The "Greek" deacon in papal liturgies

Fabulous post by Annales Ecclesiae Ucrainae on the changing role of the "Greek" deacon in papal masses. Before Vatican II there was an uneven liturgical process of use on the Greek deacon as compared to the Latin deacon (see article for details). After Vatican II efforts were made to show due dignity to both, but this has not been done uniformly. If you care about this sort of thing at all, or even about the use of a deacon from the Ecumenical Patriarchate this year in a papal mass, this is a must read. If not, I expect you will be bored to tears.

...In our day, the Greek deacon often (but not always) makes an appearance at solemn papal masses but, contrary to the former practice, he need no longer be a monk of Grottaferrata Abbey. Sometimes he is Greek, other times Russian, Ruthenian or Ukrainian etc. and proclaims the gospel in the liturgical language of his own Particular Church. Any signs of inequality between the Latin and Greek ministers have been suppressed. Due to the universal and superior mission of the head of the Roman Church, subsequent to the Council of Trent, the Roman Church began to consider its rite as being superior to other rites. Such a theological trend used to be reflected in the old papal liturgy during which the Latin deacon was accompanied by seven candle bearers whereas the Greek deacon was flanked only by two. Also, only the Latin deacon carried the gospel book and the Greek ministers sat farther away from the papal throne. These distinctions were not carried over into contemporary papal ceremony, in accordance with the solemn decree of Vatican II on the equal dignity of all rites. Today, both Latin and Byzantine deacons carry gospel books in procession and both are flanked by an equal number of candles. There have even been occasions where the Byzantine Deacon took precedence. An historical example happened at the opening of the Synod for Europe in 1999, when the Byzantine deacon alone proclaimed the Gospel in the Old Church Slavonic language. The greatest innovation has been the proclamation of the gospel by a Greek Orthodox deacon, at a papal Mass where the Patriarch of Constantinople assisted at the Liturgy of the Word...

Complete article here.