For Eastern Catholics

[mardukm]

Dear Eastern brethren,

I used to think there was only one Eastern Tradition - Byzantine. I read recently that there is what is called “slavo-Byzantine” and another Byzantine Tradition. I forget the name of that other Byzantine Tradition, but it is the one of which the Melkite Church is part.

Also, are there any other Eastern Churches of that specific Byzantine Tradition besides the Melkites?

Blessings,
Marduk

 

[ThatOneGuy92]

Dear Eastern brethren,

I used to think there was only one Eastern Tradition - Byzantine. I read recently that there is what is called “slavo-Byzantine” and another Byzantine Tradition. I forget the name of that other Byzantine Tradition, but it is the one of which the Melkite Church is part.

Also, are there any other Eastern Churches of that specific Byzantine Tradition besides the Melkites?

Blessings,
Marduk

I’m not Eastern by any means- at least, officially - but I’ll take a stab at it.

I am thinking that “slavo-Byzantine” merely is referring to the specific traditions that the Byzantine Churches of the Slavic peoples (and those influenced by them) follow. This might include different colored vestments than others, slightly different sounding hymns, etc. Little “t” traditions, not Tradition.

As for the Melkites, they came from the Antiochian Orthodox (to my knowledge, anyways). Thus they might share some similarities with then Antiochians, though I’m not sure to be honest. Perhaps someone who is Melkite can correct me

 

[Diakonia]

I used to think there was only one Eastern Tradition - Byzantine. I read recently that there is what is called “slavo-Byzantine” and another Byzantine Tradition. I forget the name of that other Byzantine Tradition, but it is the one of which the Melkite Church is part.

Also, are there any other Eastern Churches of that specific Byzantine Tradition besides the Melkites?

Within the Byzantine Rite, there are 2 Traditions (Capital ‘T’):

the Byzantine Slav Tradition:
the Byzantine Greek Tradition.

Within the Byzantine Slav Tradition, there are 3 Rescensions:

the Great Russian Rescension;
the Ruthenian (or Little Russian) Rescension;
the Romanian Rescension.

*some people would argue that ‘Great Russian’ should be termed ‘the Nikonian Rescension’ and that a 4th should be listed, ‘the Pre-Nikonian Rescension’ - others would say that the Great Russian Rescension, instead, should be broken down into 2 Usages - 1 being Nikonian, 1 being pre-Nikonian

Within the Byzantine Greek Tradition, there are 4 Rescensions:

the Greek Rescension;
the Greico-Arabic Rescension;
the Greico-Georgian Rescension;
the Greico-Italian Rescension.

The Melkites are the only Church that serves according to the Greico-Arabic Rescension, but you wouldn’t find a whole lot of difference among the Rescensions in the Byzantine Greek Tradition - except for the Greico-Georgian, but that Rescension is extinct among Eastern Catholics as there isn’t any longer a Georgian Greek Catholic Church.

 

[ThatOneGuy92]

Within the Byzantine Rite, there are 2 Traditions (Capital ‘T’):

the Byzantine Slav Tradition:
the Byzantine Greek Tradition.

Within the Byzantine Slav Tradition, there are 3 Rescensions:

the Great Russian Rescension;
the Ruthenian (or Little Russian) Rescension;
the Romanian Rescension.

*some people would argue that ‘Great Russian’ should be termed ‘the Nikonian Rescension’ and that a 4th should be listed, ‘the Pre-Nikonian Rescension’ - others would say that the Great Russian Rescension, instead, should be broken down into 2 Usages - 1 being Nikonian, 1 being pre-Nikonian

Within the Byzantine Greek Tradition, there are 4 Rescensions:

the Greek Rescension;
the Greico-Arabic Rescension;
the Greico-Georgian Rescension;
the Greico-Italian Rescension.

The Melkites are the only Church that serves according to the Greico-Arabic Rescension, but you wouldn’t find a whole lot of difference among the Rescensions in the Byzantine Greek Tradition - except for the Greico-Georgian, but that Rescension is extinct among Eastern Catholics as there isn’t any longer a Georgian Greek Catholic Church.

Wowzers! Thanks for all that information, Diakonia!

 

[Phillip_Rolfes]

To Diakonia’s wonderful post I would add only one point, the Romanian usage is really it’s own can of % C at times more closely reflecting the Greek Recension, and at other times more closely reflecting the Slavic Recension. This is reflected both in chant and practice depending on what part of Romania the parish is in or, in the States, in what part of Romania the parish originated. Some Romanian parish still use very Byzantine(Greek) chant, while in thers, particularly those in the north, it is most common to hear prostepinja (spelling?) sung.

As far as liturgical practices are concerned, a monk once told me that the Romanians compare the Greek and Slavic Recensions, then choose whichever is longest. I repeated this to Bishop John Michael Botean (Romanian Catholic Diocese of St. George in Canton, OH.) who laughed and said that it’s pretty much true.

 

[Diakonia]

Thanks for the kind comments. However, most everything I posted (and a lot more) can be read in greater detail in a stickied reference thread at the top of this forum - see the 2nd through 5th posts in this thread. (Some of the subsequent material there, in which the principal hierarch of each Church is named, is dated, however.)

Mr Rolfes is essentially correct as regards the Romanians not being totally consistent in their liturgical usage. As noted in the linked thread, the Eparchy of Maramoras of the Romanians serves according to the Ruthenian (Little Russian) Rescension, while the remainder of the Major Archepiscopal Church principally serves according to its own Rescension.