[livius]

It is the queen of liturgies

True that!

A great report - it was like being there. Ping to NYer!

[livius]

FYI. This is a beautiful report.

[Kolokotronis]

"It is the peculiar genius of Byzantine history that its glory reached its apogee in the era known to the West as the Dark Ages. It has no great literary heritage – a half-millenium of Muslim domination ensured the annihilation from memory of its major works beyond the Alexiad of Anna Comnena, the anonymous epic of Digenes Akritis, and various religious texts. The latter survived because the Church survived, even as the Empire did not. Chief among them are the great liturgies, and chief among the great liturgies is the Liturgy of St John Chrysostom. It is the queen of liturgies: a Greek epic of its own, also of the Western Dark Ages, emphatic and deliberate in its insistent worship of Christ. The liturgy has a heavenly glory in its song and prayer."

I am so very happy that everyone had an opportunity to see the Divine Liturgy on EWTN or the web! Here is something to understand about most of us Orthodox. Century upon century our people lived under various tyrannies; many still do. Things were so bad in the old countries that for those of us in West and Australia, our old people had to leave. But through those centuries of oppression and cruelty, every Sunday our people could go to heaven for a few hours. Those of us in the West are so blessed that our old people brought the Divine Liturgy with them when they came here. They knew they had a great treasure which had allowed them to live fully under conditions which made up the nightmares of my childhood. And they preserved it so their children and grandchildren and great grandchildren could have it...every Sunday just like they did. Our Divine Liturgy doesn't simply define a part of our lives, it is our Life!

[NYer]

It is the queen of liturgies. True that!

This is the liturgy of royalty, hence the elaborate decorations and costly vestments. The Traditional Latin Mass also rises to this level in its liturgical vestments and golden chalices.

These different approaches to celebrating liturgy, fascinate me no end. With no affront to the ODL, I can't help but point out the great diversity of these liturgies within the Catholic Church.

Although there are 22 Catholic Churches, there are only eight "Rites" that are used among them. A Rite is a "liturgical, theological, spiritual and disciplinary patrimony," (Code of Canons of the Eastern Churches, canon 28). "Rite" best refers to the liturgical and disciplinary traditions used in celebrating the sacraments. Many Eastern Catholic Churches use the same Rite, although they are distinct autonomous Churches. For example, the Ukrainian Catholic Church and the Melkite Catholic Church are distinct Churches with their own hierarchies. Yet they both use the Byzantine Rite.

A good depiction of this:

[redhead]

"It is the queen of liturgies..."

Yep. Even in English. Even the grandkids are getting the hang of it... "Sublime" just barely describes it.