The Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom

[Apotheoun]

For those interested in knowing more about the Eastern Catholic / Eastern Orthodox divine liturgy, the weblink below leads to a website that describes the Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom, enjoy:

[url="http://biserica.org/ViataCrestina/Liturgy/Explanation.htm"]The Liturgy of St. John Chysostom[/url]

[Apotheoun]

I forgot to point out that once you are on the website, if you click on the audio/video link provided there, you can watch a celebration of the Divine Liturgy through Real Player.

[conservativecatholic]

That is great! The Eastern Church has always flourished with fabulous tradition. It's too bad the Western Rite has given up chants and organs for guitars and drumsets. Way to go Eastern Rite!

[Apotheoun]

[quote name='conservativecatholic' date='Dec 18 2004, 07:11 PM'] That is great! The Eastern Church has always flourished with fabulous tradition. It's too bad the Western Rite has given up chants and organs for guitars and drumsets. Way to go Eastern Rite! [/quote]
I agree, the Eastern Church's traditions are so rich and moving. I love singing the liturgy, and even though I don't have the best voice, I sing anyway. The Divine Liturgy is like entering into heaven, the icons, the incense, the mystical prayers, all of it is wonderful. I particularly like the prayer just before communion, when the priest shows us the consecrated elements, and we all sing, "Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord. God the Lord has revealed Himself to us."

God bless,
Todd

"We have seen the true Light, we have received the heavenly Spirit, we have found the true faith, and we worship the undivided Trinity, for the Trinity has saved us."

[Benedict]

[quote]I love singing the liturgy, and even though I don't have the best voice, I sing anyway. [/quote]

As my confirmation sponsor is oft heard to say, "God stuck me with this voice so He's gonna hear it!"

[cmotherofpirl]

After yunz read this, I'll move it to the apologetics board so we can keep it.

[Apotheoun]

[quote name='cmotherofpirl' date='Dec 18 2004, 09:09 PM'] After yunz read this, I'll move it to the apologetics board so we can keep it. [/quote]
Sorry, I suppose I should have put it there in the first place.

[Apotheoun]

For those interested in getting more information on the Byzantine Catholic liturgy, I recommend reading the book:

[u]The Byzantine-Slav Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom: Its Origin and Evolution[/u] by Casimir Kucharek

God bless,
Todd

[hyperdulia again]

I like the primitiveness (the bareness, the starkness) of the Western liturgies (even the Old Mass is stark compared to the LSJC), but the East has always fascinated me--Eastern Catholic churches still look like buildings fit for Catholic worship; you still see peole praying before sacred images; and if the little melkite church I used to attend is any sign, Eastern [i]Catholics[/i] are not expecting the Pope to change his mind about contraception any time soon.

[Apotheoun]

The following text, taken from Fr. Casimir Kucharek's book [u]The Byzantine-Slav Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom[/u], touches upon the Eastern Catholic doctrine of sacred icons:

[quote name='The Byzantine-Slav Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom' date=' pages 228-230']
          [. . .]
          There is a fundamental difference between Byzantines and Westerners in the interpretation of sacred images.  The latter merely regard them as representations of one whose presence is elsewhere, in heaven.  For the Byzantine Christian, the icon is a veritable theophany, a dynamic manifestation of divine energy at work on earth.  The person represented is in some spiritual way actually present in the icon.  From this presence flow streams of grace upon the sinful world, purifying and sanctifying it.
          How [does one] explain this mysterious presence in the icon?  To define this presence would be as difficult as explaining the [i]Shekinah[/i] or the mysterious presence of Christ amid two or three gathered together in His name (Matt. 18:20).  Yet such a presence was no less true.  The mystical teaching concerning icons stems from the master idea of all Eastern typology, the idea of the Church building as "Heaven on earth."  Gregory of Nyssa was probably the first to set out the main lines of such teaching.  His doctrine was taken up and developed by others.  The author of the eighth-century [i]Rerum Ecclesiasticarum Contemplatio[/i], for example, expresses it boldly:  "The heaven wherein the Triune God lives and moves on earth is the Christian holy place, the Church.  . . ."  The presence of heaven passed easily from the Church to the icon.
          The West never understood the iconoclastic controversy.  It did not see the veneration of icons as a dogmatic matter but simply as a disciplinary matter.  The Byzantine East, on the other hand, saw clearly in the decision of the seventh general council a contribution toward a better understanding of the mystery of the Incarnation or, more precisely, the mystery of God's communication of Himself to the world and to man in particular.  That is why iconography was always such a serious science.  It was never merely an art form.  To be worthy of the task, the ancient icon painters prayed and fasted for days before taking up their brush – only then could they communicate the Divine through their image-making.  Because icons represent human forms that have been "regenerated into eternity," holy bodies of persons transformed, transfigured by grace in prayer, iconographers attempted to convey theological meanings through symbolical colors and forms.  Saints, for example, are represented facing forward so that their entire face is showing, for a spiritual man cannot be incomplete, with one eye only.  "A soul that has been illuminated by divine glory," teaches Macarius the Great, "becomes all light and all face. . . and has no part with that which is behind but stands altogether facing forward."
          [. . .][/quote]

[daugher-of-Mary]

[i]Let us who mystically represent the Cherubim, and sing the thrice holy hymn to the life creating Trinity, now set aside all earthly cares. Alleluia! [/i]

so beautiful!

[Apotheoun]

[quote name='daugher-of-Mary' date='Dec 25 2004, 07:47 PM'] [i]Let us who mystically represent the Cherubim, and sing the thrice holy hymn to the life creating Trinity, now set aside all earthly cares. Alleluia! [/i]

so beautiful! [/quote]
Yes, it's very beautiful.

"We have seen the true Light, we have received the heavenly Spirit, we have found the true faith, and we worship the undivided Trinity, for the Trinity has saved us."

God bless,
Todd