May 29, 2012
Someday before I die I would like to attend a liturgy of the Ukrainian Catholic Church or another of the Catholic Byzantine Rites, preferably sung in Old Church Slavonic. I find these liturgies greatly attractive from what I’ve seen in videos and listened to on CDs, although I am a native of the Traditional Roman Rite. Unfortunately, where I live we have no Ukrainian nor other Catholic Eastern Rite liturgies available so I may not get my wish and the likelihood of my getting to Ukraine is zero, zip, zilch. I will just have to be happy with my recordings.
Father Athanasius McVay, a Ukrainian-Greek Catholic priest and historian who is chair of Ukrainian Studies at the University of Toronto, says this about the Ukrainian Church liturgy (from a ZENIT interview):
The basic structure of the Eucharistic Liturgy – the readings, the offertory, the Eucharistic prayer, and so on – is the same as the Latin Mass, but the forms of these ceremonies in the Ukrainian Byzantine liturgy are very different. For instance, “the principal parts,” in the Ukrainian Liturgy, “are interspersed with long litanies, with the response kyrie eleison, or Grant this, O Lord. The Dominus vobiscum blessing is similar to the Latin Pontifical Mass form: ‘peace be with all’ except that, turning to the faithful, the priest blesses them with the sign of the cross instead of opening his hands.”
ZENIT also interviewed Archbishop Soroka of the Archeparchy of Philadelphia on the Ukrainian Catholic liturgy:
What’s beautiful about the liturgy is that it invokes all the senses of a person. It’s beautiful how you enter and continue to ask for Our Lord’s presence, and asking for forgiveness of sins. Also the liturgy constantly prays for those in leadership and authority, be they in the Church or in civil government, and those who are involved in our protection. It also prays for those who are in misfortunes or difficulties or challenges. The method, the singing, the petitions takes us ever deeper into hearing the Word of God and meditating on the Word of God, and afterward to receive him in the Eucharist; and in the Eucharist we are transformed in Christ’s Body.
I love the long litanies in the recordings I’ve heard, but it is the harmonies of this completely sung liturgy that transport me. Our Church is diverse and wealthy in its holy liturgies which always, when worthily celebrated, give us a glimpse of heaven no matter the Rite.
Here is “We bow to Your Cross.” sung by Vydubychy Church Choir (Ukraine) from “We glorify Your Resurrection” with views of St. Nicholas Ukrainian Catholic Church in Passaic, NJ.
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R. Now and forever!
(Click on the link above to read why I end my posts this way.)
