Questions about Eastern Rite, Confessions

[Gumbercules]

Hello, I am a latin rite, and I have wanting to go to an eastern rite church for a while.

There is a church in my area that is a Ruthenian Catholic Parish. But the title of the church is Byzantine Catholic. I thought that the Ruthenian and Byzantine rites were separate. Or is Ruthenian simple a part of the larger Byzantine Rite?

Is there a difference between Byzantine and Ruthenian, I thought they were different rites?

How can the church be both Byzantine and Ruthenian?

How does the church do Confessions? An EO friend of mine said that they do confessions facing an icon, and the priest merely facilitates. Is this the same in the Byzantine, Ruthenian rite?

Your help and guidance is greatly appreciated on this matter.

Yours

 

[bpbasilphx]

Byzantine is a liturgical and canonical and spiritual tradition–sometimes called “rite”–that is used by many churches, some Catholic, some Orthodox.

Among the Catholic Churches that use it is the Byzantine Catholic Metropolia of Pittsburgh sui juris, sometimes called either Byzantine Catholic or the Ruthenians for short. Their Orthodox equivalent is the American Carpatho-Russian Orthodox Diocese (ACROD for short).

Other Churches that use the Byzantine rite are the Melkite (counterpart Antiochian Orthodox), Ukrainian Catholic and Orthodox, Romanian Catholic and Orthodox, and so on.

As you can guess, there are minor differences in use in such a large and diverse liturgical family, but nothing to get concerned over. Certainly nothing the person in the pew would be likely to notice.

In this tradition, Confessions are usually heard before the Iconostas at the front of the Church, or before a stand with a Gospel book, Cross, and Icon of the Savior.

Get your body up there and the Priest and the Holy Spirit will do the rest, if you wish to go to confession.

 

[Gumbercules]

Byzantine is a liturgical and canonical and spiritual tradition–sometimes called “rite”–that is used by many churches, some Catholic, some Orthodox.

Among the Catholic Churches that use it is the Byzantine Catholic Metropolia of Pittsburgh sui juris, sometimes called either Byzantine Catholic or the Ruthenians for short. Their Orthodox equivalent is the American Carpatho-Russian Orthodox Diocese (ACROD for short).

Other Churches that use the Byzantine rite are the Melkite (counterpart Antiochian Orthodox), Ukrainian Catholic and Orthodox, Romanian Catholic and Orthodox, and so on.

As you can guess, there are minor differences in use in such a large and diverse liturgical family, but nothing to get concerned over. Certainly nothing the person in the pew would be likely to notice.

In this tradition, Confessions are usually heard before the Iconostas at the front of the Church, or before a stand with a Gospel book, Cross, and Icon of the Savior.

Get your body up there and the Priest and the Holy Spirit will do the rest, if you wish to go to confession.

Thank you for the information.

 

[Aramis]

Hello, I am a latin rite, and I have wanting to go to an eastern rite church for a while.

There is a church in my area that is a Ruthenian Catholic Parish. But the title of the church is Byzantine Catholic. I thought that the Ruthenian and Byzantine rites were separate. Or is Ruthenian simple a part of the larger Byzantine Rite?

Is there a difference between Byzantine and Ruthenian, I thought they were different rites?

How can the church be both Byzantine and Ruthenian?

How does the church do Confessions? An EO friend of mine said that they do confessions facing an icon, and the priest merely facilitates. Is this the same in the Byzantine, Ruthenian rite?

Your help and guidance is greatly appreciated on this matter.

Yours

It isn’t just Byzantine and Ruthenian, but also Kyivan, Slavonic and Catholic… and distinctly American.

The Ruthenian Church was part of the Ukrainian Church, but a distinct group within it.

It became Catholic separately from the mainstream Ukrainian Church. It has remained a distinct body.

It used the rubrics of the DL of St John as taught in Kyiv, as do the Ukrainians; the Russians diverged slightly from those rubrics.

The Ruthenian Metropolia of Pittsburgh is independant of the Eparchies in the Ukraine, but shares the same liturgical tradition. It has an Archeparchy and 3 eparchies, and moderates its own liturgical praxis, overseen by the Pope.

The Current edition of the RDL is a new translation from the old Greek-Byzantine text, but with the Kyivan rubrics retained, into English. (The older RDL was Slavonic, or English translated from the slavonic.)

 

[guanophore]

Hello, I am a latin rite, and I have wanting to go to an eastern rite church for a while.

There is a church in my area that is a Ruthenian Catholic Parish. But the title of the church is Byzantine Catholic. I thought that the Ruthenian and Byzantine rites were separate. Or is Ruthenian simple a part of the larger Byzantine Rite?

Is there a difference between Byzantine and Ruthenian, I thought they were different rites?

How can the church be both Byzantine and Ruthenian?

How does the church do Confessions? An EO friend of mine said that they do confessions facing an icon, and the priest merely facilitates. Is this the same in the Byzantine, Ruthenian rite?

Your help and guidance is greatly appreciated on this matter.

Yours

The majority of the Gk. Rites in Europe follow the Divine Liturgy from Constantinople (Byzantium). The Ruthenian Rite is peculiar to an area dominated by Slavic people just South of the Carpathian mountains. This group of people did not adopt the customs of the rest of Ukrania. Anyway, it is a lot of Rusyn/Slavic History.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ruthenian_Catholic_Church

I recommend you do some google research on the Byzantine Divine Liturgy. Read up on what to expect, and then attend a Divine Liturgy. They are usually smaller communities where everyone knows one another, so you will be recognized as a visitor. Tell the greeter that you are a Latin Rite curious and they will help you find your way.

 

[bpbasilphx]

The Ruthenian Church was part of the Ukrainian Church, but a distinct group within it.

---

Ruthenians themselves would argue that point!

 

[Aramis]

The Ruthenian Church was part of the Ukrainian Church, but a distinct group within it.

---

Ruthenians themselves would argue that point!

Funny, but Fr. Zugger points out the Ukrainian Orthodox origins in his recent book, A Hidden Church.

It’s a matter of history.

 

[Cluny]

My understanding is that the Ukrainian and Ruthenian churches were considered to be ONE rite (as the term was used back then) until Pope St. Pius X divided them into the “Ukrainian” and “Sub-Carpathian Ordinariates” in the USA.

 

[mardukm]

My understanding is that the Ukrainian and Ruthenian churches were considered to be ONE rite (as the term was used back then) until Pope St. Pius X divided them into the “Ukrainian” and “Sub-Carpathian Ordinariates” in the USA.

To prevent any misunderstanding, Pope St. Pius X divided them at the request of the Ruthenians, correct?

Blessings

 

[Cluny]

I’m not too sure whose idea it was, to be honest. I’ve been under the impression that it was either a Ukrainian separatist movement, or else the initiate of the Holy See.

If you have information to share or point me to, I’d appreciate it.

 

[babochka]

It appears that others have answered your questions, but I wanted to throw in a plug for St. Anne’s, which I assume is the Ruthenian Church near you, given your location. We visited St. Anne’s this summer, while on a camping trip on the coast. St. Anne’s is a lovely church, recently renovated. They also are blessed with an outstanding new pastor, Father James Lane. The liturgy is beautiful, the parish is very active, and the people are friendly and welcoming. If you want to go to Confession, Father James has Confessions scheduled times 7 days a week, and upon request. It is neither “face to face” nor behind a screen, but facing an icon of Jesus. The priest will walk you through it, but you can pretty much just do things the way you’re used to doing them.

Elizabeth

 

[Diak]

Another thread on Confession in the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church was discussed that may also be of interest: forums.catholic-questions.org/showthread.php?t=367981

Regarding the historical question, the former bishop of Mukachevo, +Ivan Margytych, wrote an historical sketch of the Eparchy of Uzhorod/Mukachevo linking his Eparchy directly to that of Kyivan Rus’.

In the US, at the end of World War I the unfortunate ethnic tensions created by the dissolution of the Austro-Hungarian Empire were rekindled in the US coinciding with unrest caused by the death of the first Ukrainian Catholic bishop, Kyr +Soter of blessed memory a few years prior. Since he was the choice of the standing Ukrainian Greek Catholic Metropolitan +Andrey of blessed memory, and confirmed by Pope St. Pius X, I don’t know why anyone would consider +Soter not to have been Ukrainian Greek Catholic. The Rusyns primarily of Slovak and Hungarian ancestory wanted a separate hierarchy from that originally established through Kyr +Soter and were granted this by Rome.

I won’t get into the specifics of several disagreements with the statement of “Kyivan rubrics retained” with regard to the RDL , but I will say rather that the rubrical development in the RDL is more influenced by Preshov with some modifications made from usage since the Metropolia has been essentially American than “Kyivan usage”.

 

[Aramis]

I won’t get into the specifics of several disagreements with the statement of “Kyivan rubrics retained” with regard to the RDL , but I will say rather that the rubrical development in the RDL is more influenced by Preshov with some modifications made from usage since the Metropolia has been essentially American than “Kyivan usage”.

COnsidering the latinizations that happened, at least it’s no longer Latino-Byzantine.

At least not in my home parish.