Saturday, April 29, 2006

The Anglican Rite of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia

http://www.orthodoxresurgence.co.uk/Petroc/english.htm

Of the many variations of the Anglican Rite as used in several Apostolic Churches, this one stands out as one of the more refined and well-designed. It is the English Liturgy 'according to the Western Rite, derived from the Sarum, 1549, 1718 etc., adapted using the rules authorised by the Holy Synod of Russia,' the official Anglican Rite of the Synod Church, the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia. In 1870 the Russian Holy Synod authorised the use of the Western Rite; it later examined and approved a corrected version of the Anglican Rite, known as the Divine Liturgy of Saint Tikhon of Moscow.

Past and present, the Polish National Catholic Church, the Roman Catholic Church, the Antiochian Orthodox Church, the Russian Church Outside Russia, and the Moscow Patriarchate have all at one time or another authorised an Anglican liturgical use. The Ethiopian Orthodox and Romanian Orthodox Churches have sponsored a Western Rite. The Orthodox Church of France (L'EOF) exists today as a canonical or at least 'regular succession' Orthodox jurisdiction of the Western Rite, the only such sui juris Orthodox Church in the world.

Here is the ROCOR Anglican Canon of the Mass -

All glory be to Thee Almighty God, our Heavenly Father, Who of Thy tender mercy didst give Thine only Son Jesus Christ to suffer death upon the Cross for our redemption; Who made there, by His own oblation of Himself once offered, a full, perfect and sufficient sacrifice, oblation, and satisfaction, for the sins of the whole world; and did institute, and in His Holy Gospel command us to continue, a perpetual memory of that His precious death and Sacrifice, until His coming again.

Who in the same night that He was betrayed, took Bread and, when He had given thanks, He brake it, and gave it to His Disciples, saying, Take, eat; This is My Body which is given for you; do this in remembrance of Me.

Likewise after supper, He took the Cup; and when He had given thanks, He gave it to them, saying, Drink ye all of this; for this is My Blood of the New Covenant, which is shed for you and for many for the remission of sins; do this as oft as ye shall drink it, in remembrance of Me.

Wherefore, O Lord and Heavenly Father, we Thy humble servants, in accordance with the institution of Thy dearly beloved Son our Saviour Jesus Christ, and having in remembrance the Precious Death and Passion of Thy dear Son, His mighty Resurrection and glorious Ascension do offer unto Thee in the memorial He commanded us to make, Thine own gifts which Thou hast given, a pure offering + an Holy + offering,

that Thou hast commanded for our salvation, that Thou mayest be pleased to send down Thy Holy Spirit upon this Sacrifice that It may be duly and properly changed in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost, in the transformation of the Body + and Blood + of our Lord, Jesus Christ and that It may be for us who partake thereof, Life eternal and the everlasting Kingdom.

And we entirely desire Thy Fatherly goodness mercifully to accept this our Sacrifice; our praise and thanksgiving, upon which vouchsafe to look and to accept as Thou didst accept the gifts of Thy servant Abel, the sacrifices of our father Abraham and Thy high priest Melchisedeck, most humbly beseeching Thee to grant that, by the merits and death of Thy Son Jesus Christ, and through faith in His Blood, we and all Thy whole Church may obtain remission of our sins, and all other benefits of His Passion.

And here we offer and present unto Thee, O Lord, ourselves, our souls and bodies, to be a reasonable, holy, and lively sacrifice unto Thee; Humbly beseeching Thee, that all we, who are partakers of this Holy Communion, may worthily receive the most precious Body + and Blood + of Thy Son Jesus Christ, be fulfilled with Thy grace and Heavenly benediction and made one body with Him, that He may dwell in us and we in Him.

Be mindful, O Lord, we pray Thee, of Thy servants departed this life in Thy faith and fear, now resting in peace. To them and to all Thy faithful sleeping in Christ, grant, we beseech Thee, Thy rest, + Thy light and Thy peace. And to us sinners who are Thy servants, grant confidence in the multitude of all Thy mercies and some lot and part with Thy Holy Apostles and Martyrs John, Stephen, Matthias, Barnabas, Ignatius, Alexander, Marcellinus, Peter, Felicity, Perpetua, Agatha, Lucy, Agnes, Cecelia, Anastasia and all Thy Saints, into whose company, we pray Thee of Thy mercy, to admit us.

And although we be unworthy to offer unto Thee any sacrifice, yet we beseech Thee to accept this our bounden duty and service; Not weighing our merits, but pardoning our offences, Through Jesus + Christ our Lord; By Whom + and with Whom + in the unity of the Holy Ghost, all honour and glory be unto Thee, O Father Almighty + world without end. Amen.

2 comments:

Ecgbert said...

L'ECOF have been bounced around from jurisdiction to jurisdiction. I think they were former RC Modernists who were taken in by the Moscow Patriarchate, then switched to the Russian Church Abroad and then were in the Romanian Church which cut them loose for some reason I understand not their fault. So they're technically outside Orthodoxy now and have been for some time. Their service - I've seen their ordo of Mass - is a heavily byzantinised reconstruction of what they imagine the Gallican Rite was like. The Russian Church Abroad's sainted archbishop John helped put it together when they were under him.

Ecgbert said...

P.S. I have some of their literature from the 1980s and it isn't vagante wacko at all - standard orthodox Eastern Orthodox stuff.

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