www.byzcath.org Forums Faith & Christian Life Parish Life & Evangelization Which Byzantine Rite/Church is thriving?

Thanks Alice!

The short answer is they all are. They all have places where liturgy is celebrated. By thriving I mean they are all not dead yet.

Please do not take this the wrong way...ANYONE

I fully believe we all need to pray for vocations. Prayer is never a bad thing!!! What I have noticed over the years is those of Ruthenian Jurisdiction (I'm being very general since I have seen it with more than one specific bishop and priest (although definitely not all)) is that We need to pray for Metanoia and holiness from the bishops and priests to lead and foster those vocations that God sends us. I firmly believe He does send them. The clerics kill them (metaphorically not literally). I for one was part of 3 candidates to the priesthood for the Eparchy of Passaic back in the early 90's. So the people were there...Only one, (in my opinion the worst of the bunch) was actually ordained. I left over the celebacy issue and I'm not sure what happened with the third member all I know is he left before I did. FYI...that "worst of the bunch" grew up to become a "henchman" for his grace Andrew. After, as I understand it from a very reliable source at the time, almost being denied entrance in the first place by +MICHAEL...

Yes am all in favour as I note we do need more subdeacons. It is very high up on my to do list on the wall.

Normally, I let this kind of thing pass, but it seems to be raising it's head more and more these days. ROCOR is and has always been Canonical. Your own American Metropolia (OCA) was a part of ROCOR until 1948!

Alexandr

To back up what Alexsandr said, reunion with the Moscow Patriarchate is due to be effected within a very short time. This includes accepting all their clergy and hierarchs. If there was question regarding canonicity, this would not be happening like this.

In IC XC,
Father Anthony+

Job, when I was in the SS Cyril & Methodius seminary we had over 150 guys in there. The total for the full eight years. Jammed in two and three to rooms designed for one.

The vocations were there. They still are. They no longer present themselves. They are "dis-invited" to attend.

Staro

There is a direct connection between this fact and my constantly harping elsewhere on the fact that our Ruthenian Byzantine priests have been kept out of the process of liturgical revision. We are not training our own priests any more. We are borrowing them, and the ones that were trained forty years ago are being shuffled off to Buffalo or parts unknown, and their parishes are being shut down as though they and the people in them are expendable.

And that is supposed to make us what...attractive to the new convert? Well. Perhaps. All that annoying ethniki stuff well soon be gone entirely and we will be a Church without a past.

Let's see how that sells in Peoria.

Eli

Eli,

you can find out for yourself firsthand...

Divine Liturgy in Peoria

Deacon John,

What's going on in Peoria is the exception and you know it. If what were going on in Illinois were going on in every other state we wouldn't have a problem. And that happens to be an outgrowth of Homerville. Every state in every parish needs to be doing that kind of evangelization. The Light of the East radio show needs to be on as many stations as we can get it on, and it needs to be supported by the Eparchy. Does anyone know if it is? I didn't see that as part of our Stewardship.

That's the point... Not everything is gloom as Eli would point out. Parishes in the West are growing and flourishing. Asian-, African-, Filipino-, and Hispanic-Americans worship side by side with those whose forebears came from Eastern Europe. Babies sometime drown out the cantor. Mature men of faith are answering the call to vocations (the diaconate)... I could go on... In spite of ourselves the Church will survive...

Just an observation from one looking on. It has been my experience that if a Church provides spiritual "meat" instead of "kasha" and "kapusta", that Church will be full. I can use my situation as an example. I live near Pittsburgh, which as most of you know, is EC/Orthodox central, i.e. Little Kiev. But if one looks deeper, past the golden domes glinting above the rivers, one sees empty Churches, with a handful of Babyshki, priests serving at 2, 3 even more parishes, just to keep the cycle of services going and empty collection plates with an occasional much-folded dollar bill. The sound of silence and muttered prayers abound, the eery lack of children's voices is immediately noticable. But there is a solution. In 1984, ROCOR established a mission parish in a 2 car garage, about 30 miles south of Pittsburgh. Today, that number has grown to 4 full parishes, with 4 priests and over 1000 families. Why, when all around, the other Churches are dying? Because there is "meat" being provided there. Full cycle of services, fasting, religous education, preservation of Traditions, both capital and small. Just the opposite of what our hierarchs have been telling us for 50 years. The people are hungry, but it has been the habit of the our Churches, both Orthodox and Catholic to provide fluff instead of sustenence, social settings instead of worship. Thinking back on this past Pascha at the Church in McKeesport, even cynical me was impressed. People were jammed everywhere! We had to keep all the doors open because there was no more room in the Church and the faithful stood outside, on the steps to the choir loft, even onto the road in front of the Church! And no, I am not talking new wave Russian immigration. Our total new wave population is less than 15 families. As warden, I chuckled at seeing some of our eminent local BC clergy present. It felt strange saying "Christos Voskrese, Monsignier" in a ROCOR Church! Same deal at Christmas.
My advice, is to return to Tradition. Return to the Orthodox Calendar, Present a full cycle of services. Provide parish outings to and become active supporters of your local monastery. Revive the mystery of the East. Provide comprehensive adult education. Teach the people Slavonic, Greek, Russian. If my priest, who is married and has 6 kids can do it, why can't the celibate clergy provide even more? People won't run from 3 hour services if you are giving them what they are crying out for. So dump the 45 minute Sunday Liturgy, dump the Bingo and Polka masses, Put your Iconostasii back up and start behaving as Eastern Christians and not as the dwindling survivors of some dying emigration.

S'nami Bog

Alexandr

I Yest i Budet!

Well said, Aleksandr!

Aleksandr Romanovych

Alleluia! Yes, the ROCOR church in Cincinnati is experiencing the same kind of growth. We can too. It just takes strong leadership from our God-loving Bishops!

It is sooooo true that the vocations are there. They just don't fit the 'cookie cutter' mold of those in power at the seminary. If one has a calling and is not received in their own eparchy then one must shake the dust of that eparchy from their sandals and move on. For it will be worse for that eparchy at judgment than it was for Sodom & Gemorrah!