On the Western Rite

From the blog Again and Again, a discussion of Western Rite Orthodoxy. I will say honestly that I have never received more strident messages from readers, than when I have commented on or covered the Western Rite movement. It is quite a charged topic and will continue to be so for the foreseeable future.

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“Never, Never, Never let anyone tell you that in order to be Orthodox you must also be Eastern. The West was Orthodox for a thousand years, and her venerable liturgy is far older than any of her heresies.”

- St. John the Wonderworker

Today is the feast day of St. John of Shanghai and San Francisco and on the occasion of the feast day I thought I’d post this article from Orthodox England (here) entitled. :

THOUGHTS ON ‘WESTERN RITE’

Introduction

All religions have rites. Rites are necessary because we are incarnate. The bodiless angels do not need rites, but we do. In other words, the outward structures of rites are necessary in order to hold the spiritual content of religion, just as our bodies are necessary in order to hold our immortal souls. It can be said that a rite is a glass; the content is the wine. It is clear which is more important.

But which rite or rites should we use to contain this wine? Clearly, they must be worthy. In the Orthodox Church we have four very ancient eucharistic rites: those of St John Chrysostom, St Basil the Great, St James of Jerusalem (the most ancient of all) and the Presanctified Rite attributed to St Gregory the Dialogist. They all go back to the first century, but were not really settled until the fourth century and a few changes were made to them even after this. But beyond these, we have the rites associated with the many other services of the liturgical cycles of the year. Eucharistic rites are only part of the rites that we use. However important, the Eucharist is only part of Church life.

The question of a Western rite in Orthodoxy goes back generations and has a whole history in Western Europe, in North America and elsewhere. This question of a ‘Western rite’ seems to come up at regular intervals, every ten years or so, and well-rehearsed arguments are presented in favour of it. For the sake of those new to the Church, it would also be helpful to speak of the arguments against. These are not often expressed, all the more so when the arguments come from experience and observation of reality. What are these arguments...

Complete article here.