www.byzcath.org Forums Faith & Christian Life Faith & Theology daily Divine Liturgy / Pre-Sanctified Gifts ?

Hi. I am confused about something. I have a question about daily Divine Liturgy / Pre-Sanctified Gifts servive.

I have noticed that some Eastern Catholic parishes offer these almost daily: either the DL or PSG.

However, I have noticed that some people want to have this practice reduced or eliminated, because apparently they see it as a Latinization. Instead, they want to have Divine Liturgy / Pre-Sanctified Gifts service only on Sunday, and they want to have vespers (and other prayers) during the week. They believe that this will get them closer to their Orthodox historical roots.

Meanwhile, I have seen Orthodox monasteries offer DL / PSG almost daily, as well as offering the full service of other liturgical prayers. And, they (the monks) see this as the liturgical norm. And, among Orthodox parish people as well as the monks, it seems that they see anything less than this norm as either custom or an allowance to people (clergy and laity) who are not living the monastic lifestyle. Yet, there still seems to be the idea that the liturgical norm is DL / PSG almost daily plus the other liturgical services almost daily.

Now here is where I am confused: If the Eastern Catholic parishes want to get back to their Orthodox historical roots, why not try to keep the Orthodox liturgical norm by offering DL / PSG almost every morning and (at least) Vespers almost every evening at the Eastern Catholic parishes?

Or, am I wrong or missing something? Help me sort out my confusion, please. Thank you for any responses.

-- John

Pre-Sanctified Gifts is offered only on Weds. and Fri. of the Great Fast.

Yes, Liturgies are offered daily in monasteries. Why would lay people attend daily Liturgy? Are they monks too?

Having Divine Liturgy on Sundays and Feast days outside of the monastery can be seen like this. The most important prayer is the Divine Liturgy. When it is said once a week, that means the whole community can be there together. Coming together once a week as a community to pray and celebrate is awesome, what better way to do that? The weekly Divine Liturgy (and on Feast Days) brings us together as a community to express our core reason for the community's existence.

Assuming a reasonable number of participants, there is nothing to impede the daily serving of the Divine Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts on most weekdays of Great Lent. If, however, one does this in the morning (an odd idea in itself), it would then be a bit difficult to serve Vespers in the evening, since Vespers is an integral part of the Divine Liturgy of Presanctified Gifts.

Icognitus