukies can help us out here.

ukrainiancatholic
p.s. Your prayer at the bottom is in Russian and therefore wouldn't be in any Ukrainian books

[ 06-11-2002: Message edited by: ukrainiancatholic ]

Glory to Jesus Christ!

Thank you, ukrainiancatholic,

A number of younger Ukrainian Catholics have inquired about the existence of a Ukrainian prayer book in English. I am not surprised to learn that at least one Ukrainian Catholic priest in the U.S. uses the Byzantine Book of Prayer. The traditions are so close.

Perhaps, you could provide me with a proper transciption of the Ukrainian version of my prayer to the Bogoroditza Fatimskaya?

Presviataya Bohorodytse Fatyms'ka, spasy nas.
Ukrainian Orthodox-Catholic martyrs and confessors, pray for us.

Maybe try the Basilian Press up in Canada eh? I have never heard a prayer to the Lady of Fatima except yours in Ukrainian (Presviataya Bohorodytse Fatyms'ka, spasy nas).


Actually come to think of it, I have never noticed a Fatima devotion amoungst Ukrainian Catholics. I know we have a church in Lourdes but I dont know about Fatima. But back on topic, try the Basilian Press or ask Fr. Oleh.

uc

Paul, the Basilian Press in Toronto publishes several Ukrainian Catholic prayer books, including the Molitvoslov, which has most of the Hours, Vespers and Matins as well as Troparia and Kondakia for most of the year. And there are some Old Slavonic books from Rome still available.

Also St. Demetrius parish in Toronto has published its own Divine Liturgy Book for children in Ukrainian and English which has some prayers for various activities during the day as well as a short catechism.

I still think the Old Believer prayer book out of Erie, Pennsylvania is one of the best "one stop shop" prayer books for these that you mention. Also the Ukrainian Orthodox have a nice English/Ukrainian prayer book out now with many various prayers.

Diak, is the prayer book from Canada similar to the "Liturgy of the Hours" of the Latin Church? I have the four volume set, and didn't know if it was compatible with Byzantine hours. Is there a specific "Liturgy of the Hours" for the Byzantine Church? What is its name, and where would I find a set?

Thank you!

Rich

Dear Rich,

The "Molitvoslov" is a breviary as it contains the basic elements needed to do the Hours.

It is in Ukrainian, however, and is much shortened. For example, the canons are often reduced to the 9th ode only!

To do the full Horologion or Hours properly one would need several liturgical books. One would need a Horologion for the basic outline of the Hours, the weekly and Sunday Octoechos that St John of Kronstadt Press publishes in English, and a Psalter as a minimum.

Fr. John Whiteford has translated the Reader's Service Horologion, and his site has other on-line liturgical resources.

Just search under "Orthodox Liturgical Resources" and his site will come up.

Alex

Dear Paul,

The rule of prayer for Ukrainian Catholics really reflects the liturgical orientation of individuals.

Those of a pro-Latin or western orientation would probably not know what you mean by "Rule of prayer" at first.

They would say the basic outline prayer found in prayerbooks, the daily prayers, and would add a Rosary etc.

Those of the pro-Byzantine orientation would probably use prayerbooks published by Jordanville et al. read Akathists and Canons and recite the Jesus Prayer with prostrations.

"Presvyata Bohoroditse Fatimska, spasy nas."

However, as I said before, the "Fatimska" or any other reference to a particular event or icon of the Mother of God is not liturgically proper to include in the Panahia prayer.

A troparion would be more proper.

Alex

Glory to Jesus Christ!

Dear friends,

Thank you for your posts. I have failed to make myself clear. I have two questions.

1) Is there anything about the layout, selection of prayers, etc. of Ukrainian prayer manuals which is distinctive from Russian, Serbian, Greek, etc. manuals? Can one speak of a distinctly "Ukrainian Byzantine/Orthodox rule(s) of prayer?" Or, are the Slavonic/Ukrainian prayer books used by Ukrainians mostly similar to those used by Greeks, Antiochians, Bulgarians, Serbians, Carpatho-Rusyns, etc.?

Alex, your latest post seems to indicate that there is no "Ukrainian Rule of Prayer." Is this correct?

2) Any suggestions for Ukrainians who prefer to employ Englsh prayer books?

Diak, thnk you for telling me about the Ukrainian Orthodox prayer book.

Presviatya Bogoroditse Faimskaya, spasi nas.
RusOrthCath martyrs and confessors, pray for us.

Dear Paul,

Yes, I suggested that prayer rules among Ukrainian Catholics differ in terms of the "pro-Latin" and "pro-Byzantine" orientations that do characterize our Church, much like the liturgical/theological divisions within Anglicanism.

The Ukrainian "Pro-Byzantines" would follow much of what the Serbians, Russians and others would do.

In terms of English prayer books in the Ukrainian tradition, I must say I don't like their English.

I also don't like their modern Ukrainian, or what they say is modern Ukrainian either.

Fr. John Whiteford's liturgical translations are a careful series that pays fine attention to the literary nuances of Old Church Slavonic and I cannot recommend his work highly enough.

Alex

Dear Discerning, the closest thing we have to the four-volume Roman breviary in Slavic Eastern Catholic usage in English is the five-volume set of books published by the Sisters of St. Basil the Great in Uniontown, Pennsylvania. These are, (1)Vespers, (2) Matins, (3)Triodion (Sunday of Zaccheus through the midnight service of Pascha), (4) Pentecostarion (Paschal Matins through the first sunday after Pentecost which we call Sunday of All Saints) and the Festal Menaion which covers all of the major fixed feast days. Even this five volume set is abbreviated (believe it or not) especially in the Menaion which has abbreviated many of the Matins canons and the Triodion which has abbreviated some Matins canons and does not include some Great Compline canons among other things...

There are several sources of books for Orthodox usage, including New Skete, St. John of Kronstadt Press, Holy Transfiguration Monastery in Massachusetts, etc. in addition to that Alex has mentioned above. Just in terms of a "carry-on" prayer book, somewhat pocket sized, I love the Old Believer prayer book from Erie, Pennsylvania. This book has the general form of the "little hours" of the day which would correspond somewhat to Prime, Terce, Sext, and None, which are some of the best offices in the Byzantine tradition for solo recitation.

You can see that to get a "complete" set of liturgical offices for the year is really quite a task! And if you throw in the various molebens, akafists and other occasional services, there really is no single individual source of texts in English in either Eastern Catholic or Orthodox usage. You will have to mix and match from several sources...this is the Byzantine way, get used to it...God bless

Paul, actually since the Union of Brest occurred before the Nikonian liturgical reforms, we Ukrainian Catholics should all be using the Old Believer rule of prayer
Just had to get that one in...
Subdeacon Randolph, a sinner

Dear Diak,

Yes, I too cherish the Old Believer prayer book and I understand that they are now working on a fuller Horologion as well.

Your point on the Old Rite in Ukraine is interesting and Met. Ilarion Ohienko commented on this in his works.

The two-fingered Sign of the Cross ("Dvoperstiye") actually never came into the Ukrainian Orthodox Church in the 17th century or before.

The Kyivan ties to the Greek Church were simply too strong for that to have happened. The Ukrainian Saint Dmytro Tuptalenko and others wrote quite scathing critiques of the Old Believers, denying, for example, that the Church ever sanctioned the use of the Christogram for laity etc.

This practice and other aspects of the Old Believers seem to have been a uniquely Russian phenomenon.

Even Patriarch Nicon was himself a Hellenophile to the point of preferring Greek over Russian food!

He considered a number of Russian practices substandard because they did not conform to the Greek which he held above all.

Of course, the Tsar wished to become Emperor of all the Orthodox, so that was his stake in promoting the Niconian reforms.

St Peter Mohyla addressed the Old Believer schism by essentially creating a uniquely Kyivan Sign of the Cross.

Using the three fingers, we invoke the Holy Trinity as per usual. Then we say the Jesus Prayer, the Old Believer's words for the Sign of the Cross, immediately following. This is how Mohyla laid down the Slavic Sign of the Cross in his Catechism.

And of course the use of the Jesus Prayer in making the three-fingered Sign of the Cross was also permitted.

Alex

There were pockets of Old Believers well into parts of Western Ukraine - a sizeable one in Bukhovyna. This is well outside of the original areas served by Archpriest Avvakum. Perhaps they were the descendants of those who fled Tsarist oppression and suppression of their practices?

Excellent point about Metropolitan Petro Mohyla, in his usual genius he synthesized practices with economia into a uniquely Kyivan way...

Metropolitan Sheptytsky certainly tried to reach out to the Old Believers through Fr. Eustachy Susalev, an Old Believer priest who was also a fan of Soloviev and later became Greek Catholic...and it is interesting that there were some Old Ritual Greek Catholic missions served by Father Susalev until they were apparently all wiped out during the Soviet era...do you think we could re-vitalize the Old Ritual within our Church? I've already got the beard and the sorochka/rubashka...Just dreaming...
Subdeacon Randolph, a sinner

Dear Diak,

You've touched on a number of fascinating points.

Yes, the Old Believers escaped into Ukraine beginning with the persecutions of Tsar Alexei IV.

Ukraine was historically a "holding tank" for all sorts of sects, including the Socinians!

These groups were not persecuted in Ukraine, there was plenty of wheat and bread to go around and they were left alone.

Even the Pochaiv Lavra at one time published the Old Believer liturgical and catechetical books (see Met. Ilarion Ohienko's work on the Lavra where he includes an entire list of these books).

The Old Believers had quite the devotion to the three-bar Orthodox Cross and believed, unlike the Niconian Church, that this was the only valid Cross. They regarded the one-bar Cross as "Latin Chrismo." In Ukraine, no one was going to argue with them over what kind of Cross they preferred!

It is no wonder that their eventual renewal as a Church with the Priesthood began in Ukraine at Bila Krinitsa.

I've also collaborated with an Old Believer living in Kyiv on a video about their history and I'm very pleased to say the fellow included my name among the credits at the end! Cool or what?

Certainly, not only Andrew Sheptytsky, but Patriarch Joseph the Confessor also promoted the Old Rite within the Ukrainian Catholic Church and the Patriarch was accepted as the spiritual pastor of a number of Old Believer groups in Siberia - he made mention of this several times when he got out of captivity.

For the Patriarch, his Church was not only for Ukrainians, but was the Church of Kyivan-Rus' that includes Belarusyns, Russians, Siberians, Old Believers etc.

We Ukrainian Catholics have lost this vision in our self-imposed ethnic limitations.

Alex