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Friends,

I'm in the middle of a discussion with a mate over here about Feasts and moveable Feasts.

One burning Question has come up

Does the Feast of Christ the King exist in the East ?

I do have a copy of Sacrifice of Praise and can't find it in there

Any help please ?

Anhelyna

The Feast of Christ the King itself was not I believe instituted into the West until Pope Pius XII and I don't believe that it is known in the East.

Thanks Brian - this was my understanding [ well didn't know about the instituion I will admit ] BUT - I understand that it is an Eastern Breviary .

Any Clerics to my aid ?

Dear Anhelyna,

The feast was celebrated in the UGCC and still is in many parishes.

Alex

Actually there are very few such parishes, and the feast was never adopted on any official level by the Greek-Catholics. Pius XI intended it as a Catholic riposte to "Reformation Sunday".

But one could reasonably regard Palm Sunday as a feast of Christ the King - it celebrates His Royal Entry into Jerusalem.

Incognitus

Dear Incognitus,

I will have to contradict you on this one - there are more parishes than you as one of our "more Orthodox than the Orthodox themselves" that celebrate this feast realize.

Patriarch Joseph kept it in his prayerbook and there are many parishes in western Ukraine, our visitors tell me, that do celebrate it along with the Feasts of the Holy Eucharist and the Sacred Heart.

There are reasons for this that we living here don't fully appreciate.

Alex

Alex ,

I'll probably get my head in my hands for this - but I do understand what you are saying here.

Whilst I was searching in Sacrifice of Praise for the aforementioned Feast of Christ the King [ BTW that book was published by the Ukie Eparch of Parma ] I did find the Feast of the Body and Blood of Our Lord - so that is obviously used in some parishes. Now the Feast of the Sacred Heart - hmm well yes - I do understand - after all these are Feasts that go back a very long way and are despite that are I suspect regarded by many as Latinisations because of the actual title.

Maybe again this depends on which book you use ?

Anhelyna

Glory to Jesus Christ!

The feast of Christ the King is alive and well in my (Julian calendar) parish.

AFAIK, in the Roman Church this feast is celebrated the last Sunday of Ordinary Time before the start of the Nativity season. This works out to the 5th Sunday before the Nativity of OLGSJC. This year that works out to 21 November according to the Gregorian calendar used by the Roman Church.

At the first Divine Liturgy this morning I was surprised when I heard the Gospel reading was from John since today was the 22nd Sunday after Pentecost (Gospel: Lk. 8:5-15, pericope 35) as well as the feast of the Holy Apostle and Evangelist Luke (Gospel: LK. 10:16-21, pericope 51) [today being 18 October on the Julian Calendar]. The Gospel lesson concerned Christ being brought before Pontius Pilate. Father (who has the letters O.S.B.M. after his name) then preached a sermon on the feast of Christ the King �which the Holy Church celebrates on the last Sunday of October�. Odd, considering the Roman Church celebrates this feast in November, and today, being �18 October� couldn�t possibly be the last Sunday of October. The Gospel and sermon were repeated at the second Divine Liturgy.

Also, at no point was St Luke mentioned, not even in the dismissal.

When I returned home I double-checked some of my books:

• �Sacrifice of Praise�, Kyr Robert (MOSKAL), Parma 1996 � nothing (and I will yield to the fact that this book is only for the Eparchy of St. Josaphat).
• Dolnytsky�s �Typyk� � nothing (written before the institution of this feast?).
• �Pryidite poklonimsia�, 4th edition, L�viv 2003 � nothing.
• �Apostol�, Rome 1991, L�viv 2000 � nothing.

Then I took a look in the Basilian �Breviary� (Ukrainian edition, Rome � Toronto 1990). It says: While this Breviary is a bit �thin� when it comes to propers for the majority of the feasts, sometimes even getting �creative�, the entry for Christ the King is one of the most complete entries in the book.


Dear Alex,
I must question your comment
We may not �appreciate� such things, but we know full well why they happened and still do, in spite of what Rome begs of us. It is all down to some of our people not being taught that being Catholic (that is, in communion with Rome) doesn�t mean one must do what the Romans do. I will not disparage Roman feast, customs and traditions. They are fine. But we also have our own. Sadly, these are ignored in order to be more like �real Catholics�. There�s always the wonderful story about October being �month of the Rosary� in the Universal Church and having the Rosary recited after every Divine Liturgy. Of course people are not required to stay if they don�t wish to, but just to make it difficult to leave, the Rosary is begun immediately after the Divine Liturgy, not even a one minute pause. But that�s another story�

We can always rely on the Basilian order to be ever-obedient to Rome and guarantee we stay good Catholics and grow ever-closer to our �big sister� of the West.

Let us all rise, lift our eyes to heaven, and pray�

Σώσον, Κύριε, καί διαφύλαξον η�άς από τών Βασιλιάνικων τάξεων!

Dear KO63AP,

NOW I know what is implied by your Greek quotation!

In Christ,
Alice

Kosbar,

It would appear that there is a Basilian adaptation of the calendar for your parish, one which acknowledges dates according to the Julian calendar (18 Oct), but recognizes the day/week sequence in relation to the Gregorian (last Sunday in Oct). That is creative calendry !

It's a good thing that there is no day differential between the two - otherwise, you might find yourself celebrating the last Sunday in October on the third Tuesday :rolleyes: .

Many years,

Neil

Alex,

As a matter of fact, Christ the King is the patronal designation of the UGCC parish in Boston.

Many years,

Neil

Dear Neil,

They have a knack for being 'creative' and 'adaptive', but only in certain directions.

Would you like to venture a guess on what day we begin our Marian devotions for the month of May? :rolleyes:

Σώσον, Κύριε, καί διαφύλαξον η�άς από τών Βασιλιάνικων τάξεων!

My 1940 Prayerbook for Greek Catholic Rusins of America has this Feast for the last Sunday of October. The Pittsburgh Metopolia no longer keeps this Feast.

Here are the Tropar and Kondak:

(Tone 4)Thine reign Christ our God, received us from the power of darkness and placed us into the kingdom of Thy Love, Who art and from eternity art, and appeared to us as our King, Lord, glory to Thee.

(Tone 7) Let us give praise and prostrate cry to the immortal King of centuries, to the only most wise Christ, God: To thee was given the power, the glory, Thine Kingdom will not pass away, for Thou rulest for us, from eternity Christ, our King.

The Tridentine Use also has this feast on the last Sunday of October, but the current Roman Usage places it on the Last Sunday of Ordinary Time, i.e. the Sunday before the First Sunday of Advent. It celebrates the Christ's Second Coming and Judgement and so the true Byzantine twin would be Meat-fare Sunday. Interestingly, the Encyclopedia of Catholcism states ( from the Latin point of view I asssume) it is a duplication of the first kingship Feast, the Ascension. However, given the texts of this Feast in the Byzantine tradition this would hold up with us as well.

Fr. Deacon Lance

Dear Neil,

I understand it is also wildly popular in Eastern Europe among Greek-Catholics . . .

I've no problem with these feasts, except when an Eastern feast is superceded because of them . . .

So the feast of All Saints of Rus'-Ukraine is celebrated in the UGCC on the Fourth Sunday after Pentecost rather than with the Orthodox on the Second - and you know why!

Alex

Thanks Kobzar & " Amin' " to that!



It's amazing how far having a printing press will get you!

Anyways, in my parish, the pastor said we're weren't going to do it (despite what the Redemptorists had printed in the "missalette") but we were going to do the 22nd Sunday after Pentecost - and a wonderful Apostol & Gospel that was!

Kobzar, you truly are a Kobzar!

Herb