Christ is Born!

To the good members of the Byzantine Forum:

I am thinking about purchasing the Old Rite Orthodox Prayer Book. I already have the Jordanville Prayer Book in my personal spiritual library and I am wondering if the Old Rite Prayer Book is similar to the Jordanville Prayer Book, or if they are both totally different. Any suggestions will be very much appreciated.

God Bless,

John Doucette

I have 3 extra copies of the Old Rite Orthodox Prayer Book.
If you send me your mailing address, I will send you one free.
And, if anyone else wants one (while they last), send me your
address. Use the PM (Private Message) feature.

PM feature is diabled at this time.

If still available, I would much appreciate having a copy. The PM feature is not working though.

Thank you to everyone who requested a copy of the Old Rite
Orthodox Prayer Book. I have written to the first two
requesters and will mail their copies tomorrow. I am saving
one for John Doucette. To everyone else, I refer you to the
bookstore website of the Russian Orthodox Old Rite Church of
the Nativity in Erie, PA, where you may order a copy for
$22.00. There are many other items of interest at the bookstore.

http://www.churchofthenativity.net

In my opinion it is far superior to the Jordanville Prayer Book.

jeffmbyzsfo:

Christ is Born!!

Sorry that you may have missed the offer. New members are on a full moderation mode upon joining. You'll hve your posts read by a mod before they're allowed to see the light.

BOB
Moderator

Glorify Him!

Thank you for the reply. About how much time does it take for a post to be reviewed before posting?

jeffmbyzsfo:

Christ is Born!!

Just depends on whether a mod is online. I check in periodically, but don't have regular times that I'm around.

BOB

In what ways do you find it better? Thanks.

In Christ,
Anthony

A few things off the top of my head are the inclusion of the side-by-side Slavonic text in the Old Ritualist typography; a better (in my opinion) general quality of translation into English especially of the Canons; excerpts from Vespers and Matins that are not included in the Jordanville book; and better commentary on spiritual traditions (such as the Lestovka, entrance and departure bows, etc.). I also like the physical presentation better - book size, binding, etc. I'm sure I could think of more items with some additional thought on the matter.

Yes, it is a lovely book on many levels but the bottom line is that it is NOT the Prayerbook of the Russian Orthodox Church but of the Old Believers.

Russian Orthodox use the Jordanville Prayerbook (Russian version) in both the homeland (where it has been printed by the 100s of thousands since Perestroika) and in the West. By using this Prayerbook we feel in contact with our fellow believers across the world.

There is nothing against making use of any of the Prayerbooks on the Western market but Russian Orthodox should make use of the one approved by their Church and used by the faithful. As I say, somehow it connects us with everybody else, knowing we are all using the same prayers every day in front of the holy icons.

Father Ambrose:

Father bless!!

This is exactly the argument I made to some folks in a Bible study group when the topic of using a prayerbook came up. Using the same prayers as other believers is a way that we stay in communion with each other and with Christ, and with all believers who have gone before us and who will come after us. Seems in my group no one had ever thought of it this way.

Asking for your blessing, continued holy prayers, and kissing your holy right hand,

BOB

1. It is a prayerbook of the Russian Orthodox Church, albeit before the Nikonian period. The argument that this is not a prayerbook of the Russian Orthodox Church is something like a Latin Catholic arguing that the pre-1965 Missal and Breviary are no longer those of the Catholic Church. You might also want to review the words of +Pimen of blessed memory from his statements about the beneficial aspects of Old Rite spirituality after removing the anathemas against the Old Ritualists.

2. Being somewhat familiar with the available Russian prayerbooks, and seeing myself the various versions of the MP that have been distributed especially since the 1970s, the Jordanville is not nearly as universal over there as one might be led to believe. I've probably seen as many versions of the the old "Svit" as much over there as anything else distrubuted from the US.

I was simply asked for preference and why, and having both prayerbooks I have found the Old Orthodox to be far superior and would recommend it to anyone desiring an authentic, traditional Orthodox prayerbook.

For prayer at home anything goes: asking the prayers of your dead relatives for example, and I'd say using Western Catholic forms like the rosary if you want to. That said, the Old Rite book AFAIK is approved by the Russian Church Abroad. It is beautifully made and has a lot of content (more than the Jordanville book?). Beyond that it's fun if you know Russian and/or Slavonic. You can see how Old Believer word choices and spellings in Slavonic are slightly different from the Nikonian Russian Orthodox standard.