Saturday, March 22, 2014

Western Rites?


     In recent time there has been a lot of buzz about Western Rites parishes found among the Eastern Orthodox Churches. Some of the Eastern Orthodox Churches have worked to accommodate the clergy and laity that have desired to express the Orthodox Faith according to a Western liturgical practice. Some of the Orthodox Western Rite parishes have flourished while others continue to struggle.

     The Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia (ROCOR) has just recently disbanded an entire group of clergy and is now working to build up a new Western Rite that will be more collaborative with its Eastern counterpart in the same Church? This may prove to be an almost impossible task based on the negative mind set of a large number of the current ROCOR bishops. What may well occur is the surviving Western Rite priests and parishes will, over time, be absorbed into the Eastern Rite worship.

     Some Western Rite clergy and laity have sought to find shelter under the umbrella of the Anglican Church. Orthodoxy and Anglicanism co-existing? How can this be possible when historical Anglicanism professes a creed that does not include all that is preserved by the Orthodox Christian Faith as passed down to us by Christ God to the Apostles? Secondly, for those seeking shelter under the mantel of the Continuing Anglican Church there appears to be no shred of a canonical Orthodox affiliation, just assuming the mantel of being Orthodox?
   The Western Rites of today are an accommodation in the Eastern Orthodox Church; they certainly are not historically the norm. It is very much like the Roman Catholic Church and its recent accommodation of the Anglican Ordinariate.

     The Old Roman Catholic Church is not and has never been a Western Rite of Orthodoxy. Our Church is Orthodox in her Faith, expressed in a Western Catholic culture and heritage. We are a Western Church maintaining Orthodox Christian Faith.

     As the various Western Rites continue to try to find themselves some stability among their Eastern counterparts and the Anglican Protestants, the Old Roman Catholic Church marches onward...


No comments: