Main Differences between Eastern and Western Spirituality

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PatienceAndLove

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Can someone help me out by giving me the high points of the differences between Eastern and Western spirituality?

As I mentioned in a previous thread, DF and I are talking about visiting various Byzantine parishes in the area.

I am wondering about how the worship, prayer, and day-to-day life differ for an Eastern Catholic and a Western Catholic.

TIA!
 
PatienceAndLove said:
Can someone help me out by giving me the high points of the differences between Eastern and Western spirituality?

As I mentioned in a previous thread, DF and I are talking about visiting various Byzantine parishes in the area.

I am wondering about how the worship, prayer, and day-to-day life differ for an Eastern Catholic and a Western Catholic.

TIA!
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Is that just Byzantine or any Eastern spirituality you are asking bout?
 
We will be sticking to Byzantine, as they are in communion with Rome… but I have questions about Eastern v Western in general
 
PatienceAndLove said:
We will be sticking to Byzantine, as they are in communion with Rome… but I have questions about Eastern v Western in general
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There are22 Eastern Churches in Communion with Rome, from Byzantine to Syriac to Armenian to Coptic to Chaldean, etc
 
PatienceAndLove said:
We will be sticking to Byzantine, as they are in communion with Rome… but I have questions about Eastern v Western in general
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As others have mentioned, there are non-Byzantine Eastern Churches that are in communion with Rome. My own - Maronite - is rooted in the Syriac tradition.

I’d say the primary difference between Eastern and Western spiritualities is the sheer multiplicity of Western spiritualities, whereas the East tends to be more directly rooted in the spirituality of the Desert Fathers and monasticism.
 
PatienceAndLove said:
Can someone help me out by giving me the high points of the differences between Eastern and Western spirituality?

As I mentioned in a previous thread, DF and I are talking about visiting various Byzantine parishes in the area.

I am wondering about how the worship, prayer, and day-to-day life differ for an Eastern Catholic and a Western Catholic.

TIA!
Click to expand...
I’m not familiar with Eastern devotions, so I’m probably not the person to answer the question. But–generally speaking–Eastern spirituality tends to be more mystic, while Western is scholastic. Eastern Orthodox churches and even some Eastern Catholic churches use this as an argument against the Latin Church (i.e. that Augustinian and Thomistic theology is borderline heretical and dangerous to the faith), but personally I believe there is room for both schools within Holy Mother Church. I am a logic and reason-based thinker, so I’m partial to scholasticism and traditional Roman Catholicism, but I greatly admire the Eastern churches and believe we can learn much from them.

My $0.02
 
smead2942 said:
I’m not familiar with Eastern devotions, so I’m probably not the person to answer the question. But–generally speaking–Eastern spirituality tends to be more mystic, while Western is scholastic. Eastern Orthodox churches and even some Eastern Catholic churches use this as an argument against the Latin Church (i.e. that Augustinian and Thomistic theology is borderline heretical and dangerous to the faith), but personally I believe there is room for both schools within Holy Mother Church. I am a logic and reason-based thinker, so I’m partial to scholasticism and traditional Roman Catholicism, but I greatly admire the Eastern churches and believe we can learn much from them.

My $0.02
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The folks who promote this misconception tend to be rather misinformed both of the intellectual tradition of the East, as well as the mystical tradition of the West. No one who is familiar with the hymns and prayers of St. Thomas Aquinas and St. Bonaventure, let alone the mystical writings of Sts. John of the Cross, Teresa of Avila, Bernard of Clairvaux, Francis de Sales, etc. would deny the huge (and, dare I say, predominant) mystical tradition of the West.

Likewise, no one familiar with the intellectual prowess of the “Three Holy Hierarchs,” or Origen, Athanasius, and the other great Fathers of the East would downplay just how intellectual the East has been and currently is.

The reality is that both traditions have always traditionally maintained a fine balance between the intellectual and the mystical.
 
Phillip_Rolfes said:
The reality is that both traditions have always traditionally maintained a fine balance between the intellectual and the mystical.
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I disagree. There is definitely both a philosophical and theological tenancy for the West to be more scholastic and the more East mystic. Both do share elements of the other, but I wouldn’t say it is necessarily balanced. The teachings of Augustine and Aquinas are dominant in the Roman Church, while those of the Holy Hierarchs are most influential in the Eastern churches. Not that it’s “bad”…not at all. They are really just alternative perspectives of the same teaching. More of a cultural divide than anything else, one that goes back thousands of years to ancient schools of thought IMHO.

Again, just my $0.02. Let’s put the best of both worlds into practice… the Tridentine Mass in a Byzantine church! 👍:highprayer:

Pax!
 
smead2942 said:
https://i.imgsafe.org/fbc898d.jpg

I don’t support Latinization by any means.
But one can’t deny the beauty of this. The Mass of All Time surrounded by the beauty of Eastern iconography and architecture. I love our Church. :crossrc::byzsoc:
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I don’t know. I know that there’s nothing wrong with it, but it was such a jarring image to me at first look. Perhaps because of the history of Latinization. It brought to mind a picture I’ve seen of a Melkite church, where the priest and altar boys are dressed in this strange mix of Latin and Melkite vestments. It is beautiful, though.
 
PatienceAndLove said:
Can someone help me out by giving me the high points of the differences between Eastern and Western spirituality?

As I mentioned in a previous thread, DF and I are talking about visiting various Byzantine parishes in the area.

I am wondering about how the worship, prayer, and day-to-day life differ for an Eastern Catholic and a Western Catholic.

TIA!
Click to expand...
Besides the already mentioned mysticism vs scholasticism difference, one of the important differences is the lack of separate institutionalized monastic orders in the East. This explains that there is less diversity of devotions and charisms in the East; devotions there are more uniform withiin each autonomous church.

My imression from praying Slavonic prayers for some time is that the Byzantine prayers are muc longer and verbose. A morning prayer, e.g., is uniform and may last for 20 minutes. which is not bad, however. big stress is laid upon the text of the prayers: they seem to be designed so as to include as much information as possible. Every prayer looks as solemn as another.

Slightly less venertion of Mary, more stress on the Trinitarian aspect of God.

While in the West the sin is understood as mainly an offence to be punished, in the East it is more of a disease/impurity to be purged. Hence there is no tradition of indulgences, but more stress on the individual purification aspects in the prayers. It seems much of the Eastern spirituality is of monastic/heremetical origin, hence the individualism.

Also, it seems to me that in the Byzantine rite the Eucharist, although central in the liturgical life of the church, still takes a slightly smaller part of devotions. There are no votive masses with special intentions. On the other hand, liturgy of hours is more public and prominent, with evening services regularly held in the churches.
 
smead2942 said:
https://i.imgsafe.org/fbc898d.jpg
But one can’t deny the beauty of this.
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Well, I can. The Roman liturgy has absolutely nothing to do with the iconostasis and vice versa. This is a pastiche that offends the dynamics of both liturgies and worship emphases.

If there’s one thing that is as abhorrent as the Latinization of Eastern liturgies is the Byzantinization of Roman liturgies.
 
JurisPrudens said:
My imression from praying Slavonic prayers for some time is that the Byzantine prayers are muc longer and verbose. A morning prayer, e.g., is uniform and may last for 20 minutes. which is not bad, however. big stress is laid upon the text of the prayers: they seem to be designed so as to include as much information as possible. Every prayer looks as solemn as another.
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This is one of the aspects of Byzantine prayer that I like the most. Theology is explicit in the text. And never say in 10 words what can be more beautifully and thoroughly expressed in 100 words. 😃 But, yeah, brevity is not something you’re going to find in Byzantine prayer. Except the Jesus prayer. It’s pretty short.
Slightly less veneration of Mary,
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I always wonder when I hear people say this if they’ve actually been to a Divine Liturgy. :confused: In the west, veneration of Mary tends to take place through private devotions and through the celebration of Marian feasts in the liturgy. Even with the Marian feasts, though, the customs surrounding them are non-liturgical in nature: Marian processions, May crownings, etc. In the Byzantine rite, veneration of the Theotokos is best expressed in the public prayer of the Church, the liturgy. Such veneration is done liturgically in a way that is not present in the west.

We also have the beautiful Akathist prayer to the Theotokos, which is prayed both privately and liturgically. Here is just a small snippet of this lengthy prayer.
Amazed was the universe by your divine glory. For while never experiencing marriage, you held, 0 Virgin, the God of all in your womb, and gave birth to an eternal Son who grants salvation to all who chant hymns of praise to you.
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Most-holy Theotokos, save us.
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Rejoice, for you carried in your womb the Way of life. Rejoice, Bride of God, all-blameless Maiden, who saved the world from the flood of sin. Rejoice, awe-inspiring message and report, habitation of the One who is Lord of all creation.
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Most-holy Theotokos, save us.
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The might and the fortress of the human race, 0 Undefiled. Rejoice, holy place of glory, slayer of Hades, and bridal chamber of light. Rejoice, delight of the angels. Rejoice, helper of those who pray to you faithfully.
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Most-holy Theotokos, save us.
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Fiery chariot of God the Word and risen Son. Rejoice, Lady, living paradise, which in its center contains the tree of life, the Lord, whose sweetness gives life to those who participate with faith although subject to decay.
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The other thing that I think nobody has mentioned is that private prayer often comes from the liturgical prayers. During Lent, as part of the LIturgy of the Presanctified Gifts, we pray the prayer of St. Ephraim. This prayer is also prayed at home. We pray the prayer to the Holy Spirit (Heavenly King Comforter) at home and in the liturgy. Likewise with the Trisagion prayers, which are the beginning prayers for praying, whether we are beginning morning prayer or compline in the home, or Vespers in the parish.
 
Augustine said:
Well, I can. The Roman liturgy has absolutely nothing to do with the iconostasis and vice versa. This is a pastiche that offends the dynamics of both liturgies and worship emphases.

If there’s one thing that is as abhorrent as the Latinization of Eastern liturgies is the Byzantinization of Roman liturgies.
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This was my initial response to the picture, but I tried to look at in a differently… I’ve been to many Divine Liturgies in Roman Catholic parishes, in which the parishioners have generously made available their altar to Byzantine Catholics without a home. In spite of those liturgies taking place surrounded by such Latin traditions as statues and stations of the cross, it did not make the Divine Liturgy less Byzantine. I’m choosing to look at this picture in a similar way. Perhaps a Byzantine Church generously made available their temple to a group of people, without a home of their own, who wished to celebrate this Mass. That would be a beautiful thing.
 
Augustine said:
Well, I can. The Roman liturgy has absolutely nothing to do with the iconostasis and vice versa. This is a pastiche that offends the dynamics of both liturgies and worship emphases.

If there’s one thing that is as abhorrent as the Latinization of Eastern liturgies is the Byzantinization of Roman liturgies.
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Personally, I don’t see this as a pastiche of any sort. Nor does it seem to be a Byzantinization. Maybe there was something more to it, but from the outside, it simply appears to be the Latin Usus Antiquior (aka vetus ordo) being offered in a Byzantine church, and there’s nothing at all wrong with that. The same is true in reverse: various Eastern and Oriental liturgies are frequently offered in Latin churches.
 
Phillip_Rolfes said:
As others have mentioned, there are non-Byzantine Eastern Churches that are in communion with Rome. My own - Maronite - is rooted in the Syriac tradition.

I’d say the primary difference between Eastern and Western spiritualities is the sheer multiplicity of Western spiritualities, whereas the East tends to be more directly rooted in the spirituality of the Desert Fathers and monasticism.
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This is 100% correct and spirituality is closely tied to the two schools of theology practiced in the east vs west.

The West tends toward a more scholastic theology while the East toward a more monastic theology.

Monasticsm vs Scholasticism

My personal opinion is that the radical shift of the Western Church away from its monastic roots has done much harm. I’m not saying that scholasticism is bad, just that monasticsm has been abandoned and this is to the Western Church’s detriment.

-Tim-
 
babochka said:
Perhaps a Byzantine Church generously made available their temple to a group of people, without a home of their own, who wished to celebrate this Mass. That would be a beautiful thing.
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Yes, it would. 👍
 
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