Learning about Eastern Catholicism

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Is it possible to immerse yourself in the Eastern Catholic world without a parish? There are so few its really hard for me to come by one and in fact I would have to move to another city in order for it to be possible. Is there any prayer practices or books that you all recommend?
 
I haven’t seen you in a while, welcome back!

Sure, you can read and ask questions online. Although it might be difficult without the experience. But you can read and learn and understand, then when you get the chance go and experience it. I did read a lot for about a year before even stepping into a Byzantine parish. Although a lot of the questions I have didn’t really come out until after I started regularly going. Because sometimes what you read may not always equate with what you will experience in the parish you will go to.

Not that I am discouraging you. I think its worth to learn all you can. Besides books, you can look things up online. One great resource I found is the YouTube channel for St. Elias in Brampton, Ontario. They are a very orthodox Ukrainian Catholic parish. But I will tell you that the Ukrainian parish I attend is no where near the orthodoxy of this parish. Here’s the link:

youtube.com/user/tsyhan
 
I recommend moving to another city.;)😃

In case that just isn’t convenient, there are a handful of things you could do, but none of them come close to actually immersing yourself in the Liturgy.

(1) Buy a chotki, if you can find an Orthodox bookstore nearby. Or even if not, just set a given amount of time each day to pray the Jesus Prayer.
(2) I like the prayerbook by Fr. Nomikos Vaporis, which you can get through inter-library loan. Also, find a copy of the Akathist. (Before Vatican II, the Akathist had 25 days indulgence from the Pope, so plenty of motivation for Roman Catholics to pray it anyway - and one can always pray for the graces of an indulgence even after the Church got stingy with them.)
(3) Use “The Way of a Pilgrim”, and then the Philokalia for your spiritual reading.
(4) Buy some icons - just so long as you avoid the very flourishing company that calls itself “Monastery Icons”. They appear to be Catholic, but the monks that write the icons belong to a group known as the Gnostic Orthodox Church.
(5) Fast. No meat, eggs, fish, or dairy on Wednesdays and Fridays, and during fast periods (Great Lent, three weeks before the feast of Sts. Peter and Paul, two weeks before the Assumption/Dormition, and between the feast of St. Philip and Christmas).
(6) One way to immerse yourself in the Eastern atmosphere, though it should certainly not be taken as a substitute for prayer, is by listening to the sacred music (liturgical and otherwise) of the East. There are lots of CDs of choral liturgies, which the Russians in particular have a very strong tradition for. Rachmaninov, Tchaikovsky, and Ippolitov-Ivanov all composed both a Vespers and a Divine Liturgy; Alexander Gretchaninov composed at least 4 Liturgies and a Vespers, Pavel Chesnokov’s Requiem No. 2 will give you goosebumps. Alexander Glazunov also composed a very beautiful non-liturgical work called “The King of the Jews”. Sergei Khvoshchinsky composed a Bogoroditse Devo which is worth dying to listen to (recorded by the Rose Ensemble, in their CD “Fire of the Soul”). Stefan Mokranjac composed a Liturgy and at least 2 Requiems; Arvo Part (who is Orthodox) composes mostly music for the Roman Rite but with a deeply Eastern spirit. Sir John Tavener is also Orthodox in some fashion but draws much of his inspiration from (non-Christian) Eastern religions; his Akathist of Thanksgiving is good though, and his “Veil of the Temple” is very moving. Alfred Schnittke (who I believe was a Catholic of the Roman Rite despite being Russian) has composed some non-liturgical sacred music in Russian, including Russian prayers like the Bogoroditse Devo).

There are also CDs of the Divine Liturgy celebrated by the Old Believers of Gervais, Oregon, and lots of recordings you can get on the Russian Orthodox webpage and on YouTube. Anything on YouTube posted by vagos2006 is going to be very, very good.

(7) Meet a Byzantine Catholic. Then you’ll know someone who pretty much knows or is one or two steps removed from pretty much every other one.😉 We tend to be a very hospitable and tight-knit community.

(8) The only other advice I could give would be to study the theology of the Eastern Church - immerse yourself in St. Symeon the New Theologian and St. Gregory and St. Maximos the Confessor. And even that is still going to fall way short of actually seeing a Divine Liturgy.
 
Hello Constantine long time no see. Finals have gotten the best of me but are now subsiding 🙂

Thank you all for the resources. Relocating shouldn’t be a problem soon enough as I hope to get a job in Houston. There is a wonderful Ruthenian Parish that I have visited several times and unfortunately I am not currently living there as of yet. It means that much to me to be able to experience the Divine Liturgy every Sunday. The Divine Liturgy is something I much prefer over the Novus Ordo and even the Latin Mass though I do like the TLM. Still at the end of the day I want to be part of a Eastern Catholic Church, particularly a Byzantine Church :confused:
 
You have to make do with videos right now. Since you are moving, I’m not going to suggest that you buy Icons or too many books. I do not have a lot of resources for Ruthenian Liturgies because its mostly Ukrainians here in Canada. But youtube has a tone of Divine Liturgy videos. Try to piece together an entire DL via youtube or try that Orientale Lumen TV, they have videos of a Byzantine Divine Liturgy there.
 
…Relocating shouldn’t be a problem soon enough as I hope to get a job in Houston. There is a wonderful Ruthenian Parish that I have visited several times and unfortunately I am not currently living there as of yet. It means that much to me to be able to experience the Divine Liturgy every Sunday…
Are there any OCA Russian Orthodox parishes near you? You could check them out especially for weekly Saturday vigils/Vespers/Matins, and for Prefeast services the week from Dec 19 through Royal Hours, Gr. Compline and Matins etc. for the Nativity. These don’t involve Holy Eucharist. If you haven’t yet relocated by Theophany do try to be at an Orthodox parish for that great feast day. 👍

Good luck with the finals! And may relocating to Houston work out, and soon. 🙂
 
(4) Buy some icons - just so long as you avoid the very flourishing company that calls itself “Monastery Icons”. They appear to be Catholic, but the monks that write the icons belong to a group known as the Gnostic Orthodox Church.
Drat! I am on MI’s mailing list and regularly drool over their Icons! I was sad to hear this, and did a bit of research - here’s what I found: orthodoxinfo.com/general/monasteryicons.aspx
 
Drat! I am on MI’s mailing list and regularly drool over their Icons!
There was some brief discussion about Monastery Icons on the recent “Words on Icon?” thread.

In addition to the questionable nature of the community I personally don’t like the look of their icons.

St. Isaac of Syria Skete has a huge selection of holy icons for sale in many sizes.

Most Orthodox and many Eastern Catholic churches have bookstores with holy icons for sale.
 
Reading The Philokalia (Abridged or Otherwise) will certainly aid you in your Quest. 👍
 
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