I am occasionally asked in email or in person what exactly "Latinizations" are. The below list from this link was mentioned in a recent forum thread and I thought it a solid list. I am glad that I didn't have this list handy earlier in life or I would have left numbered cards in comment boxes like some cruel food-critic turned temple-judge at many a church. I post this without any desire to be divisive or polemical, but as a response to an oft-asked question.
Because many Eastern Catholic communities were under the direction of local Roman bishops and because of the natural process of acculturation, many Western-stylings have been added to Eastern Catholic practices. Eastern Catholic Churches, especially in North America, have adapted to the prevailing Roman Rite tradition. Over the decades some parishes came to completely resemble their Western European counterparts. This was the case for St. George Melkite Church of Milwaukee, Wisconsin prior to the 1970's.
With Vatican II's pronouncements honoring the tradition and practices of the Eastern Rites, most churches began to remove the western rite symbols. St. George Milwaukee has very nearly eliminated all of these ''outside'' influences and the parish worships in the manner of the Eastern Fathers. Other Eastern Catholic churches have been more gradual in their return to their ancestral roots. The rule of thumb is: the farther West geographically in the US the more Eastern liturgically.
While it may be impossible to completely list all of the Latinizations and Westernization - the following listing (adapted from the CIN-East internet discussions) give a general picture of western practices which were formerly used in St. George Melkite.
1. Unmarried priesthood The tide is turning here in many eparchies, but unmarried is still the norm.
2. Statues
3. Altar rails
4. Confessional boxes
5. Stations of the Cross hanging on walls
6. 3-D Crucifixes on walls
7. Western-style paintings
8. Suppression of liturgical hours
9. Suppression of Presanctified in favour of Divine Liturgy
10. Use of Western style Mass instead of the Liturgies of St. John Crystsostom or St. Basil
11. Introduction of Western prayers: the Rosary, etc.
12. Introduction of Western music and songs
13. Use of musical instruments
14. Emphasizing the words of Institution and silencing the Epiklesis prayers
15. Truncation of prayers, esp. psalms in liturgies
16. Reduction of prostrations and reverences
17. Use of Genuflections, Kneeling
18. Combining Divine Liturgy with other services: marriage, funeral
19. Not distributing the antidoron
20. Elimination of using hot water during Consecration
21. Not having a curtain behind the Royal Doors
22. First Communion and Chrismation separated from Baptism
With Vatican II's pronouncements honoring the tradition and practices of the Eastern Rites, most churches began to remove the western rite symbols. St. George Milwaukee has very nearly eliminated all of these ''outside'' influences and the parish worships in the manner of the Eastern Fathers. Other Eastern Catholic churches have been more gradual in their return to their ancestral roots. The rule of thumb is: the farther West geographically in the US the more Eastern liturgically.
While it may be impossible to completely list all of the Latinizations and Westernization - the following listing (adapted from the CIN-East internet discussions) give a general picture of western practices which were formerly used in St. George Melkite.
1. Unmarried priesthood The tide is turning here in many eparchies, but unmarried is still the norm.
2. Statues
3. Altar rails
4. Confessional boxes
5. Stations of the Cross hanging on walls
6. 3-D Crucifixes on walls
7. Western-style paintings
8. Suppression of liturgical hours
9. Suppression of Presanctified in favour of Divine Liturgy
10. Use of Western style Mass instead of the Liturgies of St. John Crystsostom or St. Basil
11. Introduction of Western prayers: the Rosary, etc.
12. Introduction of Western music and songs
13. Use of musical instruments
14. Emphasizing the words of Institution and silencing the Epiklesis prayers
15. Truncation of prayers, esp. psalms in liturgies
16. Reduction of prostrations and reverences
17. Use of Genuflections, Kneeling
18. Combining Divine Liturgy with other services: marriage, funeral
19. Not distributing the antidoron
20. Elimination of using hot water during Consecration
21. Not having a curtain behind the Royal Doors
22. First Communion and Chrismation separated from Baptism
Posts
It seems too broad to say "kneeling" is a latinization. The Byzantine Liturgy does contain kneeling - such as during the Kneeling Vespers of Pentecost - though it is considerably more rare than than in the Roman Liturgy.
ReplyDeleteThe Emmanuel Moleben for St. Phillip's Fast also contains a kneeling prayer.
I think the distinction you make is the same one this Melkite article would make. Kneeling at the consecration at every divine liturgy might be more specific.
ReplyDeleteI always ask for clarification when I see "kneel" in an Orthodox context. It doesn't not always, or even usually, mean what Roman Catholics do. At Pentecost Kneeling Vespers, we do prostrations. We still call it Kneeling Vespers, however.
ReplyDeleteOn the other hand, I was out of town some months back and was visiting at an Antiochian church, where I saw some people kneeling -- as in down on their knees -- during the Great Entrance. I had never seen that before, and found it odd.
Latinizations also influence the Orthodox.
ReplyDelete1) Antiochian Orthodox service books I have seen in the Mid-West explicitly demand that the faithful kneel "at least for the Anaphora" on Sundays!
2) I've seen Orthodox churches in Ukraine with stations of the cross, Western art, multiple liturgies on a Sunday, etc.
Kneeling is also extremely common in the Greek Archdiocese. To be fair there are a number of Latinizations picked up by Orthodoxy so no group has avoided the problem completely. The anointing of the sick becoming more like extreme unction, the very particular color scheme of Russian vestments, the adoption of Western imagery in some iconography, etc. etc.
ReplyDelete