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On the way home from liturgy today, my wife and I were discussing various liturgical issues and she raised a question I did not know how to answer. So (once again) I am coming to the "forum of knowledge" to inquire:

Does anyone know why the prayer of St. John Chrysostom immediately preceding communion is recited in a different order (I am not asking about the words -- just the order in which they appear) in Byzantine Catholic parishes than in Orthodox parishes?

Here are the two prayers:

In the Orthodox, this is the order of the prayer as I have experienced it:



Whereas in the Byzantine Catholic tradition, the order is as follows:

Metropolitan Lawrence (Huculak) has shown that the pre-Communion sequence was all over the place in the Kyivan sluzhebnyky, whether Catholic or Orthodox or whether Nikonian or pre-Nikonian.

Even as used currently amongst the Ruthenian, Ukrainian, and Melkite Greek Catholics there are variations between the three in the extant liturgikons. I think there are several things at work - the immediate preparation of the priest composited with the public prayers before Communion, the varying influences of particular pre-Nikonian, Greek, Balkan, Mohylian and various other prototexts in development of particular editions, etc. and it is a complex development worthy of more study. Rack it up to "particular liturgical diversity".

The Russian catholic centre in Melbourne says the parayer exactly as you typed it for the orthodox, albeit in Slavonic.

Ned

PrJ:
Just a note. I have been to the Divine Liturgy in 5 Orthodox parishes, 1 ROCOR in ME, 1 OCA in NH, 2 ACROD in NJ and 1 UO in NJ and 4 Byzantine Catholic parishes all in NJ and 2 Ukranian Catholic in NJ all use the form you typed for the Byzantine Catholic Tradition. I think this may vary from parish to parish depending upon local custom, however I have never seen the other form in use here in the East.

Dear PrJ,
The Ukrainian Orthodox Church of Canada uses the second form you cited above.
I personally have never heard the first version in any Orthodox Church (Greek or Slavic):
However, I did find this version printed in a little booklet I bought long ago:
"A Pocket Prayer Book for Orthodox Christian." Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of North America, Englewood, NY, 1956. Repr. 1980. p. 52-53.
I am curious to know in which Orthodox Church you heard this form of the prayer.

The Brazil's Melkite Church uses the "orthodox" one.

The prayer that I listed as "Orthodox" was taken directly from an OCA prayer book. It is exactly the same form found in a Greek prayer book that I possess as well as an Antiochian prayer book.

I know that diversity exists. To be honest, I don't find the answer of "liturgical diversity" to be very helpful. It is the equivalent of saying that there is diversity because there is diversity.

As we know, liturgical traditions have legs ... I am interested in the legs of this tradition. How, when, where, and why does the difference exist?

Often objective reality is not "helpful" when it comes to the provenance of one aspect of a particular received text, but it is reality nonetheless.

It should also be clarified that not all "Byzantine Catholics" use the form above; Romanian, Russian, Melkite and Ukrainian Greek Catholics are all just as equally "Byzantine Catholics" but all use different forms of this sequence.

Again, there are abundant differences in the historical liturgical texts between the immediate preparation of the priest and the faithful for Holy Communion; this has been well documented in several historic commentaries on the Liturgy, and specifically in Metropolitan Lawrence's history of the Divine Liturgy after the Union of Brest.

Certainly more focused study of these respective developments based on the available texts from that time for the Divine Liturgy may shed some light on the subject; the predominance of, for example, the Zhokovsky vs. other texts such as the Mohylian, etc. particular editions in various areas, the reciting of the pre-communion prayer of the priest with the people instead of with the clergy, a fusion of a "liturgical" immediate prayer of preparation for the clergy or faithful with other private preparation prayers from outside the Liturgy, etc.

It is interesting that there are even differences between the "Ruthenian" (used here in its larger historic sense) versions. This is the UGCC English translation from the 1988 Liturgikon:

I believe, O Lord, and confess that You are truly Christ, the Son of the living God, Who came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the first. Accept me this day, O Son of God, as a partaker of your mystical supper. I will not tell the mystery to Your enemies, nor will I give you a kiss as did Judas, but like the thief, I confess to You:
Remember me, O Lord, when You come into Your kingdom.
Remember me, O Master, when You come into Your kingdom.
Remember me, O Holy One, when You come into Your kingdom.
May the partaking of your holy mysteries, O Lord, be unto me not for judgment, or condemnation, but for the healing of soul and body.
God, be merciful to me a sinner.
God, cleanse my sins and have mercy on me.
I have sinned without number, forgive me, O Lord.

The extra "O Lord, I also believe and profess that this, which I am about to receive, is truly Your most precious Body and Your life-giving Blood..." is absent from the Ukrainian Catholic text of the Ruthenian rescension. It is also not used in the Melkite or Russian Catholic texts. As it is also absent in at least every Old Believer version of the Liturgy I have seen, I don't think it can either be simply dismissed as a pre-Nikonian remnant.

From Byzantine Daily Worship:

I believe, O Lord, and profess that You are the Christ, the Son of the living God, come to this world to save sinners, of whom I am the greatest. I believe also that this is really your spotless body and that this is really your precious blood. Wherefore I pray to You: have mercy on me and pardon my offenses, the deliberate and the indeliberate, those committed in word and in deed whether knowingly or inadvertently; and count me worthy to share without condemnation your spotless mysteries, for the remission of sins and for eternal life. Amen.

Receive me now, O Son of God, as a participant in your mystical supper; for I will not betray you mystery to your enemies, nor give You a kiss like Judas, but like the thief, I confess You; remember me, O Lord, in your kingdom.

May the reception of your holy mysteries, Lord, be for me not to judgement or condemnation, but to the healing of (my) soul and body. Amen.

The Communion prayer currently found in the 65 and 07 Liturgicons is a translation from the 1905 Lviv Liturgicon. Its continued use was requested by Bishop Daniel Ivancho and granted. The Hierarchs choose to continue its use.

I would comment that part of the extra sentence:

"O Lord, I also believe and profess that this, which I am about to receive, is truly Your most precious Body and Your life-giving Blood, which I pray, make me worthy to receive for the remission of all my sins and for life everlasting. Amen."

is contained in the Orthodox and Melkite versions in the sentence:

And I believe that this is thine own immaculate Body, and that this is thine own precious Blood.

It would appear the 1905 Lviv Liturgicon unique additions are:

"which I pray, make me worthy to receive for the remission of all my sins and for life everlasting. Amen."

and

"O God, be merciful to me, a sinner.
O God, cleanse me of my sins and have mercy on me.
O Lord, forgive me, for I have sinned without number."


I would guess these are a pair of harmless Latinizations inserted in the Lviv Liturgicon. The first additon it seems is simply a reiteration, the second I think, since it was origianlly accompanied with a triple breast strike was a Byzantine imitation of the second Confiteor with its triple "mea culpa" with triple breast strikes, in the LAtin Missal of the day. Our unique triple "Remember me..." is probably in imitation of the triple "Domine, non sum dignus..."

Fr. Deacon Lance

Fascinating. I have often wondered at these differences in the order and wording of the prayer before communion.

Personally, I find this language

"O God, be merciful to me, a sinner.
O God, cleanse me of my sins and have mercy on me.
O Lord, forgive me, for I have sinned without number."

to be very moving, and I miss its absence in the Orthodox Divine Liturgy I attend.

-- John

I am not sure about "unique"; portions are already present in various texts of the sluzhebnyky well before the L'viv sluzhebnyk. The Mohylian books such as the 1629 Kyiv sluzhebnyk prescribe a similar variant of the so-called "Prayer of the Publican" to be said by the priest as a minimum immediate private preparation prayer. As I mentioned before, the current prayer seems to be a fusion of private and public preparation prayers. I think the triple prayer was also floating around well before the 1905 L'viv sluzhebnyk, but perhaps not in this exact form.

As I recall it was at the "Remember me, O Lord" starting in the Zhokovsky era that priests would strike the breast such as at the Agnus Dei.