Liturgy starts at 9:30am here, we were done by 10:15am!

Other than the usual gripes with the RDL, the part that cracked me up the most was the 'May our lips be filled....' part. Now that the repeating verses are gone, the hymn is over much quicker and the priest was still at the side altar. So they sang the last verse again. Still no priest at the main altar, they sang the verse again. Still no priest at the main altar, one more time they sang. I thought to myself, they could have sang it the old way with the verses repeating for crying out loud!

Monomakh

I think the restoration of the diaconate is the reason for the shortened "May our mouths be filled." The priest doesn't perform the ablution of the chalice; the deacon does it after the Ambon prayer, in accordance with the Ruthenian Recension. The Liturgy moves quickly at this point because the Eucharist is taken to the Proskomidia table and censed; then the priest goes back to the altar. As deacons become available in more parishes this will become much more natural.

Is there anyone here who knows what percentage of BCCA parishes now use the RDL?
Is it true that Passaic Eparchy discourages the use of the remaining Aitesis?

Bottom line: according to the RDL the priest sans deacon also consumes the gifts at some time after the ambon prayer. But is this generally being done?

The Litanies of the Faithful are forbidden and the prayer of the priest prayed quietly (though most priests omit the prayers altogether)

The RDL has not caused more then a handful of priests to take the ablutions at the proper time. Nor have numerous priests started to use zeon. Etc

The rite of zeon was in the Ruthenian 1964
translation, but in parentheses, indicating it was to be done or
omitted at the discretion of the bishop. Very few parishes did it.
However, the 2007 translation takes it out of parentheses and most
parishes are now doing it. I wish only to observe that these things
are happening in fact in Ruthenian Catholic parishes.

Does anybody know what is being done in Fr. Thomas Loya's parish -- said to be a bastion of "pure" Byzantine practice?

My soft copy of the RDL has a "Litany of the Faithful"

Fr. David Petras asserts that most priests now use zeon.

Does anybody know what is being done in Fr. Thomas Loya's parish -- said to be a bastion of "pure" Byzantine practice?

I will agree with Father Deacon Paul that the 30% number quoted by John Damascene is probably too high. I have no accurate count, but my conversations with clergy would probably put the number at about 10-15% in the Pittsburgh Archeparchy. ISTM that the number of parishes that would switch back to the 1964 if permitted is probably close to 95%.

As to the zeon, the RDL did not restore it. It was in the 1964 English Edition and the 1942 Normative Slavonic Edition. To claim the 2007 Revision is responsible for restoring it is to state something that is demonstrably false. One must always correctly delineate between a Litrugicon and a liturgical directive. The 1964 Liturgicon contained the rubric for zeon (page 43) but it was the liturgical directives of that era that told the priests not to use zeon. A new liturgical directive could have removed that restriction and restored its use. There was absolutely no need to revise the Divine Liturgy to restore zeon.

My own estimate is that some (maybe 25%) of clergy have restored zeon (one must look at what they do when the bishop or other notables are not present). Most priests appear to be taking all those prayers out loud in imitation of the Roman Catholics, but keep the rest of the rubrics pretty much the same as they always did. Things like the correct use of prosphora (i.e., no pre-cut) and zeon can be ignored just as easily in the Revised Liturgicon as they were with the Ruthenian Liturgcion.

When compared to the full celebration of the Byzantine Divine Liturgy according to the normative Ruthenian Liturgicon the 2007 Revised Divine Liturgy is a “Low Mass”. The details are just different than the “Low Masses” of the 70’s and 80’s.