Is it normal for different Byzantine Rite EC’s to not share services?The particular parish/co-cathedral I visited happened to have a Romanian Catholic priest after the Ruthenian-Byzantine Divine Liturgy setting up for another Divine Liturgy for the Romanian congregation.
This would be like asking why an Antiochian parish and an OCA parish in the same town don’t share services - well because the are separate parishes with different traditions, chant, languages, etc… Just as there are many different Orthodox jurisdictions that use the Byzantine rite, (Antiochian, OCA, ROCOR, ACROD, GOA, etc…), there are also several EC churches (or “jurisdictions”) that use the Byzantine rite, e.g. Melkite, Ruthenian (which in the US calls itself the “Byzantine Catholic Church”), Ukrainian, Russian, etc…
Except I’ve never heard of two different EO parishes taking turns using a single building, which is why I asked if it was normal for EC’s. It’s not the same as asking why two parishes have separate buildings.
Yes, you’re right my analogy was off. Regarding your original question, that particular parish has an unusual arrangement, though so far I think it has worked to the benefit of both communities.
It is normal for two different parishes each to have its own building. If a parish does not have its own building yet, then often space is shared with an other parish. I know that BCC temples have been/are being shared with missions from the Melkites and Romanian ECs; there have been similar arrangements with some Orthodox missions. I also know of a BCC mission in a Maronite parish - and many uses of buildings in RC parishes.
Typically, when an EC parish is sharing a building, it’s borrowing the altar at a Roman parish.
Thanks to all three of you. In case anyone wondered I was genuinely curious as to why two communities from the same Byzantine family (as Aramis touched on) would take turns, and I wasn’t trying to be polemical.
If two different Eastern Orthodox Churches use the same building. They have to have a separate Holy Table (Altar) for each Divine Liturgy. In Eastern Orthodox practice only one Divine Liturgy can be served a day on a Holy Table, just as an Eastern Orthodox Priest can only serve one Divine Liturgy a day.
This is the preferred practice for Byzantine Catholics as well, but for reasons of economia, exceptions are permitted. For example, the pastor of my parish weekly serves both Ruthenian and Melkite Divine Liturgies at the same altar.
The only time that I have seen two Eastern Orthodox Liturgies done in the same Temple they have set up a small table to use for one of the Liturgies so that they do not use the same altar. However, the Liturgy has to be served by two different Priests.
In our case here in Houston, there isn’t another priest who is trained in Byzantine liturgy who is available.
How difficult would it be for a Latin Rite Priest to learn the Byzantine Liturgy. Besides, there are plenty of Eastern Orthodox Churches in Houston.
With all due respect, father, this sounds like the legalism of Latins. Use a fake table instead of a real altar and have some foreigner dragged in to learn the liturgy even when the Church in what seems to be very much in her authority and oikonomia has the ability to supply for the faithful?
I thought the idea was that a parish doesn’t need to have multiple liturgies. (For example, some people could go Sunday morning and some go Saturday evening, but the latter would be Vespers rather than DL.)
I know that his patriarchate was in the West but he is a highly regarded Orthodox and Catholic saint and his suggestion could perhaps be used as a form of economia…
I suspect not that difficult. However, you have to have a priest who is both willing and available. Many-if not most-Latin Rite priests in Houston are already serving multiple Masses on Sunday.
Yes, that is correct. And at which of these would any member of my parish-Ruthenian or Melkite-be permitted to receive communion?
I suppose that it depends on your priorities. The principal of one Liturgy per day on the same Holy Table has dogmatic significance because Orthodox theology defines the Church as a Eucharastic assembly. Economy can be used to bend the rules, provided the doctrine of the Church is not compromised.
I should not have written anything on this matter. What Eastern Catholics do is really none of my business. It is not my place to criticize the practices of another Church. In Eastern Orthodoxy a priest may not serve two Divine Liturgies on the same day. Two Divine Liturgies may not be served on the same Holy Table in the Eastern Orthodox Church. Forgive me. What the Catholics do is really none of my business. I just thought that the readers of this site might be interested in the practice of the Eastern Orthodox Church on this issue.Father, could you clarify what you’re saying? Do you consider it unacceptable for an EC priests to say two DLs on the same day, but acceptable for a bi-ritual priest to say one DL and one Roman-Rite mass on the same day?
Father, I meant that in the sense of not being part of our Church. Sure we’re in the same communion, which permits us to intercommune, but quite frankly I’m not crazy about biritual faculties when they’re not done for purposes of economy. I don’t hear of Armenians obtaining permission to celebrate Coptic liturgy, and it’s not because I think one’s ritual Church should be exclusively contingent upon one’s ethic background or upbringing, but unless there are no priests of the tradition in the area, it is superfluous to grant faculties.