Does the Ruthenian church in America allow for this? My priest says yes, but I cannot find anything confirming this from the Eparchy of Parma or the Archeparchy of Pittsburgh.
aside from the question of the illegitimacy of the very existence of the CCEO (which has been addressed ad nauseam in other threads, so let’s not veer that direction here), current practice for the Pittsburgh nee Ruthenian Metropolia seems to be a Saturday evening liturgy rather than vespers, even among conservative clergy. In some parishes, it is the regular DL, while in others it is the so-called “vespergy”, in which an abbreviated (?) vespers cuts directly to lamp lighting and the Little Entrance.
This is not the case for our parish. In fact, our priest mentioned that he strongly dislikes this practice, invented for “pastoral reasons”, in his Christmas homily. It is definitely a latinization and a move away from recovering our traditions.Paragon468:
aside from the question of the illegitimacy of the very existence of the CCEO (which has been addressed ad nauseam in other threads, so let’s not veer that direction here), current practice for the Pittsburgh nee Ruthenian Metropolia seems to be a Saturday evening liturgy rather than vespers, even among conservative clergy. In some parishes, it is the regular DL, while in others it is the so-called “vespergy”, in which an abbreviated (?) vespers cuts directly to lamp lighting and the Little Entrance.
(historically, there is no such thing as a Saturday evening Sunday liturgy in either form; it came about as set defense when parishioners were being lost to RC parishes when they started Saturday evening liturgies).
Historically, people walked a few minutes to their parish church in the village square. They did not drive, let alone drive hours in the sparse diapsora to attend services. It is not improper to consider how to adjust services so that more rather than fewer can attend.
I don’t know if this helps, but to me it suggests Divine Liturgy is means of fulfilling the obligation: Here.
The Byzantine liturgical day starts with Vespers and ends with Ninth Hour so an evening Divine Liturgy seems OK. My late mother liked the Saturday evening Divine Liturgy because it was all in English. Occasionally she’d go to Sunday Divine Liturgy but it was part Ukrainian, part English. She was Byzantine and grew up with the Liturgy in Slavonic so she had a hard time learning Ukrainian.
In those terms, absolutely.
In her last years, my late mother like evening Divine Liturgy because she was not readily able to make services on the morning.
Very interesting. This story should dispel the idea that Church Slavonic is vernacular to Slavs.
The number of folks at our Saturday liturgy that need frequently more time, whether due to pain, arthritis, or such, or helping a spouse, is significant . . .