www.byzcath.org Forums Faith & Christian Life Faith & Theology UGCC Vs. Ruthenian Prayer Before Communion?

I recently had the opportunity to finally attend the UGCC Divine Liturgy.

The only glaring difference I noted from the Ruthenian Byzantine Divine Liturgy was one paragraph from the Prayer Before Communion

Was this a "Latinization" of the original Liturgy, deleted after a recent revision?

Was it included prior to the 1999 revision of the UGCC Liturgy?

Any details appreciated.

--Brian

Brian,

This prayer varies among all Byzantine Churches, Catholic and Orthodox. The version used by the Pittsburgh Metropolia is longer than most and was one of the concessions asked for by and granted to Bishop Daniel. Whether it is a Latinization or just a peculiarity of the Rusyns I could not say.

Fr. Deacon Lance

The Byzantine Ruthenian version is the same as the version used at the local ACROD parish.

Brian,

Slava Isusu Christu.

Your posting has me a bit confused. I attend a Byzantine Catholic Ruthenian parish in Florida and we say what you posted:

quote:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
O Lord, I also believe and profess that this, which I am about to receive, is truly Your most precious Body and Your life-giving Blood, which, I pray, make me worthy to receive for the remission of all my sins and for life everlasting. Amen
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


How is that different from what you hear in the local Ruthenian Church?

Here is our Communion Prayer [stanne-byzcath.org] :

PRIEST & PEOPLE: O Lord, I believe and profess that You are truly Christ, the Son of the living God, Who came into the world to save sinner, of whom I am the first. Accept me as a partaker of Your mystical supper, O Son of God; for I will not reveal Your mysteries to Your enemies, nor will I give You a kiss as did Judas, but like the thief I confess to You:

Remember me, O Lord, when You shall come into Your kingdom.
Remember me, O Master, when You shall come into Your kingdom.
Remember me, O Holy One, when You shall come into Your kingdom.

May the partaking of Your Holy Mysteries, O Lord, be not for my judgment or condemnation, but for the healing of soul and body.

O Lord, I also believe and profess that this, which I am about to receive, is truly Your most precious Body and Your life-giving Blood, which I pray, make me worthy to receive for the remission of all my sins and for life everlasting. Amen.

O God, be merciful to me, a sinner.
O God, cleanse me of my sins and have mercy on me.
O Lord, forgive me, for I have sinned without number.

In Christ, Michael

Levkulic 1978:

O Lord, I believe and profess that You are truly Christ, the Son of the living God, Who came into the world to save sinner, of whom I am the first. Accept me as a partaker of Your mystical supper, O Son of God; for I will not reveal Your mysteries to Your enemies, nor will I give You a kiss as did Judas, but like the thief I confess to You:

Remember me, O Lord, when You shall come into Your kingdom.
Remember me, O Master, when You shall come into Your kingdom.
Remember me, O Holy One, when You shall come into Your kingdom.

May the partaking of Your Holy Mysteries, O Lord, be not for my judgment or condemnation, but for the healing of soul and body.

O Lord, I also believe and profess that this, which I am about to receive, is truly Your most precious Body and Your life-giving Blood, which I pray, make me worthy to receive for the remission of all my sins and for life everlasting. Amen.

O God, be merciful to me, a sinner.
O God, cleanse me of my sins and have mercy on me.
O Lord, forgive me, for I have sinned without number.

From the 1988 Liturgikon and pew books published by the UGCC Synod:

O Lord, I believe and profess that You are truly Christ, the Son of the living God, Who came into the world to save sinner, of whom I am first. Accept me this day, O Son of God, as a partaker of Your Mystical Supper. I will not tell the mystery to your enemies, nor will I give You a kiss as did Judas, but like the thief, I confess to You:
Remember me, O Lord, when You come into Your kingdom.
Remember me, O Master, when You come into Your kingdom.
Remember me, O Holy One, when You come into Your kingdom.

May the partaking of Your Holy Mysteries, O Lord, be unto me not for judgement or condemnation, but for the healing of soul and body.
God, be merciful to me, a sinner.
God, cleanse me of my sins and have mercy on me.
I have sinned without number, forgive me, O Lord.

Very similar indeed in overall content, but I think perhaps gramatically the UGCC version is more proper.

To compare, the version from the 1984 St. Tikhon's OCA pew book:

I believe, O Lord, and confess that Thou art truly the Christ, the Son of the living God, who camest into the world to save sinners, of whom I am first. I believe also that this is truly Thine own most pure Body, and that this is truly Thine own precious Blood. Therefore, I pray Thee: have mercy upon me and forgive my transgressions both voluntary and involuntary, of word and deed, committed in knowledge or in ignorance. And make me worthy to partake without condemnation of Thy most pure Mysteries, for the remission of my sins, and unto life everlasting. Amen.

Of Thy Mystical Supper, O Son of God, accept me today as a communicant; for I will not speak of Thy Mystery to Thine enemies, neither like Judas will I give Thee a kiss; but like the thief will I confess Thee: Remember me, O Lord, in Thy Kingdom.

May the communion of Thy Holy Mysteries be neither to my judgement, nor to my condemnation, O Lord, but to the healing of soul and body.

While the English is more archaic in the Erie Old Rite (Old Believer) prayer book, it is very similar in content to the OCA version.

From the GOA site goarch.org

I just to point out the similarities and differences, not to comment on the "silently" instruction.

Doc, you will note that the paragraph

in the BCC, but not in the UGCC version is present in an elaborated form in the GOA prayer ...

... and in the OCA prayer.
It is thus probably not a Latinization.

My apologies; looking back over my original post, I realize that my question was not at all clear!

What I noted was that in the UGCC prayer before communion, this paragraph was completely missing:

It has been said as part of the prayer before communion in every Ruthenian Byzantine church I have ever attended.

My question was, then, whether this paragraph was ADDED to the Ruthenian Byzantine prayer before communion as a Latinization, or if it was always present in the prayer before communion in the eastern rite Divine Liturgies.

If the latter, why was it removed in the UGCC liturgy? Was it only just removed in the 1999 revision, or does it go farther back? When was the last revision in which it was included, and could it be put back?

For those interested, I suggest comparing the text of this prayer - in Church-Slavonic - with various prayers in various collections of Communion prayers in Church-Slavonic from various sources. Comparing English translations with other English translations is likely to add to the confusion.

Incognitus

Argh

Incognitus - there are many of us , sadly , who do not know Church Slavonic - so we can only compare English versions

Anhelyna - the unlettered

For those who can read OCS I have uploaded a document with three versions. The .pdf can be found here [pivets.plus.com] . The three versions are: Old Believer, Orthodox (OCA) and Ruthenian Rescension (UGCC & BCC).

Σώσον, Κύριε, καί διαφύλαξον η�άς από τών Βασιλιάνικων τάξεων!

ISTM that the English versions of the OCA and UGCC prayers are very close to the OS OCA and Ruthenian versions. The Old Believer version has a few diferences with the OCA OS version, but does include the statemetn of thereal presence in the same place as the OCA prayer.

Doc Brian asked:
The questions are hard to answer without expertise inthe history of the liturgy. But, from the Ruthenian OS, it must be said that is has not been "always present". At the same time, given the Old Beleivers prayers, it is unclear whether its absence in the Ruthenian and UGCC prayer represents a lack of addition (at some early time), or a deletion. In any case, even if the paragraph is a late addition to the BC prayer, it is not clear that it could be called a Latinization given its presence in prayers of the Old Believers, as well as the OCA, GOA, ...

Is it possible that the Ruthenian version in Slavonic was based on more contemporary Nikonian Russian sources, and the English translation represent a pre-Nikonian textual hold-out? (Remember, we did not start using the Nikonian Slavic texts until the 19th Century, and we still have may pre-Nikonian texts that remain, particularly well known and popular hymns and prayers.)

In Christ,
Adam

Dear akemner: I would suggest that your idea woudl be difficult to reconcile with the similarity of the OCA and Old Believer prayers.

Here is the prayer from and Antiochian website
http://www.peterpaul.net/services/communion%20prayer.htm
Apart form some quirks (wherefore?) this is very much like the OCA.

Does anyone know the historical origins of these prayers?