First Eastern Rite Experience

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Today I went to a small Ukrainian Church in my town that I had never been too. It was my first personal experience with an Eastern Rite Church. It was a fantastic even though it was not sung!
 
mwscott said:
Today I went to a small Ukrainian Church in my town that I had never been too. It was my first personal experience with an Eastern Rite Church. It was a fantastic even though it was not sung!
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I’m very glad that it touched you so. Not everyone, (though most in my experience) are moved by this beautiful Liturgy. Now if you can attend a Divine Liturgy that is beautifully sung, you will hear the angels lifting you up in song. I appreciate services whether they be Norvus Ordo, Tridentine, Slavonic Eastern Rite, and Arabic Eastern Rite (the 4 I attend frequently). A beautifully sung liturgy certainly has its place and purpose in lifting us closer to the Divine. I hope you continue to explore.
 
mwscott said:
Today I went to a small Ukrainian Church in my town that I had never been too. It was my first personal experience with an Eastern Rite Church. It was a fantastic even though it was not sung!
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Beautiful. I’m Ukrainian Catholic and am glad that you found the Liturgy, though unsung, “fantastic”. 👍

Nice to hear!

God Bless.
 
I’m puzzled about why it was recited. This is not really the Eastern practice.
 
bpbasilphx said:
I’m puzzled about why it was recited. This is not really the Eastern practice.
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I think this happens more often in “small” churches, as the OP mentioned attending a small parish. I think usually it has more to do with a cantor possibly not being comfortable singing, or because there is a “sung” Liturgy later or earlier in the day.
 
Yeah there was only 12 people in the congregation including my mother and I. While I was speaking with the priest afterward he mentioned to me that he regretted they couldn’t sing because there was so little people. I suppose person who normally lead the singing was not in attendance.

The priest is rather fascinating. He is originally from India, he was first ordained into the Latin Rite and later became a Ukrainian Priest. I do not know how he became bi-ritual but he is a rather unique priest being a Ukrainian Priest, from India, living in America.
 
mwscott said:
Yeah there was only 12 people in the congregation including my mother and I. While I was speaking with the priest afterward he mentioned to me that he regretted they couldn’t sing because there was so little people. I suppose person who normally lead the singing was not in attendance.

The priest is rather fascinating. He is originally from India, he was first ordained into the Latin Rite and later became a Ukrainian Priest. I do not know how he became bi-ritual but he is a rather unique priest being a Ukrainian Priest, from India, living in America.
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Wow. Believable enough. I’ve seen Portugese Ukrainian Catholic priests, Irish, and a bunch of others but this is the farthest, and in Ohio no less.

God Bless You!

Religious Greeting: Slava Isusu Khrystu! (“Glory Be to Jesus Christ” in ukrainian).
Response: Slava Na Viky (“Glory Forever”).

which changes during Christmas to the Christmas greeting:

Khrystos Rozhdayetsia! (Christ Is Born!)
Slavimo Yoho! (Let Us Glorify Him!).

🙂
 
\Yeah there was only 12 people in the congregation including my mother and I. While I was speaking with the priest afterward he mentioned to me that he regretted they couldn’t sing because there was so little people. I suppose person who normally lead the singing was not in attendance.\

The local Melkite parish sings with fewer people than that–sometiems 5 or 6–at a weekday liturgy all the time.
 
bpbasilphx said:
\Yeah there was only 12 people in the congregation including my mother and I. While I was speaking with the priest afterward he mentioned to me that he regretted they couldn’t sing because there was so little people. I suppose person who normally lead the singing was not in attendance.\

The local Melkite parish sings with fewer people than that–sometiems 5 or 6–at a weekday liturgy all the time.
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There is a rather large UGCC parish on theNW end of Chicago.

The two Ukrainian DL’s are sung, the English DL is recited, it is also poorly attended. Now one can argue whether it is recited because attendance is low, or whether attendance is low because it is recited, but I think there is a vicious cycle of some sort at work here.

The assimilated younger generation anglophone Ukrainian Catholics in the USA are noticeably dissolving into the wider culture at an alarming rate so low attendance is almost a given for some older parishes. What is sustaining many of these parishes is immigration, but that ebbs and flows over time.

It is heartwarming indeed to see new people interested in the Liturgy of Ss John Chrysostom/Basil the Great.
 
Btw, this was the liturgy of John Chrysostom and it was in English.
 
Glory be to Jesus Christ! Welcome to the Ukrainian Catholic Church!!!

Hopefully you will be able to attend a sung Liturgy sometime. The melodies of Galician and Kyivan chant sung in our Ukrainian Catholic parishes are truly beautiful. Or even better, learn the music yourself and pitch in!
Wow. Believable enough. I’ve seen Portugese Ukrainian Catholic priests, Irish, and a bunch of others but this is the farthest, and in Ohio no less.
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We have a Filipino, an Argentinian, several Brazilian as well as Canadian and Australian priests working in our Ukrainian Catholic Eparchy.
 
Diak said:
We have a Filipino, an Argentinian, several Brazilian as well as Canadian and Australian priests working in our Ukrainian Catholic Eparchy.
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Slava Isusu Khrystu!

Hey, maybe we are growing universally! By the way Father Deacon, I just noticed this link on your contact list but don’t know why you did not put it in your signature? 🙂

To anyone interested further in Church matters check out this wonderful site! I just found out about it today and it links to many sources of information on Ukrainian Catholicism and the Church in general.

stirenaeus.net/index.htm

Very informative indeed about the Church and set up very nicely. It’s nice to know such sites exist when you are desperately searching for information.

God Bless. 🙂
 
mwscott said:
Btw, this was the liturgy of John Chrysostom and it was in English.
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For some reason, it seems that the English Divine Liturgies tend to be recited instead of sung. I’ve this at the Ukrainian Catholic parish here where I live as well as at the Shrine in DC…😦
 
I’ve been raised in the Eastern Rite church. (Ruthenian, to be exact.)

I love it!
 
One nice thing about the new Anthology is that it puts English text and music in one’s hands and with some minimal musical background the Liturgy is easily sung in English. The accompanying CDs are also helpful if one is more of a “by ear” learner.
 
Diak said:
One nice thing about the new Anthology is that it puts English text and music in one’s hands and with some minimal musical background the Liturgy is easily sung in English. The accompanying CDs are also helpful if one is more of a “by ear” learner.
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And I noticed it came with a non-too-subtle recommendation from Patriarch Lubomyr!

He told his clergy to use any languages necessary, not only English, but Spanish and others, as was needed to minister.
 
I also attended my first Eastern rite Divine Liturgy (Qurbono) at a Maronite Catholic Church on the Sunday after Christmas. Some parts of the Liturgy were recited and others sung. The Liturgy was mostly in English, but some of the prayers and songs were in Syriac. While it was a beautiful experience and I truly enjoyed it, I was surprised of the many similarities with the Roman Church and Latin rite Mass (I guess I was expecting something different).

I was hoping to see more Holy Icons at the church, but they only had one of the Theotokos at the altar (this was handed to a family at the end of the Divine Liturgy for them to pray for the priest). I believe they had a statute, which surprised me since I thought they would only have Icons. There was an Antiochene Cross (three bar cross) above the altar and a smaller crucifix to the side. All in all it was a great experience and I would like to attend again. I would also like to attend a Byzantine Divine Liturgy, since I’ve heard they’re very beautiful, especially when sung. I normally attend a Latin rite Mass (Novo Ordo/Ordinary Form), but I want to learn more about the different Eastern rite Divine Liturgies. Unfortunately, there are no Eastern Catholic parishes close to where I live; only Eastern Orthodox (Greek and OCA).
 
Ad_Gentes said:
I also attended my first Eastern rite Divine Liturgy (Qurbono) at a Maronite Catholic Church on the Sunday after Christmas. Some parts of the Liturgy were recited and others sung. The Liturgy was mostly in English, but some of the prayers and songs were in Syriac. While it was a beautiful experience and I truly enjoyed it, I was surprised of the many similarities with the Roman Church and Latin rite Mass (I guess I was expecting something different).

I was hoping to see more Holy Icons at the church, but they only had one of the Theotokos at the altar (this was handed to a family at the end of the Divine Liturgy for them to pray for the priest). I believe they had a statute, which surprised me since I thought they would only have Icons. There was an Antiochene Cross (three bar cross) above the altar and a smaller crucifix to the side. All in all it was a great experience and I would like to attend again. I would also like to attend a Byzantine Divine Liturgy, since I’ve heard they’re very beautiful, especially when sung. I normally attend a Latin rite Mass (Novo Ordo/Ordinary Form), but I want to learn more about the different Eastern rite Divine Liturgies. Unfortunately, there are no Eastern Catholic parishes close to where I live; only Eastern Orthodox (Greek and OCA).
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It sounds very much like you were expecting Byzantine Rite, whe you got Syriac rite instead.

There are, broadly, 6 rites: Armenian, Alexandrian (Coptic, Ethiopian, Eritrean), East Syrian (Chaldean), West Syrian (Antiochene), Byzantine (Constantinopolitan), and Roman.

The Maronites are, IIRC, West Syrian. Iconography is only recently returning to common use in the Syrian churches. Plus the Maronites are notorious for Latinzations… And the current Maronite Quorbono is about the closest to the Roman OF missal in structure and rubrics of the various EC liturgies.
 
We use ancient forms yet we do so in the modern world: we seek a way to bridge the gap between our modern senses and our ancient faith. In doing so we welcome the risk of doubt, and the growth God gives us as we experience life together. Our worship expresses our experience using the forms of New Skete monastery (Eastern Orthodox) and St Gregory of Nyssa parish (Episcopalian) in the music of a wide spectrum of Christian traditions.

In the East (and Orient) the Church (in the person of the priest) confers the sacrament. But there are conditions on the part of the recipients to the validity of the sacrament and so yes, it’s possible that one or another of those conditions was not met. It is impossible for the priest to be 100% accurate in determining whether all of the conditions are met. For example, maybe one of the parties lied to the priest about intent. Or perhaps one (or both) was under external pressure and had no interest in marrying. There are, of course, others. In any case, that is at least part of the reason why the Orthodox (OO and EO) maintain a process for a canonical annulment, since in fact the conditions were not met and thus a valid union never existed.

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I would also like to attend a Byzantine Divine Liturgy said:
‘DO’ go to the Orthodox churches on Sunday as well, (don’t replace this with your Catholic obligation though), and broaden your ‘Eastern’ experience. In fact I recommend this for all Catholics. You will find vast differences between the Rites. For myself, -over many years-, I have come to better understand the different cultures and their means of celebrating the Divine Liturgy. My own children have a much better understanding of their own rite by having attended many different expressions of the Eastern Liturgy. God bless.
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