Feast of SS Cyril & Methodius

Today we celebrate the Saints Cyril and Methodius (Methodios) called "Equal to Apostles" and "Patron Saints of Europe" for their phenomenal evangelization of the East. Upon being asked by Prince Rastislav of Great Moravia (Ἡ Μεγάλη Μοραβία), the two brothers spent the rest of their lives spreading the good news to people in the vulgate - going so far as to create an alphabet for the Slavic peoples (Glagolitic, a modified cursive version of Greek based on the Slavic Thessalonika dialect where the brothers were raised) and translating the Gospel along with liturgical texts for their use.

I expect you'll see many posts just like that on the feast day of these universally beloved saints. It is worth noting that the feast day is not celebrated on the same day by all the churches. I rather detest "gimme" posts made just to perfunctorily bookmark a day, so let me say that to me beyond the importance of the work done by these inestimable saints for the Slavic peoples they also hold a place in my heart for those upset or beset with confusion over the liturgical practices of the Roman churches in the US and abroad.

I love the Tridentine mass. I love a GIRM obedient, post Vatican II liturgy. I can even (with some firm tugging on my upturned nose) love any of these in an ugly Bauhaus Movement building. What I cannot love is the misguided attempt by some to bring the mass down to the level of the people of "today." Today changes and will look little like tomorrow. The Church must have a clear understanding of its own identity and cannot be subject to the whims of the times. When one gets in the muck with pigs, one gets muddy.

Protopresbyter Alexander Schmemann speaks of a " fourth dimension" in one of his books when describing the divine liturgy. He says that there is the reality of everyday, but also the reality of the liturgy where colors are more vibrant, where the reality of life is more visible. We do not close the doors to the outside world, but instead ascend to heaven as a body joining our voices with angels and archangels and all the company of heaven. Show me that in leotard wearing liturgical dancers, in teaching that attempts to conform the transitory opinions of the MTV generation, or in priests that shirk their obligations to proclaim loudly and unequivocaly the Tradition of the Church (see Pope Benedict XVI's opinion of clergy who do this in Salt of the Earth).

A way must be found to speak to the people in a language they understand that does not degrade the leitourgia (λειτουργία) of the Church. This is where we should look to these good saints. The people were spoken to in their own language and adapted that kernel of faith brought by two men from a foreign land into an orthodoxy that grew in their hearts.