How to approach my parish priest regarding Latinizations

[5Loaves]

As a follow-up, I asked the priest by email why the epiclesis is omitted. He responded by saying that it is not; it is simply said quietly. I am not sure if I believe him entirely, as he uses a mic and we can hear every other prayer.

Thinking your priest would lie to you is unfortunate…

I would concur with others who have said it is not unusual for these prayers to be inaudible to the faithful, in fact the rubrics in some Churches clearly specify that they are said quietly. We have a Ruthenian monk priest who occasionally celebrates for us. Even in our tiny chapel these prayers are inaudible except for a few words when he celebrates. I’ve seldom heard them in an Orthodox Church, except when there was a single cantor and I was very near the sanctuary, and then only heard two or three words. Fr Tom Hopko in his series on the Divine Liturgy, Worship in Spirit and Truth, talks about this, commenting that the rubrics typically say these prayers are to be prayed quietly. He personally thinks they should be audible. I personally find it odd when they are prayed in full voice.

Concerning “no infant communion”, in my own parish, sadly, we rarely if ever have an EC infant or young child present. More often when children come they are from a Latin Church and therefore cannot receive Eucharist. I know many EC parishes do have a large number of Latins active in the parish. This can be a reason for children and infants not receiving.