Answering a liturgical question from OBOB

[The Liturgist]

Christ is Risen!

I just noticed my dear Roman Catholic friend @JimR-OCDS asked an interesting liturgical question in OBOB, which I would like to answer in some detail, and I thought I’d post the answer here:

So, there's no Mass at an EO Wedding?

In Byzantine Rite Catholic and Eastern Orthodox churches it is a separate service, although it often happens on the same day as a Divine Liturgy (a Mass). However the Roman Rite has the beautiful and distinctive custom of the Nuptial Mass, wherein the marriage is completely integrated into the Mass. Interestingly, in Mexico, traces of the Mozarabic marriage liturgy are still preserved.

Likewise, in most Eastern Catholic churches, and in the Oriental Orthodox, Eastern Orthodox and Assyrian Church of the East, the memorial service, called the Pannikhida, does not follow the Eucharist. But in the Byzantine Rite used by the Eastern Orthodox and Greek Catholics such as the Melkites, Ruthenians, Ukrainian Catholics, it is the custom to celebrate Soul Saturdays, which are Divine Liturgies (masses) celebrated for the repose of souls, much like the Requeim Mass on All Souls Day in the Roman Rite and the Western Rite Orthodox parishes. Important Soul Saturdays are those in the week of the Publican and Pharisee, those in Great Lent, the Saturday before Pentecost Sunday, and the Saturday closest to the feast of St. Demetrius (October the 26th). All Saints Day is celebrated on the Sunday after Pentecost, because Pentecost is both a feast of the descent of the Holy Spirit and of the Holy Trinity in the Byzantine Rite (much like how in the Armenian Rite celebrated by Armenian Catholics and the Armenian Orthodox, the Nativity and Baptism of Christ are celebrated together on January the 18th.

In the Coptic Rite, which is exceptionally beautiful, because no funerals can be celebrated during Holy Week, a general funeral is celebrated on the afternoon of Palm Sunday, but my understanding is this service has taken on more of the character of a requiem mass since burial no longer needs to happen as quickly. However if one had a dying relative that would be a difficult service to attend, although it does also allow one the unique opportunity to attend one’s own funeral.

In the Byzantine Rite this rule does not apply, and it is considered particularly blessed if one reposes during Bright Week, as Pope Francis did, because of the very joyous nature of services in Bright Week (the week after Easter Sunday - today is Bright Monday).

In the Coptic Rite, Holy Saturday or Easter Even is called Bright Saturday, perhaps because much of the celebration of Pascha occurs on it. The Copts also formally read the entire Book of Revelation from beginning to end on the afternoon of Holy Saturday, before the Paschal Matins and Liturgy begin. This is read extra-liturgically in Athonite monasteries at the same time, so reading this book cover to cover is a known practice, but in the Coptic church it is regarded as part of the actual liturgy, as opposed to a devotional activity to pass the afternoon.

In the Byzantine (and Eastern Orthodox) and the West Syriac Rite as used by the Syriac Orthodox (I don’t know if Maronites do this or not), memorial services for departed loved ones on the anniversary of their repose are commonly held together with the Divine Liturgy, and in the Syriac Orthodox church the bereaved family will cater a lunch for the parish if they can afford to do so. In the Byzantine Rite there is a similiar custom, with a delicious pudding called Kolivas, made from boiled wheat berries, being eaten after a Pannikhida service. The difference being that the Pannikhida is a bit longer than its Syriac Orthodox equivalent, essentially being the same Memorial Service that is also used as a funeral, in the church, albeit without the deceased present or a catafalque (as far as I am aware, we do not use catafalques in the Byzantine Rite, but i do regard them as a beautiful tradition of the traditional Roman Rite, along with the use of solemn black vestments). The liturgical color the Orthodox use at funerals and burial services has always been white, which is also used at Paschal Matins and most feasts of our Lord. Many Orthodox churches including ROCOR will wear white vestments from Pascha until Pentecost, but some, such as historically Russo-Ukrainian parishes of the Orthodox Church in America, will usually switch to bright red vestments during the Paschal liturgy, in between Paschal Matins and the Paschal Divine Liturgy or mass and will wear these until Pentecost. The liturgical color for Palm Sunday, Pentecost, All Saints Day and the feasts of certain monastics and confessors is green; some churches use it only on Palm Sunday and All Saints Day, which makes it as rare in those churches as the rose vestments are in the Roman Rite (I would love to see those used more frequently).

In most Slavic parishes, including those parishes that change from white vestments to red vestments during the Paschal liturgy, this is the second change of vestments during the day, since earlier at the Vesperal Divine Liturgy of Holy Saturday, this liturgy begins with Vespers and the reading of Old Testament lections, at which time black vestments are worn and black paraments from Good Friday are still hanging, but these are taken down, and everything is changed to white, midway through the liturgy. This is a particularly lovely thing to see as it symbolizes the impending feast of the resurrection. The Vesperal Divine Liturgy of Holy Saturday is very similar to the pre-1955 Paschal Vigil Mass served in the Roman church, the only real differences being that in the Roman Rite there were a minimum of twelve rather than fourteen Old Testament lessons (these were, and are, read during baptisms of catechumens, and additional lessons can be inserted if needed), and the Roman Canon is used instead of the Anaphora of St. Basil (which exists in the Roman Rite since 1969, in both a Byzantine (Eucharistic Prayer III) and Egyptian (Eucharistic Prayer IV) form.

Interestingly, there is an obscure Eastern Orthodox divine liturgy that was historically used by some Russian Old RIte Orthodox (sometimes called Old Believers, but these were canonical Old Believers in communion with the Patriarchate of Constantinople, who later had to flee Turkey and I believe are now among the Old Rite Orthodox in Romania), in addition to the common Divine Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom and the DIvine Liturgy of St. Basil, and the less common Divine Liturgy of St. James and the Divine Liturgy of St. Mark (the beautiful ancient liturgy of Alexandria, a version of which the Copts still regularly use, mainly in Lent; this is also one of the oldest attested liturgies), called the Divine Liturgy of St. Peter, which uses the beautiful ancient anaphora known as the Roman Canon with the Byzantine Rite Synaxis (not unlike the traditional Ambrosian RIte Mass, which uses the Roman Canon with a Gallican synaxis).


I should lastly note that Antiochian Western Rite Orthodox churches usually do things very close to how the Roman Catholics and Anglicans do them. The ROCOR Western Rite Vicarate takes a slightly different approach, trying to restore liturgical practices of the Western church from before the Great Schism.

I hope you have a blessed week following Easter!

 

[chevyontheriver]

Christ is Risen!

I just noticed my dear Roman Catholic friend @JimR-OCDS asked an interesting liturgical question in OBOB, which I would like to answer in some detail, and I thought I’d post the answer here:



In Byzantine Rite Catholic and Eastern Orthodox churches it is a separate service, although it often happens on the same day as a Divine Liturgy (a Mass). However the Roman Rite has the beautiful and distinctive custom of the Nuptial Mass, wherein the marriage is completely integrated into the Mass. Interestingly, in Mexico, traces of the Mozarabic marriage liturgy are still preserved.

When my wife and I married about 90% of the people there were Protestants of one stripe or another. We decided along with the priest to have the wedding outside of a mass.

 

[MarkRohfrietsch]

In marriage liturgy in Lutheran Service Book, there is provision for the incorporation of the service of the Sacrament into the wedding ceremony. While not all that common, some years ago, there was a couple who were married in a civil ceremony. The blessing of the civil union followed the marriage rite with Communion. Very appropriate if both bride and groom are confirmed in the church, otherwise, the non member partner could not commune.

 

[The Liturgist]

In marriage liturgy in Lutheran Service Book, there is provision for the incorporation of the service of the Sacrament into the wedding ceremony. While not all that common, some years ago, there was a couple who were married in a civil ceremony. The blessing of the civil union followed the marriage rite with Communion. Very appropriate if both bride and groom are confirmed in the church, otherwise, the non member partner could not commune.

In the case of Eastern and Oriental Orthodoxy, there have been three driving factors behind the progress towards our reunification:

1. A historic pattern of periods of recognition of our mutual Orthodoxy; these wax and wane, but, for example, in the 19th century the Greek Orthodox and Coptic Orthodox churches of Alexandria tried to unite but were obstructed by the Khedive, who feared a united Christian population.

2. The shared experience of persecution for common beliefs involving common elements such as desecration of the sacred icons and relics and the murder of innocent children by Islamist and Communist fanatics.

3. In response to a contracting population, an increasing need for marriages between Eastern Orthodox and Oriental Orthodox Christians to be accomodated.

That last point was the key driver between the formal agreements between the Coptic Orthodox and Alexandrian Greek Orthodox churches facilitating intercommunion, and a major contributor to the ecumenical agreement between the Syriac Orthodox and Antiochian Orthodox Church which is both more expansive yet paradoxically involves the Antiochians who are aggressively more theologically conservative than the Alexandrian Greeks.

Likewise there have been surprising moments of cooperation between some of the most traditional of Orthodox churches like ROCOR and the most traditional of Oriental Orthodox (like the Copts).