Dear Friends,
Our Administrator raises two important liturgical points of interest with respect to the Great Fast/Lent that I wanted to comment on in particular.
The first has to do with the reasons why devotions such as the Stations of the Cross were adopted by our Churches.
I agree with the Administrator's explanations and wanted to add two further points in history that point to other reasons.
The seventeenth century or the period of the Kyivan Baroque saw the Latinization of not only the Eastern Catholic Churches, which then truly DID refer to themselves as "Orthodox in communion with Rome," but also of Eastern Orthodox Churches as well.
In response to the Unionist movement and to the tremendous influence of the Jesuits via their famous and influential European schools and missions, the Orthodox Kyivan Church, as an example, took on the challenges these made to Orthodoxy.
So it sent its Orthodox theological students to study in places like Paris - believing it important to know the scholastic methods of Orthodoxy's "enemies."
And, unfortunately, these students studied too hard . . .
They brought back with them numerous and popular Latin devotions, including that of the Immaculate Conception. Ukrainian and Russian Orthodox printshops at this time issued the "Little Office of the Blessed Virgin Mary," the "Psalter of our Lady" (by St Bonaventure) and other devotions that were printed in Slavonic, especially at Venice.
Western Baroque art and architecture was also introduced into the East - and this was really unavoidable at the time.
In the 19th century, Eastern Catholics attended Latin services to the Sacred Heart etc. and Fr. Isidore Dolnitsky did up some Akathists and other services along RC themes to keep the EC's from going to RC Churches. "Latinization" was actually the least of the EC worries - their faithful were simply up and going over to the RC Church!
This leads to the second point, the whole area of popular devotion in the East.
To what extent is the East (Catholic and Orthodox) the author of its own tragedy in this department?
The Stations et al. are very "accessible" to the average church-goer, and they are very "doable" in terms of popular devotion.
What does the Eastern Church have by way of personal and public liturgical prayer that resembles the Stations et al. outside the Liturgy of the PreSanctified?
There is always the long Daily Office - but this has not always been popular with our Eastern Catholic and Orthodox people - it is difficult for the average person to do.
There are Akathists and other services that one could do in place of the Stations. St Peter Mohyla's response was to imitate the Stations in his "Passiyi" service.
So unless there are liturgical devotional forms that can successfully replace the Stations of the Cross and other devotions like that in our Churches, our Eastern Catholic people especially will continue to be attached to them as "their" devotions.
I personally pray the fifteen Stations (ie. including the Resurrection at the end) in the form of 15 decades of the Rosary daily in Lent - but privately.
But there is NOTHING in our local parishes that can be a ready substitute for the devotional happiness that our people receive from the Stations of the Cross or the "Sorokousty" - whatever those are. (Any ideas anyone?)
Instead of talking about WHY we wound up with the Stations of the Cross, like New Schmemanns and Meyendorffs
, let's talk about WHAT in our tradition can be substituted for it that would bring our people the same spiritual joy!
Go ahead now . . .
Alex
, the entire Church of Christ ONLY celebrated the Divine Liturgy of the Presanctified during the week-days of Lent.
