Western Rite Orthodoxy

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Western Rite Orthodoxy, also called Western Orthodoxy or the Orthodox Western Rite, are congregations within the Eastern Orthodox tradition which perform their liturgy in Western forms.

Besides altered versions of the

Sarum Rite, the Mozarabic Rite, and Gallican Rite. Some congregations use what has become known simply as the English Liturgy, which is derived from the Anglican Book of Common Prayer,[1] albeit with some Byzantinization intended to emphasize Eastern Orthodox theological teaching.[2] The Western Rite that exists today has been heavily influenced by the life and work of Julian Joseph Overbeck.[3]

Western Rite missions, parishes and monasteries exist within certain jurisdictions of the

Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia and Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of North America.[4][5]

In addition, the Western Rite is practiced within religious communities outside the mainstream Eastern Orthodox Church. The Communion of the Western Orthodox Churches and the

Orthodox Church of France are entirely Western Rite. Furthermore, there is a small number of Western Rite communities among the Old Calendarists, such as the former Western Rite Exarchate of the Holy Synod of Milan and the Autonomous Orthodox Metropolia of North and South America and the British Isles. Within independent Orthodoxy, the American Orthodox Catholic Church's successors have Western Rite metropolitan jurisdictions. There also are a number of independent Western Orthodox churches and monasteries that are not part of the Eastern Orthodox Church.[6]

Western Rite parishes are found almost exclusively in countries with large

Roman Catholic or Protestant populations. There are also numerous devotional societies and publishing ventures related to the Western Rite. Western Rite Orthodoxy remains a contentious issue for some.[7][8]

Origins

Nineteenth century

From 1864, Julian Joseph Overbeck, a former Roman Catholic priest, worked to establish a modern Orthodox Western Rite. Overbeck converted from Catholicism to Lutheranism and married. He then emigrated to England in 1863 to become professor of German at the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich, where he also undertook studies of the Church of England and Orthodoxy. In 1865 Overbeck was received as a layman into the Russian Orthodox Church (because he had married following his ordination as a Roman Catholic priest), by Father Eugene Poppoff, at the Russian Embassy in London.[9]: 5 

As a part of his conversion into the ROC, Overbeck requested permission from the

Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church to begin a Western Orthodox church in England. Initially, Philaret was hesitant about Overbeck's request, but did not rule out the idea entirely. Overbeck outlined his rationale for a Western Orthodox Church in his 1866 book Catholic Orthodoxy and Anglo-Catholicism, a largely polemical work describing why the established Western churches should be rejected.[10]

Overbeck convinced others about the feasibility of a Western Orthodox church and in 1869 submitted a petition containing 122 signatures, including many in the Oxford Movement, to the Holy Synod asking for the creation of a Western liturgical rite within the ROC.[11] A synodical commission investigated Overbeck's petition, in 1870 he stated his case before the commission in St. Petersburg. The commission approved the petition and he was instructed to present a revised Western liturgy for evaluation by the commission. He presented a revised Western liturgy in December. That liturgy was subsequently approved for use – specifically in the British Isles.[12]

By 1876, Overbeck appealed to other Orthodox Churches for their recognition of his plan. In 1879 he was received in audience by the

Patriarch Joachim III of Constantinople, who recognized the theoretical right of Western Christians to have a Western Orthodox Church. Three years later, Joachim III and the Synod of the Ecumenical Patriarchate conditionally approved Overbeck's Western rite and Benedictine offices. However, Overbeck's efforts ultimately did not result in the establishment of a Western Orthodoxy. He was especially suspicious of the role which the Greeks in London (and the Church of Greece generally) played in the stagnation of his ambitions, directly blaming the Greek Church's protest against the plan in 1892.[9]: 26  The Orthodox Catholic Review ended publication in 1885 and Overbeck died in 1905 without seeing a Western Orthodox Church. Georges Florovsky summed up Overbeck's experience in this way: "it was not just a fantastic dream. The question raised by Overbeck was pertinent, even if his own answer to it was confusedly conceived. And probably the vision of Overbeck was greater than his personal interpretation."[13]

Twentieth century

Some speculate Bishop Mathew's 1909 Old Catholic Missal and Ritual may have been approved as a Western Rite liturgy by Pope Photios of Alexandria.[14] Both unions were contracted in quick succession and only lasted for an effective period of a few months. Though the union was protested by the Archbishop of Canterbury to Photios and the Patriarch of Antioch, Mathew's group claimed that communion was never formally broken off.[15]

In 1890, the first Western Rite Orthodox community in North America, an

Oriental Orthodox Church not in communion with the Eastern Orthodox Church. Other small groups using the Western Rite have been received, but usually have either had little impact or have declared their independence soon after their reception. Western rite parishes were established in Poland in 1926 when a half-dozen congregations were received into Eastern Orthodoxy; however, the movement dwindled during World War II.[16]

Orthodox Church of France

Main article:
Orthodox Church of France

In 1936, the ROC received a small group led by a former

missals and sacramentaries, and some Byzantine modifications; his development was The divine liturgy of Saint Germanus of Paris.[18]

Archimandrite

St. Denys Theological Institute but remained in the Eastern rite, attempted to restore the ancient Roman rite, replacing medieval accretions with Gallican and Byzantine forms. Eventually, Alexis was consecrated as an ROC bishop in 1960, continuing his Western Rite work under the auspices of the Moscow Patriarchate.[19]

In 1953, pressured by the Russian Orthodox Church[clarify] to adopt the Eastern rite, the Western Orthodox Church went its own way, changing its name to the Orthodox Church of France. After several years of isolation, the church was recognized as an autonomous Church by Metropolitan Anastasy Gribanovsky of ROCOR and was in communion with ROCOR from 1959 to 1966.[18]

While the Russian Orthodox Church's[clarify] Western Rite mission withered and ended, ECOF thrived; however, after Maximovich died, Kovalevsky was left without canonical protection until his death in 1970. In 1972, the church found a new canonical superior in the Romanian Orthodox Church. Gilles Bertrand-Hardy was then consecrated as bishop and took the religious name Germain of Saint-Denis. In 1993, after long conflict with the Synod of the Romanian Orthodox Church about alleged canonical irregularities within ECOF, the Romanian Orthodox Church withdrew its blessing of ECOF and broke off communion.[18]

North America

Saint

Episcopalians were interested in joining Orthodoxy while retaining Anglican liturgical practices. Tikhon sent the 1892 Book of Common Prayer, enquired about the viability of Orthodox parishes composed of former Anglicans using Anglican liturgical practices. In 1904, the Holy Synod concluded that such parishes were possible and provided a list of doctrinal corrections to the Book of Common Prayer's text of the prayers and rites that were necessary to profess in Orthodox worship. The Holy Synod also concluded that detailed changes in the Book of Common Prayer and in Anglican liturgical practices, together with compilations of new prayers, and entire rites, can only be carried out on location in America and not from Moscow.[20]

The most successful and stable group of Western Rite parishes originated within the Orthodox Church under Bishop

Episcopal Church was the "American" Orthodox Church,[21] the American Orthodox Church that Aftimios and Nicholas were a part of became estranged from what would become the Orthodox Church in America (OCA). The subsequent marriages of both Aftimios and Nichols violated Orthodox canon law, and they left the church and its subsidiaries without canonical recognition.[22]

In 1932, Nichols founded the Society of Clerks Secular of Saint Basil as a devotional society for clergy and laity dedicated to the celebration of the Western Rite. Nichols also consecrated Alexander Turner as a bishop in 1939. Turner pastored a small parish in Mount Vernon until Nichols' death in 1947, when he assumed leadership of the Society and concluded that there was no future for the Society of Saint Basil outside of canonical E. Orthodoxy. Turner described the situation the Society found itself in by saying:[23]

It was [...] during the tempestuous days following the Bolshevik Revolution that the Society had its inception as a missionary organ of the nascent federation of American Orthodox colonies under Russian suzerainty, though of local Syrian administration. With the collapse of that plan and the submission of the ethnic groups to the churches of their homelands, the Society was left in isolation.

Through Father Paul Schneirla, he began unofficial dialogue with Metropolitan Antony Bashir. Even before this, Turner had been promoting Western Rite Orthodoxy through his periodical Orthodoxy. In 1961, the Society (consisting of three parishes) was received into the Syrian Antiochian Archdiocese on the basis of Metropolitan Antony's 1958 edict. Upon reception, Bishop Alexander Turner became a canonical priest of the Antiochian Orthodox Church, guiding the group as Vicar-General until his death in 1971, thereafter he was succeeded by Schneirla. However, after Turner's death, the sole surviving Basilian, William Francis Forbes, returned to the American Orthodox Catholic Church and was consecrated a bishop in October 1974.[24]

Besides the original communities associated with the Society, a number of other parishes have been received into the Western Rite Vicariate of the Antiochian Archdiocese, particularly as elements within the Episcopal Church became dissatisfied with liturgical change and the ordination of women. The first Episcopal parish to be received into the AWRV was the Episcopal Church of the Incarnation in Detroit, Michigan.[25]

Current status in the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia

On July 10, 2013, the recognition and status of Western Rite parishes within ROCOR seemed to change significantly. The Synod of Bishops of ROCOR, presided over by its First Hierarch, decreed that:[26]

  • ROCOR would no longer ordain clergy for Western Rite parishes.
  • Bishop
    Jerome Shaw
    of Manhattan would be censured for unapproved ecclesiastical services and forcibly retired without the right to perform ordinations.
  • Some ordinations performed by Shaw would not be recognized, and those candidates would be thoroughly examined before regularization.
  • A commission would examine how to integrate Western Rite clergy and communities into the Russian Orthodox Church.
  • Western Rite clergy and communities need to adopt the order of divine services of the Orthodox-catholic Church, but may preserve "certain particularities of the Western Rite".
  • Adherence to the rules and traditions of the Russian Orthodox Church in particular is required.

The Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia established a working commission to deal with the peculiarities that led to decision of July 2013. Within the following year there was established a new leadership structure that eventually led to the establishment of a revitalized Western Rite Vicariate under the Omophorion of His Eminence Metropolitan Hilarion. New Western Rite parishes and monasteries continue to be founded by ROCOR and priests, deacons and subdeacons within the Western Rite continue to be ordained from 2014 to the present, including in Sweden and the United States.[27] After the death of Metropolitan Hilarion in 2022, a pastoral letter was issued by the Synod of ROCOR, promising their continued care to the ROCOR Western Rite communities.[28]

Orthodox Church in America

Mention of the Western Rite was often made in the OCA, the most prominent being a mention during a speech by the primate of the OCA, Metropolitan Jonah Paffhausen, in April 2009.[29]

On September 8, 2018, the Orthodox Church of America established a Western Rite mission parish in Alberta, Canada.[30] However, the OCA has not yet officially established an organizational structure for future Western Rite parishes.

Independent Western Orthodox churches and monasteries

There are a number of independent Western Orthodox congregations and monasteries.[6]

Notable figures

Important figures in the history of the Orthodox West Rite include

Tikhon of Moscow, the Patron Saint of the Orthodox Western Rite. Another prominent figure is Fr. Dennis Chambault of Paris, a reputed wonderworker and healer,[31]
whom many regard as a saint.

Liturgy

See also: Ecclesiastical Latin and Liturgical use of Latin

Western Rite parishes do not all utilize the same liturgy, but often use a particular liturgy depending upon their individual affiliations prior to entering Eastern Orthodoxy. At present, there are different liturgies available to Western Rite parishes:

The Western Orthodox rites allowed in Eastern Orthodoxy are the Divine Liturgy of Saint Tikhon and the Divine Liturgy of Saint Gregory.[39]

In France, Bishop Alexis van der Mensbrugghe, of the ROC, published a missal in 1962 which contained his restored Gallican rite and his restored pre-Celestinian Italic rite.[40]: 276 [41][42] Neither of Mensbrugghe's restored rites are used by Eastern Orthodox groups.[40]: 278 

Liturgical development

Meyendorff, Schmemann, and Schneirla were already familiar with the Western Rite both from having been in contact with members of the ECOF while teaching at Saint Sergius Theological Institute. Schmemann actively followed the Liturgical Movement in the Roman Catholic and Anglican Church and was an advocate for renewal of the Orthodox liturgy.[43]

Liturgical books

Examples of Western Rite Orthodox liturgical books from several groups

Officially, the AWRV provides one

propers for seasons, feasts, saints, and prayers before and after Mass. The Antiochian Archdiocese publishes the Saint Andrew Service Book (SASB),[45] also known as The Western Rite Service Book,[46] which was developed by Saint Michael's Church in California under the leadership of the late Father Michael Trigg; the 1996 second and 2005 third editions of the SASB received official sanction from Metropolitan Philip Saliba, with the latter containing explicit reference to the authorized nature of all previous editions of the SASB.[45] In addition to duplicating the contents of The Orthodox Missal, the SASB also includes forms for Matins and Vespers, the Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament, and the threefold Amen common to the Byzantine epiclesis but absent in The Orthodox Missal. The SASB was produced by the Antiochian Archdiocese without the participation of the AWRV.[46]

Parishes within the AWRV are permitted to use either the Liturgy of Saint Tikhon or that of Saint Gregory. While most parishes use the Tikhonite liturgy, several use the Gregorian liturgy on weekdays or on specific Sundays of the year.[

Breviarium Monasticum as possible,[47] in the Anglican Breviary.[47]

Also in common use within the AWRV, though not officially approved, are St. Dunstan's Plainsong Psalter,[48] The English Office Noted,[49] and the St. Ambrose Hymnal.[50]

Publishing houses

Lancelot Andrewes Press is the publishing arm of the Fellowship of Saint Dunstan and publishes material which is utilized by congregations and individuals in Western rites. The primary mission of Lancelot Andrewes Press is to publish material for the "advancement of historic Christian orthodoxy, as expressed by the liturgical and devotional usages of traditional English Christianity."[51]

Devotional societies

There are also devotional societies within the AWRV:

  • The Orthodox Christian Society of Our Lady of Walsingham – dedicated to encouragement of devotion to the Theotokos, particularly under the title of Our Lady of Walsingham (and the preservation of the replica of the shrine of Walsingham).[52]

Parishes and missions

Parishes and missions belonging to the Western Rite can be found in a number of Orthodox jurisdictions. The single largest group of such communities is to be found within the Orthodox Church of France,[53] followed by jurisdictions of the Eastern Orthodox Church,[54][55] and the Communion of Western Orthodox Churches.[56][57][58] There are also parishes and missions belonging to the Old Calendarist tradition.[59]

Canonical missionary societies

These groups are Canonical missionary societies with a core of canonical Orthodox laity served by Eastern Orthodox clergy within the Eastern Orthodox Church with the goal of future reception of converts into the Western Rite of Orthodoxy.

  • Saint Brendan OSS – Panama City Florida –
    ROCOR

Criticisms

Metropolitan Kallistos Ware considered Western Rite Orthodoxy inherently divisive, believing that following different liturgical traditions from their neighboring Byzantine Rite Eastern Orthodox Christians meant they did not share liturgical unity with them and presented an unfamiliar face to the majority of Eastern Orthodox Christians. Ware was particularly concerned about the further fragmentation of Eastern Orthodoxy in non-Eastern Orthodox countries, in this case, in Great Britain.[60]

See also

References

  1. ^ Farley, Fr Lawrence (2019-09-18). "The Western Rite and the Flow of History". No Other Foundation. Retrieved 2020-07-31.
  2. ^ "What is Western-Rite Orthodoxy?". www.stpaulsorthodox.org. Retrieved 2020-07-31.
  3. ^ Abramtsova, David (1959). "The Western Rite and the Eastern Church: Dr. J. J. Overbeck and his scheme for the re-establishment of the Orthodox Church in the West" (PDF). anglicanhistory.org. Retrieved July 31, 2020.
  4. ^ Bishop Jerome of Manhattan (February 22, 2013). "On the Western Rite in the ROCOR". ROCOR Studies. Retrieved 2020-07-31.
  5. ^ "Western Rite: A Brief Introduction". ww1.antiochian.org. Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese. Retrieved 2020-07-31.
  6. ^
    ISBN 978-1-59884-204-3
    .
  7. ^ "On the Question of Western Orthodoxy". www.holy-trinity.org. Retrieved 2020-07-31.
  8. ^ Cf. Alexander Schmemann, "Some Reflection Upon 'A Case Study'" St. Vladimir's Theological Quarterly 24.4 (1980), pp. 266–269; Gregory H. M. Dye, "Some Reflections on the Western Rite – II" St. Vladimir's Theological Quarterly 27.2 (1983), pp. 125–126; and Chrysostomos H. Stratman, The Roman Rite in Orthodoxy (Chicago: The Orthodox Christian Education Society, 1957), for examples.
  9. ^ a b Abramtsov, David F. (1961). The Western Rite and the Eastern Church: Dr. J. J. Overbeck and his scheme for the re-establishment of the Orthodox Church in the West (PDF) (unpublished? MA thesis). Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2005-10-23. Retrieved 2014-05-26 – via Project Canterbury.
  10. ^ Parry, Ken et al. (editors). The Blackwell Dictionary of Eastern Christianity. Malden, Massachusetts: 1999. Blackwell Publishing, p. 364
  11. ^ Parry, Ken et al., The Blackwell Dictionary, p. 365.
  12. ^ Sobranio mnenii i otzyvov Filareta, mitropolita moskovskago i kolomenskago, po uchebnym i tserkovno-gosudarstvennym voprosam, ed. Archbishop Savva, Tome V, Part II (Moscow, 1888), 711–713.
  13. ^ Florovsky, Georges (1956). "Orthodox ecumenism in the Nineteenth Century". St. Vladimir's Seminary Quarterly. 4 (3–4): 32.
  14. ^ "Western Orthodoxy". +SELEISI. 2018-11-12. Retrieved 2020-07-31.
  15. ^ Peter F. Anson. Bishops at Large, pp. 186–188. Berkeley: Apocryphile Press, 2006.
  16. ^ Parry, Ken et al., The Blackwell Dictionary, p. 515.
  17. ^ Parry, Ken et al., The Blackwell Dictionary, p. 514
  18. ^
    ISBN 2-84193-021-1
  19. ^ W. Jardine Grisbrooke, "Obituaries: Archbishop Alexis van der Mensbrugghe" in Sobornost 4.2 (1981), 212–216.
  20. OCLC 697599065
    – via Project Canterbury.
  21. ISBN 1-55888-307-X
  22. ^ Gary L. Ward et al., Independent Bishops, 295–96, 301–02.
  23. doi:10.3406/rhpr.1970.4023
    .
  24. ^ Gary L. Ward et al., Independent Bishops, 143–44.
  25. ^ Benjamin J. Andersen, "An Anglican Liturgy in the Orthodox Church: The Origins and Development of the Antiochian Orthodox Liturgy of Saint Tikhon", Unpublished M.Div. Thesis, St. Vladimir's Orthodox Theological Seminary, 2005, p. 7.
  26. ^ Synod of Bishops of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia (2013-06-10). "An extraordinary session of the Synod of Bishops is held". russianorthodoxchurch.ws. New York: Synod of Bishops of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia (published 2013-07-12). Archived from the original on 2013-07-18.
  27. ^ "New Western Rite monastery planned for Louisiana". orthochristian.com. 2017-01-25.
  28. ^ "ROCOR Western Rite". rocor-wr.org. 2024-01-20.
  29. ^ Paffhausen, Jonah (2009-04-09). "+Jonah, in Dallas speech, challenges foreign Churches, stirs crowd". ocanews.org. Orthodox Christians for Accountability. Archived from the original on 2009-04-10.
  30. ^ "Christ the King Orthodox Parish - Edmonton, Alberta - Western Rite Orthodoxy Edmonton". Icxc.ca. Retrieved 2019-05-20.
  31. ^ Serge Bolshakoff, The Power of Prayer, From Word Magazine Publication of the Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of North America February 1962 p. 10. Retrieved from: http://www.orthodoxresearchinstitute.org/articles/liturgics/bolshakoff_power_of_prayer.htm
  32. ^ "The Divine Liturgy according to the Rite of Saint Gregory". St. Gregory the Great Orthodox Church. 2012-01-17. Retrieved 2021-10-23.
  33. ^ "The English Liturgy: according to the Western Rite, derived from the Sarum, 1549, 1718 etc., adapted using the rules authorised by the Holy Synod of Russia". orthodoxresurgence.com. Archived from the original on 2008-07-24.
  34. ^ "Ordinaire de la sainte liturgie". liturgieortho.free.fr. Retrieved 2021-10-23.
  35. ISBN 978-2-8251-1079-9
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  36. ISBN 0-9771461-8-9
    .
  37. OCLC 16489110
    .
  38. ISBN 978-2-8251-1079-9
    .
  39. ISBN 978-1-4051-6658-4
    .
  40. ^
    ISBN 9781409467540
    .
  41. OCLC 716494134
    .
  42. ^ Vincent Bourne, La Divine Contradiction. Le chant et la lutte de l'Orthodoxie, Paris, Ed. Présence Orthodoxe, 1978
  43. ^ Alexander Schmemann, "Notes and Comments: The Western Rite" in St. Vladimir's Seminary Quarterly, 2.4 (1958), 37–38.
  44. OCLC 36287786
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  45. ^
    ISBN 9780962419072
    .
  46. ^
    OCLC 166264677
    .
  47. ^ a b Andersen, Benjamin J. (May 2003). "Sacrificium laudis: the Anglican Breviary and the Ancient Western Orthodox Divine Office". westernorthodox.com. Denver, Colorado: St. Mark's Parish. Archived from the original on 2012-02-06.
  48. ^ "St. Dunstan's Plainsong Psalter". andrewespress.com. Andrewes Press. 30 November 2020.
  49. ^ "The Daily Office". stgregoryoc.org. Silver Spring, Maryland: St. Gregory the Great Orthodox Church. 17 January 2012. Archived from the original on 2015-09-26.
  50. ^ "Order the St. Ambrose Hymnal". stgregoryoc.org. Silver Spring, Maryland: St. Gregory the Great Orthodox Church. 17 January 2012.
  51. ^ "About Lancelot Andrews Press". Archived from the original on 2007-04-03. Retrieved 2007-04-20.
  52. ^ "Westernorthodox.com". Archived from the original on 2007-06-27. Retrieved 2007-04-20.
  53. ^ "Eglise Orthodoxe de France". Eglise-orthodoxe-de-france.fr. Retrieved 2019-05-20.
  54. ^ "ROCOR Western Rite (Parishes)".
  55. ^ "Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of North America". Antiochian.org. Retrieved 2019-05-20.
  56. ^ "Lieux de célébration dans l' Eglise Orthodoxe des Gaules". Eglise-orthodoxe.eu. Retrieved 2019-05-20.
  57. ^ "Lieux - Eglise Orthodoxe Française - EOF orthodoxie". Eof.fr. Retrieved 2019-05-20.
  58. ^ "France". Eoc-coc.org. Retrieved 2019-05-20.
  59. ^ "Parishes – The Autonomous Orthodox Metropolia of North and South America and the British Isles". Orthodoxmetropolia.org. Retrieved 2019-05-20.
  60. ^ Bishop Kallistos. "Some Thoughts on the 'Western Rite' in Orthodoxy" in The Priest: A Newsletter for the Clergy of the Diocese of San Francisco, 5, May 1996.
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