Breakdown of the Byzantine Divine Liturgy

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Whether you’ve never even stepped foot in an Eastern Christian Church or have attended thousands of Divine Liturgies, this video will be edifying and uplifting for you.

Learn the ins and outs of the ancient Constantinopolitan Rite (aka Byzantine aka Greek Rite) which has been continually in use and remains substantially unchanged since the 4th century A.D.

 
Looks fascinating. I love the idea of learning about the different rites and would like to attend some services in all of them so I can just see what they are like.
 
Tis_Bearself said:
Looks fascinating. I love the idea of learning about the different rites and would like to attend some services in all of them so I can just see what they are like.
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I agree.

So far I have:
Byzantine (Melkite, Ruthenian, Ukrainian, Romanian, Greek Orthodox, Russian Orthodox))
Chaldean
Maronite
Syro-Malabar

That’s all I can do in this area, but there is a Coptic Orthodox Church I might visit someday.

I guess there’s no place like home. My favorite is Ruthenian. 🙂
 
Do you just walk in and participate in a service at these churches, or do you know people there?
We used to have more such churches in my immediate area, but some have closed. Some of the others remaining have fairly small congregations, and I have some concern that if I walk in there as an unfamiliar face, I might not be welcome.
 
babochka said:
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Tis_Bearself:
Looks fascinating. I love the idea of learning about the different rites and would like to attend some services in all of them so I can just see what they are like.
Click to expand...
I agree.

So far I have:

Byzantine (Melkite, Ruthenian, Ukrainian, Romanian, Greek Orthodox, Russian Orthodox))
Chaldean
Maronite
Syro-Malabar

That’s all I can do in this area, but there is a Coptic Orthodox Church I might visit someday.

I guess there’s no place like home. My favorite is Ruthenian. 🙂
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For me:

Byzantine Catholic (Ruthenian - on and off since 2011; Melkite - Greek - 1 liturgy)

Maronite Catholic - on and off since 2010

Syro - Malabar Catholic - 2 liturgies

Greek Orthodox - 1 Divine Liturgy (2002)
 
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I love Renee’s channel! She is also in another youtube channel, New Catholic Generation.
 
Tis_Bearself said:
Do you just walk in and participate in a service at these churches, or do you know people there?
We used to have more such churches in my immediate area, but some have closed. Some of the others remaining have fairly small congregations, and I have some concern that if I walk in there as an unfamiliar face, I might not be welcome.
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Usually, I have some connection with someone or a particular reason to be there. The Maronite liturgy was in conjunction with their festival and their bishop’s visit. My priest was invited to concelebrate and he asked several of us if we’d like to go with him, so we went. I went to the Chaldean liturgy with an Iraqi friend, but she had never been to this parish either. I felt very conspicuous there , even with somebody who “belonged”. I used to occasionally go to a Greek Orthodox liturgy with a friend’s family, when we were children. When I went to the Syro-Malabar liturgy, they were having a special “come and see” event that had been heavily advertised on local parish bulletins. The others were mostly for baptisms or with friends.

I get what you mean about being afraid that you wouldn’t be welcome. You and I both know in our heads that that’s not true, that we are welcome in any Catholic Church anywhere. But many people in Eastern Rite churches, particularly those that remain quite ethnic, can tend to be a little curious or confused about why an outsider would come. This isn’t the case with my very tiny Parish. In fact, we probably come on too strong for an introvert. But we love our tradition and are so excited to be able to share it with somebody. And, with only 17 families in the parish, we just get excited when somebody new comes and we hope they will love the tradition as much as we do, and stay around awhile.
 
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Tis_Bearself said:
Do you just walk in and participate in a service at these churches, or do you know people there?
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I think most of your Greek Catholics are friendly enough people, and won’t get down on visitors.

Besides, a lot of these churches have small congregations because the descendants of the people who started the parish moved away, and/or married Latin rite women. Their long term prospects are probably not that great, America is unlikely to get a major wave of immigration from Ukraine or Romania any time soon, and even if we did, the new immigrants are unlikely to settle in dying mill and mining communities that peaked in 1920.
 
Augustinian said:
I think most of your Greek Catholics are friendly enough people, and won’t get down on visitors.
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Amazingly hospitable, in my experience. I felt like I was intruding the first couple of times, but the hospitality is very real. (What, let a visitor leave without a few hundred calories???) 🙂

And that’s even before you get to the middle eastern groups . . .

I was the Knights of Columbus honor guard at the dedication of the Maronite parish here. My whole family swept aside, and plied with the various items from their Lebanese (food) festival outside.

And when I showed up for the Melkite mission at my parish, similarly so.

hawk

p.s. My father in law used to say that all he wanted on his gravestone was “He was a good host” (which he was indeed).
 
My friends were crowned in a beautiful byzantine ceremony. Later on, the same priest who married them assisted the bishop in baptizing their firstborn son. I’ve been about 3 or 4 times to a regular liturgy and twice for the aforementioned special occasions. I love it each time I go! I am thinking about eventually ‘going east’ but I also love my latin rite parish. Decisions, decisions!
 
EqualinHim said:
I love it each time I go! I am thinking about eventually ‘going east’ but I also love my latin rite parish. Decisions, decisions!
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I think if it wasn’t for the internet, there would be a lot fewer Byzantine churches left in the United States.

People can see it and discuss it online before stepping foot into the church. Its not a matter of just stepping forward into an unfamiliar place with a group of older people. So many of the Byzantine people - so many of all of the people really- that came to America for industry scattered away from their established churches. For Latin rite people, its all over the country, not so much for eastern folks.

The internet help publicize to non-eastern ethnics living near established churches- as well as provides a mechanism for those who may have grown up Byzantine but moved to Mississippi or South Carolina, far from any BC churches to reconnect and form new churches.
 
What is everyone’s favorite part of the eastern liturgy? I like “Axion Estin” (“It is Truly Meet”)
 
EqualinHim said:
What is everyone’s favorite part of the eastern liturgy? I like “Axion Estin” (“It is Truly Meet”)
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I like Psalm 141 in the Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts - “let my prayer ascend to you like incense…”


Also, the prayer before Communion.

Paschal Matins, Forgiveness Vespers, and the Divine Liturgy for Pascha are my favorites.
 
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