A Byzantine Catholic visiting Orthodox church

[Schieffelin]

Originally Posted by 5Loaves

I had no idea before I became active here on CAF how incredibly fortunate I am with my parish. Believe me we have our problems, and some have been really major. But our orthodoxy is not one of those. I know from old photos that when the Miracle-Working Icon of Our Lady of Kazan resided in our parish there was actually a statue of the Mother of God in the temple , at least during the taking of the photos. That would be unheard of these days. Even then there were certainly no pews. (Pews, and organs, are standard items in the Greek Orthodox Churches in America.)

I feel for you. I can't imagine what I would do if our parish were to close. I know I'd be spending even more time than I now do in an Orthodox temple. We Eastern Catholics really do feel the pain of the separation of our Churches...

This is so true. I took for granted how wonderful the first two Eastern churches I was involved in were. Now I'm getting a little dose of reality. All the more reason to keep praying I suppose!

[Schieffelin]

Originally Posted by Hesychios

Yes, there are Latinizations in Orthodox churches, from what I can tell most particularly in ACROD and to some extent the Ukrainian Orthodox, and I attribute that to the fact that they had both been in the Union* for a time.

Pews are not a Latinization, they are more appropriately considered a westernization/Protestantization and are really harmful to the practice of temple worship. It is my biggest beef with the Greek Orthodox and Serbian Orthodox in my area.

A parish without a screen or at least a curtain would be a Latinization. Any parish that claims it cannot afford an iconostasis but installs pews without even giving it a second thought deserves all the problems it gets.

Thank you for helping me with my terms. The pews actually bother me more than anything else I've seen. Especially when it comes to Lenten liturgies--no prostrations is so awful to me! I want to experience the fullness of the liturgy and it's not even close to the same when those pews are in the way.

[Schieffelin]

Originally Posted by paglione

February 25, 2012
From: paglione
Dear Schieffelin,
I think I know how you feel about preferring the Divine Liturgy to the Latin rite Mass.
I have been a Latin rite Catholic all of my life but I have recently been strongly attracted to the Divine Liturgy of the Byzantine rite. I miss it when I am at Mass in the Latin rite.
The strong attraction for me, I think, is the beauty of the Divine Liturgy and the way in which the faithful participate in the Liturgy by chanting the responses with the priest instead of listening to the priest say the prayers of the Mass in n the Latin rite. The faithful play much more of a role in the Divine Liturgy than the faithful do in Latin rite Mass.
Furthermore, I have tried to get my Latin rite pastor to speak from the pulpit about other Catholic rites in communion with Rome and aboutl the universality of the Catholic Church.
So far there has been no interest. Someone recently asked me in church who The Theotokos was. Apparently Latin rite Catholics do not even understand the Greek word for the holy Mother of God.
The Divine Liturgy of the Orthodox Church is much the same as the Divine Liturgy of the Byzantine Church. The separation of churches (e.g., church politics) is offensive to God and is a sin against God. And it must end.
(Signed) paglione

Yeah, I started practicing as a Byzantine Catholic about six years ago and it gradually became more and more difficult for me to return to the Latin rite. I was so tired of all the arguments about the mass and I felt so much more at home in the East.
The level of ignorance among Roman Catholics is appalling (not that the laity are really at fault). I'm sure it's a huge contributor to why there is still division between the Catholics and Orthodox.