I love visiting Eastern Rite churches – I get to explore an unfamiliar liturgy, but unlike when I visit Protestant churches, I also am able to receive communion because the churches which I visit are in full communion with the Bishop of Rome. \u00a0So far, I have participated in Maronite\u00a0and Byzantine (Melkite\u00a0& Ukrainian) liturgies.<\/p>\n
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Liturgy: Rites never done me wrong<\/h3>\n
Any Catholic familiar with the Latin Rite visiting an Eastern Rite church should be able to recognise the broad shape of the liturgy. \u00a0There will be a Liturgy of the Word as well as a Liturgy of the Eucharist, as they would expect. Many of the prayers will sound familiar as well as common features and sacramentals such as candles, vestments, servers and incense.<\/p>\n
However, there are also marked differences between the Latin Rite liturgy and Eastern Rite liturgies, and that’s the exciting bit! \u00a0It’s fascinating to explore another Rite’s liturgy, trying to work out what it expresses about that community’s faith, how it teaches the congregation and what it says about how they experience God.<\/p>\n
For example, in the Melkite congregation I visited, “blessed” bread was given out as people exited the church. \u00a0After Mass at the Maronite church I visited, they brought out the thurible<\/a> and had a short liturgy praying for the dead. In the\u00a0Ukrainian\u00a0church I visited virtually the entire liturgy was sung. \u00a0I also noticed that, rather than blessing themselves with holy water, they drank<\/em> it!<\/p>\n So anyway, back to my weekend. \u00a0I went and visited the nearby\u00a0Holy Angels<\/a> Byzantine Catholic church. \u00a0The church itself is amazing:<\/p>\n The Exterior<\/p><\/div>\n The Interior<\/p><\/div>\n As you can see the building looks quite different from a Latin Rite church and the inside is simply breathtaking (please see the slide show<\/a> with audio).<\/span><\/p>\n It was a really lovely celebration of the Eucharist and I think probably my favourite Eastern Rite church to date. \u00a0I arrived very early so I had plenty of time to explore the inside of the church before other people started turning up.<\/p>\n One of the other advantages to turning up early was that I got to witness the Sacrament of Confession before Mass.<\/p>\n The person seeking to confess his sins came up and stood in front of the huge icon of Jesus<\/a> which was part of the\u00a0iconostasis<\/a>. \u00a0The priest then came up and stood to his side and listened as the penitent confessed his sins. \u00a0The man then leant\u00a0over, the priest placed his stole<\/a> on the man’s head and then said the words of absolution.<\/p>\n I was struck by what a wonderful expression of the Sacrament this was. \u00a0It showed that the\u00a0penitent\u00a0was truly confessing his sins to Christ<\/em> and Christ was simply using the priest as an instrument, a channel of His Grace. Absolutely beautiful. \u00a0I’m rather tempted to go back one week and experience this for myself first hand.<\/p>\n The rest of the liturgy was just as beautiful. \u00a0It was a little tricky to follow along in the missal but I just about managed it. \u00a0There were many similarities with other Eastern Rite churches I’ve visited – the church was thoroughly incensed at the beginning of Mass, much of the liturgy was intoned, and there was a big procession around the church prior to the intoning of the Gospel.<\/p>\n One surprising aspect was that there wasn’t an Old Testament reading – simply one of Paul’s letters and a Gospel reading. \u00a0I asked someone afterwards about this omission and they said that this is quite common, except during certain liturgical seasons. \u00a0This was probably the only thing I didn’t like.<\/p>\n The preaching was superb – Fr. Robert is certainly a gifted speaker. \u00a0It was recently the Feast of the Assumption and, like our brethren in the Orthodox Church (Russian Orthodox etc.), he referred to Mary as the “Theotokos”<\/em> (“God Bearer”<\/em>) and the Assumption as her “Dormition”<\/em>.<\/p>\n Like the\u00a0Ukrainian\u00a0church I visited, Holy Angles distributes communion via “intinction<\/a>“. \u00a0There are no lay ministers of Holy Communion so a single line forms before the priest who holds a single chalice containing both the Body and the Blood. \u00a0As each member of the congregation comes forward the priest feeds the communicants with a spoon in the same way a father would feed his toddler (but without the aeroplane noises). I’m fast becoming a fan of this style of communion.<\/p>\nEntertaining Angels<\/h3>\n
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Confessing to Jesus<\/h3>\n
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This was the first time I had seen Confession in the Eastern Rite. \u00a0The symbolism was truly beautiful.<\/p>\nLiturgy Byzantine-Style<\/h3>\n
Cup of Blessing<\/h3>\n
Next Time…<\/h3>\n