www.byzcath.org Forums Faith & Christian Life Faith & Theology Eucharistic devotion among Byzantine Catholics

Excellent points: the Orthodox DO have Eucharistic devotion apart from actually receiving Communion, only not in the form of Exposition, processions or Benediction outside of Liturgy. Doulos, having someone chant the pre-Communion prayers before Liturgy and/or the post-Communion office (like Roman thanksgiving prayers) is very, very Russian Orthodox! I�ve heard it done many times.

And in traditional Russian churches, people come to Liturgy every week but don�t receive that often (because the piety around receiving has become so stringent). This is not an ideal but how things developed.

Serge

<a href="http://oldworldrus.com">Old World Rus�</a>

[This message has been edited by Rusnak (edited 06-14-2001).]

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[This message has been edited by Byzantino (edited 06-15-2001).]

According to the book, "Byzantine Daily Worship", the second Sunday after Pentecost(today) is celebrated by the Melkite Catholic Church as the Sunday of the Divine Body. Whether this feast is still an official feast in the Melkite liturgical calendar, I do not know.

<<I am interested in obtaining information regarding "Byzantine benediction" of the Most Blessed Sacrament and eucharistic devotions among Byzantine Catholics.>>

SUPPLICATSYA as the Ruthenian and Ukrainians called in in Slavonic is based around the third part of the Te Deum of St. Ambrose.

A Melchizedek (as the ostensorium is called) with a square luna--the Lamb is a cube, remember?--is placed on the altar and censed as certain invocations are sung. (Some places would sing O spasitel' zhertvu--a direct translation of O salutaris--before hand.)

Then blessing the people, the priest chants:

"O God, save Your people" which the people repeat. This call and response is done twice.

Third time, the priest says, "O God, save Your people and bless your inheritance." The People continue: "Govern them and lift them up forever..." and the rest of Te Deum.

Unfortuantely, some Ukrainian Orthodox churches would do this on Wed and Fri nights in Great Lent, preceded by some highlights from Holy Week, in a service called PASSIYA. I say "unfortuantely" because the Liturgy of Presanctified Gifts was unknown in these places.

The BEST expression of devotion to the Holy Eucharist is to receive our Lord in Holy Communion.

Isn't everything done with the Holy Gifts after that really an anti-climax?

+ Basil

<<His Beatitude states:
"We praise it(Byzantine Daily Worship) because you(the author, Archbishop Joseph Raya) deleted from it all elements foreign to the Byzantine Rite." Does this mean that the Patriarch of the Melkite Catholic Church, does not regard Eucharistic devotions as an element foreign to the Byzantine Church?>>

FWIW, Raya's first liturgical work, BYANZTINE MISSAL FOR SUNDAYS AND FEAST DAYS, (1958 or so--out of print) had several Latinisms in it, including singing "Holy God, we praise thy name" at the end of Benediction, the Angelus and Rosary, and the exhoration to the bridal couple from the Rituale Romanum.

He also buried Filioque in the Creed under a pile of conjunctions: "who proceeds from the Father and moreover also from the Son as well in addition besides."

These are the types of Latinisms that were omitted in BDW.

Of course, BYZANTINE MISSAL had to be approved by Abp. Toolen of Mobile-Birmingham before he could print it! (The Melkite churches in the USA were under Latin bishops in those days. Patriarch Maximos IV Saiegh accepted the red hat ONLY on condition that a bishop were given the Melkite church in the USA. He considered the cardinalate to be a DEMOTION, rather than a promotion.)

FWIW, No Melkite churches in this country observe Feast of the Divine Body, nor does Feast of the Holy Eucharist appear in the office books published by Uniontown. For that matter, they don't have "Feast of Our Lord, Lover of Mankind"--Sacred Heart by any other name--in their books, either.

You're kidding, right? Who do you tell, the priest in front of the entire congregation?

In the Latin Church, it is absolutely forbidden to require a manifestation of conscience from anyone (a manifestation of conscience is a confession of sins outside the Sacrament of Penance). Even the superiors of religious institutes (e.g. monasteries) cannot demand this of their subjects. Bishops cannot demand it of their priests.

While I do not contest that the condition of separation from the Eucharist because of sin is a terrible condition, requiring a manifestation of conscience is, to me at least, abhorrent.

--NDHoosier

[This message has been edited by NDHoosier (edited 06-19-2001).]

Dear NDHoosier,

This was the ancient discipline of the Church, East and West, and is no longer followed.

I imagine such a report would have been done in private to the Priest. Certainly in former times he had the authority to eject people for such infractions.

Ejecting people was also one of the original functions of the Deacon.

Alex

Glory to God for all things!

Byzantino and Orthodox Catholic, on May 30, 1918 the Russian Catholics joined with the Roman Catholics of Petrograd in a public Corpus Christi procession. Archbishop Edward von Ropp, the ranking Roman Catholic prelate carried the monstrance under a canopy. He was preceded by the Russian Bl. Exarch Leonid Feodorov, martyr, (1879-1935) wearing his mitre, along with seven Russian Catholic priests. The members of the local Russian Catholic Brotherhood of St. John Chrysostom were present with their banner. When the procession crossed the Neva River the Orthodox parishes rang their bells and the numerous Orthodox clergy and laymen knelt and crossed themselves. After the procession reached the Viborg Cemetery the exarch with two of his priests, two deacons and other clergy concelebrated an open air Divine Liturgy. There is a photograph of the exarch in the procession. This was the earliest known public Corpus Christi procession in Petrograd. This procession aroused great interest among the Orthodox. It is a good example of both Byzantine-Catholic cooperation and Orthodox-Catholic ecumenism.

In 1921 the Soviets forbade the procession in Petrograd due to the "evil influeince" of religion. There were processions in the suburb of Kolpino in 1920 and 1921. The 1921 procession was led by a future Byzantine martyr, Anthony Niemantsevich (1893-1943.) He was of Belrusian ethnicity and later became a biritual Jeuit. He later served in eastern Poland and in 1939 was secretly consecrated a bishop by Mtr. Andrew who appointed him as Exarch of the Belrusian Greek Catholics.

You might wish to consult Christopher Zugger's "The Forgotten," a new history of the Catholic Church in 20th century Russia, for more details.

[This message has been edited by Doulos of Fatima (edited 07-05-2001).]

[This message has been edited by Doulos of Fatima (edited 07-11-2001).]

Glory to Jesus Christ! Glory forever!

The following provides an example of Orthodox Eucharistic devotion outside of Divine Liturgy:

"There was a desperately ill peasant at the place where I stayed, and I suggested to those attending him that they make arrangements for him to receive the Holy Eucharist. They agreed, and in the morning they sent for the village priest. I decided to stay behind to show my respect for the Holy Gifts and to pray before this awesome mystery." (Way of a Pilgrim, chap. 2)

Dear Doulos,

What you say is absolutely correct!

There is nothing preventing an Eastern Christian from praying and worshipping before the Holy Altar.

Eucharistic processions have and do occur in the Eastern Catholic Churches.

It is just that they are not in keeping with Eastern spirituality and Rome has asked us to return to it, as much as possible.

Alex

I have seen this within my own family. But, the spirituality is different from what you deduce from the passage you quote.

If you notice, the desire of the "Pilgrim" is to pray before this awesome mystery as it is given AS HOLY COMMUNION for the sick, which is actually an extension in time of the Divine Liturgy.

It is not the practice of the Orthodox to worship the Holy Eucharist outside of Communion.

Processions, Benediction (in the Latin/Byzantine Catholic sense), etc., are foreign to the Orthodox understanding of the Eucharist, which is always linked with the communal and individual ACT of Holy Communion.

b.

[This message has been edited by bciulllp4userscommunity (edited 07-09-2001).]

Glory to God for all things!

Thank you, Orthodox Catholic and b. I was not trying to encourage Byzantine Catholics to engage in Roman practices. I was just illustrating that the Catholic and Orthodox practices manifest the same faith in the Eucharist. The Pilgrim was willing to venerate the Holy Mysteries even when he was not going to recieve. One could say the same regarding the Orthodox and Byzantines attending the Liturgy of the Presanctified. In the past when lay communion was infrequent laymen still venerated the Holy Eucharist during Lenten services.

It is this faith in the Holy Mysteries that allowed the Russian Orthodox to venerate the Eucharist during the 1918 Corpus Christi procession. We have the same faith. Our approachs and practices regarding the Body and Blood of the Lord diverge; but, they show the same faith.

Dear Doulos,

Rite on!

I have myself participated in Corpus Christi processions in our multicultural Toronto here.

The faith and devotion is the same. Ukrainian Catholics, however, do continue to use a monstrance with the Supplication service.

In western Ukraine, there are also Orthodox Churches who use monstrances and even have Corpus Christi processions.

The Orthodox in western Ukraine also practice the Stations of the Cross devotion, I have an excellent prayerbook of theirs, and they even recommend the establishment of the 14 stations throughout all Orthodox Churches!

Alex

The Orthodox in western Ukraine also practice the Stations of the Cross devotion, I have an excellent prayerbook of theirs, and they even recommend the establishment of the 14 stations throughout all Orthodox Churches!

Alex[/B][/QUOTE]

They must find the lack of an enthusiastic response from their fellow Orthodox extremely frustrating.

b.

Dear b.,

Well, the Russian Orthodox Church has monastic members who have adopted the form of prayer known in the West as the Rosary.

St Seraphim of Sarov prayed a form of this and recommended it to his children.

St Seraphim Zvezdinsky prayed 15 decades of the Rosary daily as did others as discussed in the book, "Staretz Zechariah: An early Soviet Saint."

Also, St Tikhon of Zadonsk had a form of the Stations of the Cross in his monastic cell as we see from his Life.

St Seraphim's Icon of Tender Feeling was actually a Western style icon.

St Dmytry of Rostov practiced a form of western Marian devotion in his "Tale of Five Prayers."

It is a strength of the Orthodox Church to be able to adapt and develop its devotional life which is one of the reasons why Western Christians are attracted to it as well.

Alex



They must find the lack of an enthusiastic response from their fellow Orthodox extremely frustrating.

b.[/B][/QUOTE]