I’ve been lurking here for a few months and I thought this was as good as any place to start posting.
Without knowing which parish you will attend, it is difficult to tell you what to expect. Like the west has everything from the extraordinary form parishes to the Castro district parishes, the east has a wide range of experiences as well. I haven’t heard of any Taize or Castro district type parishes in the east. The continuum is more from very east to very west.
If I told you about the very east with the full liturgies and strict adherence to tradition then you might end up going to the opposite end of the spectrum and not recognizing anything.
Byzantine Catholic parishes tend to fall into one of two categories: cradle or convert. If it is a cradle parish, it will most likely have an average age of parishioners in their 50s plus, will probably identify with ethnic customs and foods, and will have an interesting mix of eastern and western customs along with a lot of lived experience. They might baptize and confirm babies but not commune them until they are 7. Or they might have kneelers or stations of the cross. At the same time, they might strictly follow the no women behind the altar or in minor orders roles (reader, server) tradition. On the other hand, a convert parish is likely to have more standing, more participation in the singing, more head coverings, a younger mean age, female readers or servers, and more book knowledge. These are vast generalizations and individual parishes will fall somewhere between them.
Keeping that in mind, here’s a general idea of what you can expect.
- It isn’t a variant of the Roman Mass. Avoid the temptation to compare or contrast it to that, whether for good or bad. The rules that apply to the rubrics and norms of the Mass do not apply to the Divine Liturgy. Color of vestments, what’s in the Eucharistic bread, who may do what, what’s to be read or sung, and everything else you can imagine has a different set of rules to follow. Don’t try to guess if this is great or abysmal based on your knowledge of the west. Just take it as it is.
- The norm is congregational singing for all but one prayer. This isn’t the kind of singing that requires voice training. The same simple tones are used week in and week out and they were made for everyone to sing along. There will probably be books with musical notation, but others have pointed out that you’ll miss a lot and it is preferable for most newcomers to skip the books and join the singing when they catch on. Don’t be surprised if you end up going to that random spoken Liturgy, either. They do exist for various reasons.
- Most eastern Catholic parishes are small so new people are quickly recognized. Don’t be intimidated by this. As long as you don’t do anything like desecrate the Eucharist or spit on the icons, you’ll be fine.
- There are different customs in different places, but here are some things you might see.
-Making the Sign of the Cross at the mention of “the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.”
-Random people making the Sign of the Cross at random times, most especially during litanies, to unite their prayers to a particular intention.
-Bowing and/or making the Sign of the Cross when the priest blesses the people with his hands or with an object or, they are incensed,
