Dear Alex,

I think so much of the Russophilism you refer to is actually a Byzantinism in a Russian guise. It is a mentality and attitude inherited from Byzantium, exploited by successive Tsars and emperors, being remoulded to prop up their own ideologies.

This is where it becomes an embrionic Sergianism, its seeds sown by men such as St Joseph Volotsky and finding its flowering and fruition in the pact between Metropolitan Sergius and Joseph Stalin. The exploitaion of the Church by the state and the State by the Church is clear in the lives of Patriarch Nikon and Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich. As we know, the lives of these men were not only to touch the history and identity of Ukrainians, but also of the pious Russians - caught up to an extent in the Russian messianic ideology, but who also looked back beyond all of this to a Tradition in which Muscovy, Kiev, Volhynia, Galicia and so many cities and princedoms were united as part of Holy Rus'. We must all look back to this vision.

Yes, we get a bit romantic and hazy, but it allows to see beyond nationalsim, Russian expansionism and Russification to a golden age of Rus' Christianity, shared and died for by the ancestors of today's religiously divided Slavs.

In this Tradition, the likes of His Grace, Savvati, Old Rite Orthodox Bishop of Kiev and All Ukraine, can be true to the Tradition of Orthodox Rus' and still be a true and loyal Ukrainian. The same can be said of the cossacks who remained loyal to Old Orthodoxy until this day.

Spasi Khristos -
Mark, monk and sinner.

Bless me a sinner, Father Mark!

Well said!

I am striving to be like that too - how well I'm progressing, I don't know, but it is my ideal!

Alex

Bless me a sinner, Father Mark,

I've heard that the Old Orthodox Kozaks had extra liturgies such as that of St Mark and St Peter.

What could you share with us in this regard?

Alex

The kozaks are interesting in as much as they carries rare books beyond the borders of the Russian empire. The Turchanie Old Believers preserved the liturgies of Sts Peter, James and Mark - in Slavonic of course.

Sadly, the Turks confiscated it when the Turchanie left Turkey in the 1960's.

The same contents appear in Greek. I think it was the Rossano manuscript.

Spasi Khristos -
Mark, monk and sinner.

Bless me a sinner, FAther Mark,

I was wondering if an ancient liturgy such as that of St Clement could be legitimately celebrated today?

Alex

I don't know the answer to that one Alex.

The problem would probably be a cultural one. For Old Believers there would be questions such as liturgical music and the proskomidia. How would Old Rite practices, so linked with a particular liturgy fit into another extant Orthodox rite.

Again, it largely comes down to the celebration of rites within the living Tradition of the Church. To some extent this Tradition becomes localised as some legitmate practices fall out of use in some places.

Another problem with the ancient liturgies is that we lack the rubrics. For example, the rubrics of the liturgy of St James are not Paleochristian, but Byzantine.

Spasi Khristos -
Mark, monk and sinner.

Bless me a sinner, Father Mark,

Why were other liturgies suppressed by the Byzantine Church then?

The Roman Church did this . . .

Alex

Byzantinisation is a large part of the equation, I think. With the growth of centralised and Hellenised Church Rule, power issued from the main cities of the empire and the semitic and coptic elements of Christianity vanished under a tide of standardisation. The usage of the Great Church came to dominate Orthodox liturgical life, just as certain Russian Cathedral customs were imposed on all Churches in the Russian land. A fear of difference can motivate much of this standardisation. To a certain extent this is a problem in the mentality of both the Old Believers and the Nikonians in Russian history.

For a proper answer you need a liturgical scholar. I'm afraid I know very little about liturgy - I just enjoy it and get on with it.

Spasi Khristos -
Mark, monk and sinner.

Bless me a sinner, Father Mark,

There are those who speak what they know, and others who know what they speak.

You are of the latter category!

Alex

Dear Father Mark, I think you are right in principle about the issue of Russophilism. I would call it Neo-Byzantianism as Moscow did claim to be the sole inheritor of Byzantine tradition after the fall of Constantinople.

But on the other hand it is a positive thing, not negative, to appreciate the Kyivan tradition in toto including its particular expressions as it was transmitted to Novgorod, Yaroslavl, Vladimir, Suzdal, etc.

Yes, the Russophilism is neo-Byzantine. I would love to see a far greater interest in provincial 'Russian' customs, and of course the valuing of Kyiv as the Mother of Russian cities and the Mother of Rus' Orthodoxy! My faith is, I have to admit, very Moscow centred because of Old Orthodox history and the course of Russian history, but I know that I must find more and more about the faith of Rus' before the centralisation and standardisation of liturgy and tradition under Ivan Grozny. My ignorance is deep, but I try at least to lessen it's depth!

Spasi Khristos -
Mark, monk and sinner.

Bless me a sinner, Father Mark,

Have you had a chance to see the new Belakrinitsa video on the Old Believers in Ukraine?

I helped with that and I'm mentioned in the credits, believe it or not . . .

Even my wife now joins me in the Entrance and Departure Bows . . .

Alex

Is this one of Taras's projects? Sounds brilliant!

Spasi Khristos -
Mark, monk and sinner.

Bless me a sinner, Father Mark!

Yes, indeed!

He's trying to do more videos.

But the first one does give one a flavour for Old Believer spiritual culture, how to do prostrations, pictures of the Old Believer tombs in Kyiv and an interview with the Met. of Kyiv.

Alex

Yes, I think I already have the footing that has been used for this - all a bit crackly but very spiritual.

Spasi Khristos -
Mark, monk and sinner.