Maronite devotions and practices

  • Thread starter Thread starter camkutz
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
C

camkutz

Guest
I was just wondering what kind of prayers and devotions Maronites use? Also what practices they do?
I have absolutely no idea, I can assume they might use the rosary and/or the prayer rope but that is it, I can’t find anything good online
 
I have seen the rosary used. As far as practices, compared to a Roman rite Catholic church around my diocese, there is incense used. All the RR parishes here have stopped using it except the Latin Mass at the cathedral. The liturgy is beautiful, the hymns and sung psalms. I enjoyed the procession outside to crown an image of Our Lady, she awaits us there, adorned, when we come to church. I am still learning. Do you have the opportunity to visit a Maronite parish?
 
YouTube has several videos of complete Maronite liturgies (I believe the correct term is Qurbono, what a Latin Rite would call the Mass). There is also a video out there taken from EWTN which is an interview where Fr. Mitch Pacwa, who is biritual Latin/Maronite, interviews two Maronite bishops - very interesting.
 
The question is is this question pertaining to contemporary or traditional (i.e. prior to the 80s) practices? In terms of contemporary practices, the Maronite Church has been so Latinized that we have abandoned the majority of our ancestral patrimony and just do Latin devotions such as the rosary, stations of the cross, divine mercy chaplet, novenas, etc. Even the Qurbono Qadisho’s current introduction states how in the '70s our patriarchs decided to get rid of our previous liturgy and use the novus ordo as a base model for a new one.

Traditionally, our Qurbono was similar to that of the Malankara and Syriac Orthodox. Qurbono would be offered following the morning office called Safro. Everything is chanted and services always include an offering of incense through a prayer called the hoosoyo in imitation of Aaron the high priest and derived from the Jews of Edessa. The hoosoyo is composed of four parts: (1) proemion: a doxological introduction of a theological concept, (2) sedro: an explanation of that concept and petitions, (3) etro: prayer specifically requesting that the incense be accepted, (4) qolo: hymn that summarizes the theological importance of the concept previously introduced. While we have retained the hoosoyo of our services, the words have been drastically altered in some cases to reflect Latin theology (for instance, for the Assumption our traditional hoosoyo speaks about Mary tasting death and Jesus sending the angels to bring her holy body to heaven whereas the “new” hoosoyo painfully avoids mentioning anything about Mary dying). Also Judgment is a constant theme in traditional Maronite prayers whereas the new prayers have removed it completely because we do not want to make God seem “mean.”

Structurally, the Qurbono was very different from how it is now, as most of the preparatory beginning has been gutted and put in the middle to resemble a novus ordo offertorial. Traditionally there are 7 readings, 5 from the OT, but now we only follow the Tridentine format of reading one epistle from the south side of the altar and the gospel from the north.The rubrics for many of our symbolic gestures have been removed and sanctuary veils (curtains that open and close in front of the sanctuary) have been banned in most dioceses.

Particular feasts had liturgical additions that could be found in the Kitab al Ritab (the Book of Rites).

The Shhimtho, which is the Ordinary of the 7 daily offices, is probably the closest thing to what Maronite would commonly do as a “devotion,” although it itself is again technically a liturgy. The funeral rite is fairly fascinating and is essentially an office. Devotionals amongst Maronites were visits to the tombs of saints and taking from them blessed oils.

While we do not have the plethora of common devotions like the Latin Church, our Church was traditionally very liturgically rich so there wasn’t need for devotions.
 
Here is a modern Maronite Qurbono being celebrated in Michigan: youtube.com/watch?v=TASjGW5YD9A

For a comparison purposes, since SyroMalankara mentioned how the Maronite Qurbono used to be very similar to the Syriac or Malankara Orthodox Qurbono, here are examples of those:

Malankara Orthodox Qurbono: youtube.com/watch?v=rxQ0pecJQUQ

Syriac Orthodox Qurbono: youtube.com/watch?v=qrc4cH9PlyU

As you can see and hear, the Maronite qurbono is quite different than the services of the Orthodox Syriac churches. It is also different than the service of the East Syriac/Church of the East services, which are a part of the same general family of Syriac Christianity (which the Maronite Church shares some similarities with that it does not share with the previously-mentioned groups).
 
As you can see and hear, the Maronite qurbono is quite different than the services of the Orthodox Syriac churches. It is also different than the service of the East Syriac/Church of the East services, which are a part of the same general family of Syriac Christianity (which the Maronite Church shares some similarities with that it does not share with the previously-mentioned groups).
And it’s also very different from what it was in pre-conciliar times. Admittedly there were latinizations (mainly from the 16th century) but those were primarily rubrical. IOW, to the untrained eye, it looked much like a Tridentine Mass, but if one closed one’s eyes, the ears told a very different story. So did the books. Ah well, that’s all gone now. 😦 :bighanky:
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top