My Interest in Orthodoxy

[SashaMaria]

When I started attending an Orthodox church, I was in a situation where I was similarly limited in how I could attend church. I explained the situation to the priest and he recommended I go to Vespers regularly, since that was what I could reliably attend, and then Divine Liturgy as my circumstances allowed. Eventually I was able to go to Divine Liturgy on a regular basis. It would probably be worth talking to the priest at your local parish and see what guidance, if any, he can offer.

Thank you. That sounds like good advice.

 

[SashaMaria]

I don't know if you are aware of St. Faustina and her Diary of Divine Mercy. Even some traditional Catholic priests and laity have issues with the Divine Mercy devotion:

St. Maria Faustina Kowalska

Saint Maria Faustina Kowalska:The Humble InstrumentSister Faustina (1905-1938) was a young, uneducated nun in a convent of the Congregation of Sisters of Our Lady of Mercy in Poland during the 1930s. She came from a poor family that struggled during the years of World War I. She had only three...

www.thedivinemercy.org

I’m also uneasy about St. Faustina and her diary and visions but think the prayers of the Divine Mercy Chaplet are acceptable.

 

[RileyG]

I’m also uneasy about St. Faustina and her diary and visions but think the prayers of the Divine Mercy Chaplet are acceptable.

Ok.

That’s valid.

 

[RileyG]

thanks, I wasn’t aware of her. interesting to know.

Some people don’t like her the devotion because it doesn’t have Sacred Heart, which I know EO does not venerate.

Apparently, some western rite orthodox parishes have a feast day for the sacred heart of Jesus.

Anything to add?

 

[RileyG]

my guess is yes in the Western Rite

Thanks for the reply. I assume it’s in the vernacular

 

[ArmyMatt]

Thanks for the reply. I assume it’s in the vernacular

maybe, I dunno

 

[ArmyMatt]

Some people don’t like her the devotion because it doesn’t have Sacred Heart, which I know EO does not venerate.

Apparently, some western rite orthodox parishes have a feast day for the sacred heart of Jesus.

Anything to add?

no, aside to say the sacred heart is just odd from our POV.

 

[The Liturgist]

Is there such a thing as Western hours in the Orthodox Church if that makes sense?

Yes, as I said in this post: My Interest in Orthodoxy

St. Patrick’s Orthodox Church, which is part of the AWRV, streams the major hours to YouTube (Lauds, Vespers, Compline, Matins), and the contents of the hours can be found in various Western Rite liturgical books, such as St. Andrew’s Service Book and the even more complete St. Colman’s Prayer Book, as far as the Antiochian WRV is concerned, and some excellent material based on the Sarum Rite compiled by Fr. Aidan Keller of the ROCOR WRV. I seem to recall that since Metropolitan Hilarion Kapral, memory eternal, personally took charge of the ROCOR WRV they issued a new standard liturgical book, which I think I have in my vast liturgical library, but I can’t recall where.

That said while I do love the Western Rite hours, I think the Byzantine service of All Night Vigils (which as I said above is a 2-3 hour service including Vespers, Compline, Matins, Prime etc.) represents the apex of the Divine Office in terms of the beauty of the hymns and attention to detail with which they are sung.

Conversely, I feel that Terce and Sext should be chanted better before the Divine Liturgy in Slavonic parishes. I think it is unfortunate that we tend to rush through the Gospodi Pomuli (Kyrie Eleison) when there exist various ways of singing that which would take the same amount of time but sound more pleasing. What I say is of course a comment directed towards larger parishes which have multiple cantors present during the Minor Hours and the ability to improve the quality of their intonation.

 

[The Liturgist]

no, aside to say the sacred heart is just odd from our POV.

Indeed, you are not alone on this. One thing I liked about the Divine Mercy devotion is that it lacks anything referring to the Sacred Heart or the Immaculate Heart.

 

[The Liturgist]

i’ll look into the St. Sarov’s Prayer Rule,

Have you ever prayed the Eastern Rite Rosary? An Orthodox priest described it in a youtube video and I took notes and pray it at times.. It’s similar to the Catholic rosary but different enough to have a different ‘feel’ to it when prayed. There are Mysteries but a few are different than the Catholic ones. I love the version of the Hail Mary — which from memory:

Rejoice, O Virgin Theotokos, Mary,
full of grace, the Lord is with you.
Blessed are you among women
and blessed is the fruit of your womb.
For you have borne Christ, the Savior of our soul.

No I haven’t. I will look into it. However I mainly pray the Jesus Prayer and an occasional Ave Maria.

 

[RileyG]

no, aside to say the sacred heart is just odd from our POV.

Correct, someone once made the comment it’s like loving your wife’s liver. Lol

 

[RileyG]

No I haven’t. I will look into it. However I mainly pray the Jesus Prayer and an occasional Ave Maria.

What is the prayer to the mother of God at the end of the prayer rule called? It’s not a Hail Mary?

 

[ArmyMatt]

Correct, someone once made the comment it’s like loving your wife’s liver. Lol

yep. you love a person, not their “parts”

 

[ArmyMatt]

Indeed, you are not alone on this. One thing I liked about the Divine Mercy devotion is that it lacks anything referring to the Sacred Heart or the Immaculate Heart.

interesting

 

[gurneyhalleck1]

I was raised a Roman Catholic not at all in the strict sense. I greatly enjoy going to mass, find the structure of the liturgical year spiritually fulfilling, and am inspired by the religious life of various monastic and medicant orders especially the Benedictine family of orders, Franciscans, and Carmelites (I once considered either becoming a Trappist monk or a Carmelite friar but this life is not for me). One of the distinctively Catholic things I do strongly believe in is the devotion to Divine Mercy (despite some the Church Fathers believing in universal salvation, I do not see Divine Mercy as universal salvation at all); The diary of St. Faustina Kowalska is probably one of the most interesting books I've read. However, I do have some issues with the Catholic Church; Papal supremacy, papal infallibility, the factionalism in the Church (Traditionalists, Progressives, Charismatics, Moderates), Strict Observance Thomist's canonizing Thomism as the philosophia perennis of Catholicism and dare I say Christianity at large. I also have never been "a rosary guy." I have nothing against it but I have been more enriched by the Jesus Prayer, personally. Sometimes I attend a Byzantine Catholic parish, which is not the exact same as Orthodoxy but similar, as I find the "Eastern Rite" of Christianity very mystical. I went to a local Greek Orthodox cathedral for Agape Vespers in college and I was blown away by the service. Why haven't I converted? I just don't think I'm ready yet; Maybe someday. I like to jokingly identify as "Culturally Catholic" because I don't disagree with everything. Protestantism, while I respect the High Church camp, is off the table; It's too broad a term in America. Being exposed to Orthodoxy has deepened my faith as a Christian.

Youre in luck. Former Catholic here. I was fascinated by Orthodoxy but took over a year to finally rage the plunge. I felt Orthodox and hated papal infallibility supremacy, purgatory, indulgences, legalism, Thomism, Scholasticism, Substitutionary Atonement, and the horrific awful liturgy. And yet….i couldn’t leave. It was rough. Eventually the Lord used my wife to convince me and I felt the call of the Holy Spirit was too strong. I’ve now been Orthodox 12 years, am an ordained Reader, my boys still altar boys, daughter is in the choir. Never once regretted it a nanosecond! If you need someone to talk to, hit me up.

 

[The Liturgist]

Youre in luck. Former Catholic here. I was fascinated by Orthodoxy but took over a year to finally rage the plunge. I felt Orthodox and hated papal infallibility supremacy, purgatory, indulgences, legalism, Thomism, Scholasticism, Substitutionary Atonement, and the horrific awful liturgy. And yet….i couldn’t leave. It was rough. Eventually the Lord used my wife to convince me and I felt the call of the Holy Spirit was too strong. I’ve now been Orthodox 12 years, am an ordained Reader, my boys still altar boys, daughter is in the choir. Never once regretted it a nanosecond! If you need someone to talk to, hit me up.

Might I ask what jurisdiction you’re in? Liturgics are, as my username implies, endlessly interesting to me, so i always perk up when I encounter an ordained reader, due to the vital contribution you make to the celebration of Matins, Vespers and other services from the Horologion, and Akathists and other services - indeed, the whole realm of Reader Services which makes readers the backup if there is no priest or deacon available, so that the Typika can be served. What particularly interests me are the differences between the typikon of each jurisdiction, because even where churches ostensibly use the same typikon, there can be differences between jurisdictions, for instance, between the Antiochians and the GoArch despite both being on the Violakis Typikon, or between the different Church Slavonic jurisdictions, and even between different dioceses and parishes and monasteries.

 

[gurneyhalleck1]

Might I ask what jurisdiction you’re in? Liturgics are, as my username implies, endlessly interesting to me, so i always perk up when I encounter an ordained reader, due to the vital contribution you make to the celebration of Matins, Vespers and other services from the Horologion, and Akathists and other services - indeed, the whole realm of Reader Services which makes readers the backup if there is no priest or deacon available, so that the Typika can be served. What particularly interests me are the differences between the typikon of each jurisdiction, because even where churches ostensibly use the same typikon, there can be differences between jurisdictions, for instance, between the Antiochians and the GoArch despite both being on the Violakis Typikon, or between the different Church Slavonic jurisdictions, and even between different dioceses and parishes and monasteries.

Well thank you for the kind words. I’ve been a Reader for around five years now, and in the few times we’ve had a Typika service, our deacons have handled it. I read Matins every Sunday and Liturgy in a rotation with our other Reader and a parishioner.

I’m in the Serbian jurisdiction. You’ve never seen a more diverse, United Nations-like parish in your life! Mexicans, a few black folks, Filipinos, ex Anglo Protestants and Catholics, lots of Russians, a few Greeks, tons and tons of teens and young twenty-somethings, a host of colorful backgrounds. It’s amazing!

 

[ArmyMatt]

You’ve never seen a more diverse, United Nations-like parish in your life! Mexicans, a few black folks, Filipinos, ex Anglo Protestants and Catholics, lots of Russians, a few Greeks, tons and tons of teens and young twenty-somethings, a host of colorful backgrounds. It’s amazing!

that’s awesome