www.byzcath.org Forums General Discussions Town Hall Byzantine Missions

"When we know who we are and love who we are telling our story will be easy."

-- Dan L.

Who are we? Do we know what is means to be a Byzantine Christian?

I found the first few questions a bit in need of clarification or rewording.

We are having the Royal Hours tommorrow at an RC parish about 60 miles from the established "home" parish. If the Liturgy is truly the source and summit of our entire life, which I fervently believe in the spirit of lex credendi, lex orandi, then at some point we have to deliver if we wish any evangelical efforts to work as Eastern Christians.

We have to share that unfading Light of faith in the Trinity which has been given to us through our very unique received tradition and not keep it "under the couch".

All this talk about outreach, etc. is nice but if that cornerstone which defines our identity as Eastern Christians is not the center of our life, evangelization and outreach, and is not accessible, all that becomes quite empty.

Even if it is impossible for the priest to attend all of the service, one can have Reader's Services without a priest and still allow people to experience that beautiful summit of our Eastern Christian life, our liturgy.

We occasionally have Vespers, Compline, an Akathist, Moleben, etc. (sooo many great opportunities for prayer in our tradition!!! ) at someone's house and then have a meal and discussion. It has proven to be quite fruitful.

Dear Diak,

Our old pastor, now reposed, Fr. Bohdan Lypsky, said the same thing.

He said that RC missionaries would travel to places and start building things.

But the Eastern (Orthodox) missionary would do something quite different.

He would stay with someone who is sympathetic to his cause in the village and begin serving the Divine Liturgy and the Horologion.

And this is the focus of the "outreach" that draws people by the beauty and spiritual power of the Liturgy.

Alex

Thank you, Diak, for the observation that what's central to parish life and worship is the Liturgy:

All this talk about outreach, etc. is nice but if that cornerstone which defines our identity as Eastern Christians is not the center of our life, evangelization and outreach, and is not accessible, all that becomes quite empty.

For it is in our celebration of the Liturgy that the Paschal Mystery is renewed. The other liturgical services connect to the Divine Liturgy and are part of the ancient prayer life of the Church.

As to evangelization I liked what I read at the St Irenaeus site:

Evangelization Quick Notes I

Evangelization, the proclamation of the Good News, is the fundamental activity of the one, holy, catholic and apostolic Church.

The Good News is that Jesus Christ, the eternal Son and Word of God, has destroyed the power of sin and death and has established the new creation of which He is the first fruit.

Jesus Christ enables all who accept Him on His terms to be able to survive death and to rise to new life.

Jesus Christ has utterly destroyed the power of the demons.

From the beginning the apostles and those after them obeyed the commandment of Christ to preach the gospel to all nations baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.

Read the entire article at:

Evangelization Quick Notes [stirenaeus.net]

Some questions:

What do we need to do to revive a spirit of evangelization in our parishes?

Are we afraid to do so because of the responsibility that would develop? (You know, the "well, that sounds nice but we just don't the manpower to do this" dodge.)

I say we need to:

1) Begin with a prayer of repentance.

2) Ask God for more faith so that we can proceed with an evangelization program.

3) Take concrete steps. Begin the catechesis necessary to encourage an evangelizing spirit among our people. Write the tracts designed for first time visitors that explain the faith and our liturgical worship. Make the contacts necessary (neighborhood visits, welcome signs, trained greeters, etc.) How about a "Byzantine Faith & Life" series of lectures? (A great way to do this would be to do this in conjuction with a parish potluck. Have a potluck and then have a presenter do a 30 minute or so presentation. It could be concluded with Compline.)

These are just quick thoughts. Other ideas?

Nec

I know Metropolitan STEFAN of the Ukrainian Catholic Church in the US is encouraging his priests to learn Spanish, so they can outreach to that community.

I have friends who are RC priests who do the liturgy in Spanish, too, about once a week, but they don't really KNOW Spanish. They were taught the Mass in Spanish in seminary and encouraged to use it.

Glad to hear of the encouragement to reach out to others beyond our normal borders.

A further thought on the idea of a "Byzantine Faith & Worship" potluck series. Imagine this sort of announcemnt in a local parish bulletin:

Nec

Note of interest: A few years ago, His Holiness Patriarch Maximos V of Antioch approved a version of the Divine Liturgy in IRISH, so anything's possible, go raibh maith agat. I'd like to check that out...

The Ruthenian parish in Albequerque has a Spanish Divine Liturgy translation. I am sure there are others out there as well.

Both the Brazilian and Argentinian eparchies of the UGCC have Ukrainian/Portuguese and Ukrainian/Spanish DL pew books, respectively.

Domilsean

There is indeed a version of the Divine Liturgy in Irish Gaelic - This translation has been printed side by side w/ Ukrainian and is used by the Ukrainian Catholic Community in Dublin - and possibly elsewhere too

I had a copy of this - but donated it to the Ukrainian Church in Lourdes - and it has been used there - yes - the Divine Liturgy of St John Chrysostom served in the Ukrainian Catholic Church in the French Pilgrimage town of Lourdes , by an Australian Ukie Priest [Fr Guy - is an Australian with some Irish blood in his background] using Irish Gaelic and Ukrainian .

Anhelyna

It seems to me that if more information is made available about areas of opportunity, the next step is to canvas for existing parishioners to help make a mission happen in that area. That's the way many eastern churches have been started in the past.

Some areas are less inclined to missionary work, and have preferred to expand an existing parish, instead. IMHO, that is a less than satisfactory solution, because the parish can become too big to hang together as one community. It becomes a corporate parish, where people can more easily be anonymous, and don't have to get involved.

Unlike our western counterparts that are growing larger partly in response to a shortage of priests (and I don't mean to distract this thread onto the celibacy issue), eastern churches generally appear to do better as smaller parishes, without massive programs and budgets, but with a very involved community that works together for the good of all.

I agree, smaller churches, of whatever tradition get more done, as there is more accountability in a smaller setting. there isn't an attitude of institutionalization, nor thinking that someone else is doing what needs to be done. first, let's get the word out to seekers.
Much Love,
Jonn

I came across Ivan Moody's site yesterday. He has Liturgical text in different languages.
http://members.lycos.co.uk/ivanmoody/orthodoxliturgylinks.htm

I don't really have a solution either, butit is of concern to me.

I understand that some of our parishes in S. Florida have congregations mostly of Cuban/Haitian origin, and there are at least one parish in S. Calif. that has a strong Hispanic population. How do they do it? I think we Byzantine Catholics are more open to different cultures and languages. But how many languages can one incorporate into the Liturgy?

I get on some other Catholic web sites, and some people in the chat room were saying the same thing: that they have several different immigrant groups in their parish (Vietnamese, Filippino, Chinese, etc.) What language to use? (This was a Latin Rite parish. Some one suggessted Latin. That was the unifying bond of the Latin Church until 1964.)

Well, I guess it was some what of a change for our Holy Fathers among the Saints Cyril and Methodius to translate the Divine Liturgy into Old Slovanak. I guess people understood the Liturgy.

I read an article in the newspaper not long ago where the priest at the local Greek Orthodox church was in a dilemma; none of the young people were attending Liturgy. He thought maybe that since most of them didn't know Greek. Well, what is the answer?
1) Have the parents teach them Greek, or the priest offer them classes;
2) Have a Divine Liturgy in English.

Whatever we do, we have to do it quickly. In 20 years we will have no parishes because we will have no parishioners.

In addition to use of Portuguese and Spanish in our South American Eparchies, we have a couple of US parishes with significant Hispanic faithful and some Liturgies served in Spanish - generally, I believe, by bi-ritual priests who are serving in our Eparchy.

Many years,

Neil