Prayers For the Pope Of Rome In the Liturgy & Pre-Schism

[Vico]

Dear Vico,

Well, your Church commemorates the Pope the way Rome itself would like him to be commemorated in the East rather than our “The Most Holy Ecumenical Pontiff . . .” which title is that of the Patriarch of Constantinople . . .

The fact is that if Eastern Catholics are called to return to their traditions (and we know that we are), then the ideal way of commemorating the Pope of Rome would be to do it once only with the Primate of the EC Particular Church and the local Bishop being commemorated at other times alone.

My Church often deletes portions of the Ektenias (and by what right or authority I don’t know, this was only to be done in times of war etc.) but keeps the full commemorations four times. We should restore the full texts of the Liturgy and prune back the commemorations . . . But that won’t happen since there is this fear among some in our hierarchy and monastic orders that if you don’t have our laity hear the pope commemorated frequently, they will start to think about “returning to Orthodoxy.”

Alex

And what was said in the liturgical form of 1438 that was used? The Pope was not mentioned along with the bishop in the great ektenia. (When the recension was published, the older rubrics were not forced upon Pittsburgh.) This is clearly stated in the recension, item to be retained in the USA (by request of Exarch Daniel Ivancho, 1953 to Cardinal Bishop Tissarant) No. 119.
patronagechurch.com/Ordo-English-1955/htm/xviii.htm

We do read in the Slavonic Ruthenian Recension, Grottaferrata Press, Rome 1942:

O svjat’ijšem vselensťim Archijereji našem [Imja Rek], Pap’i Rimst’im, Hospodu pomolimsja.

And in the English 1965 Liturgikon:

For our holy ecumenical pontif [N.], the Pope of rome, let us pray to the Lord.