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Western Rite Orthodoxy, also called Western Orthodoxy or the Orthodox Western Rite, are congregations within the
Eastern Orthodox Eastern Orthodoxy, also known as Eastern Orthodox Christianity, is one of the three main branches of Chalcedonian Christianity, alongside Catholicism and Protestantism. Like the Pentarchy of the first millennium, the mainstream (or " canonical ...
tradition which perform their
liturgy Liturgy is the customary public ritual of worship performed by a religious group. ''Liturgy'' can also be used to refer specifically to public worship by Christians. As a religious phenomenon, liturgy represents a communal response to and partic ...
in Western forms. Besides altered versions of the
Tridentine Mass The Tridentine Mass, also known as the Traditional Latin Mass or Traditional Rite, is the liturgy of Mass (liturgy), Mass in the Roman Rite of the Catholic Church that appears in Editio typica, typical editions of the Roman Missal published from ...
, congregations have used Western liturgical forms such as the
Sarum Rite The Use of Sarum (or Use of Salisbury, also known as the Sarum Rite) is the Latin liturgical rite developed at Salisbury Cathedral and used from the late eleventh century until the English Reformation. It is largely identical to the Roman r ...
, the Mozarabic Rite, and Gallican Rite. Some congregations use what has become known simply as the English Liturgy, which is derived from the Anglican ''
Book of Common Prayer The ''Book of Common Prayer'' (BCP) is the name given to a number of related prayer books used in the Anglican Communion and by other Christian churches historically related to Anglicanism. The original book, published in 1549 in the reign ...
'', albeit with some Byzantinization intended to emphasize Eastern Orthodox theological teaching. The Western Rite that exists today has been heavily influenced by the life and work of Julian Joseph Overbeck. Western Rite missions, parishes and monasteries exist within certain jurisdictions of the mainstream Eastern Orthodox Church, predominantly within the
Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia The Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia (russian: Ру́сская Правосла́вная Це́рковь Заграни́цей, lit=Russian Orthodox Church Abroad, translit=Russkaya Pravoslavnaya Tserkov' Zagranitsey), also called Ru ...
and
Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of North America The Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of North America (AOCANA), often referred to in North America as simply the Antiochian Archdiocese, is the jurisdiction of the Greek Orthodox Church of Antioch in the United States and Canada. Ori ...
. In addition, the Western Rite is practiced within religious communities outside the mainstream Eastern Orthodox Church. The Communion of the Western Orthodox Churches and the
Orthodox Church of France The Orthodox Catholic Church of France (french: Église catholique orthodoxe de France), formerly Orthodox Church of France (OCF, french: Église orthodoxe de France), is an Eastern Orthodox church in France comprising three dioceses and using the ...
are entirely Western Rite. Furthermore, there is a small number of Western Rite communities among the Old Calendarists, such as the former Western Rite Exarchate of the Holy Synod of Milan and the
Autonomous Orthodox Metropolia of North and South America and the British Isles The Autonomous Orthodox Metropolia of North and South America and the British Isles is a True Orthodox denomination. Doctrine The Metropolia states it is True Orthodox. History Background The Autonomous Metropolia claims to trace its ...
; within independent Orthodoxy, the American Orthodox Catholic Church's successors have Western Rite metropolitan jurisdictions. In the past, there have also been Western Rite communities within
Oriental Orthodoxy The Oriental Orthodox Churches are Eastern Christian churches adhering to Miaphysite Christology, with approximately 60 million members worldwide. The Oriental Orthodox Churches are part of the Nicene Christian tradition, and represent ...
. There also are a number of independent Western Orthodox churches and monasteries that are neither part of the Oriental Orthodox Church nor the Eastern Orthodox Church. Western Rite parishes are found almost exclusively in countries with large
Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: * Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD * Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a let ...
or
Protestant Protestantism is a Christian denomination, branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Reformation, Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century agai ...
populations. There are also numerous devotional societies and publishing ventures related to the Western Rite. Western Rite Orthodoxy remains a contentious issue for some; however, the movement continues to grow in numbers and in acceptance.


Origins


Nineteenth century

From 1864, Julian Joseph Overbeck, a former Roman Catholic priest, worked to establish a modern Orthodox Western Rite. Overbeck converted from Catholicism to
Lutheranism Lutheranism is one of the largest branches of Protestantism, identifying primarily with the theology of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German monk and Protestant Reformers, reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practice of the Cathol ...
and married. He then emigrated to England in 1863 to become professor of German at the
Royal Military Academy, Woolwich The Royal Military Academy (RMA) at Woolwich, in south-east London, was a British Army military academy for the training of commissioned officers of the Royal Artillery and Royal Engineers. It later also trained officers of the Royal Corps of S ...
, where he also undertook studies of the
Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the established Christian church in England and the mother church of the international Anglican Communion. It traces its history to the Christian church recorded as existing in the Roman province of Brit ...
and Orthodoxy. In 1865 Overbeck was received as a layman into the
Russian Orthodox Church , native_name_lang = ru , image = Moscow July 2011-7a.jpg , imagewidth = , alt = , caption = Cathedral of Christ the Saviour in Moscow, Russia , abbreviation = ROC , type ...
(because he had married following his ordination as a Roman Catholic priest), by Father Eugene Poppoff, at the Russian Embassy in London. As a part of his conversion into the , Overbeck requested permission from the
Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church The Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church ( rus, Священный синод Русской православной церкви, Svyashchennyy sinod Russkoy pravoslavnoy tserkvi) serves by Church statute as the supreme administrative g ...
to begin a Western Orthodox church in England. Initially, Philaret was hesitant about Overbeck's request, but did not rule out the idea entirely. Overbeck outlined his rationale for a Western Orthodox Church in his 1866 book ''Catholic Orthodoxy and Anglo-Catholicism'', a largely polemical work describing why the established Western churches should be rejected. Overbeck convinced others about the feasibility of a Western Orthodox church and in 1869 submitted a petition containing 122 signatures, including many in the
Oxford Movement The Oxford Movement was a movement of high church members of the Church of England which began in the 1830s and eventually developed into Anglo-Catholicism. The movement, whose original devotees were mostly associated with the University of ...
, to the Holy Synod asking for the creation of a Western liturgical rite within the . A synodical commission investigated Overbeck's petition, in 1870 he stated his case before the commission in St. Petersburg. The commission approved the petition and he was instructed to present a revised Western liturgy for evaluation by the commission. He presented a revised Western liturgy in December. That liturgy was subsequently approved for use – specifically in the British Isles. By 1876, Overbeck appealed to other Orthodox Churches for their recognition of his plan. In 1879 he was received in audience by the Patriarch Joachim III of Constantinople, who recognized the theoretical right of Western Christians to have a Western Orthodox Church. Three years later, Joachim III and the Synod of the Ecumenical Patriarchate conditionally approved Overbeck's Western rite and Benedictine offices. However, Overbeck's efforts ultimately did not result in the establishment of a Western Orthodoxy. He was especially suspicious of the role which the Greeks in London (and the
Church of Greece The Church of Greece ( el, Ἐκκλησία τῆς Ἑλλάδος, Ekklēsía tē̂s Helládos, ), part of the wider Greek Orthodox Church, is one of the autocephalous churches which make up the communion of Eastern Orthodox Christianity. It ...
generally) played in the stagnation of his ambitions, directly blaming the Greek Church's protest against the plan in 1892. The ''Orthodox Catholic Review'' ended publication in 1885 and Overbeck died in 1905 without seeing a Western Orthodox Church. Georges Florovsky summed up Overbeck's experience in this way: "it was not just a fantastic dream. The question raised by Overbeck was pertinent, even if his own answer to it was confusedly conceived. And probably the vision of Overbeck was greater than his personal interpretation."


Twentieth century

Some speculate Bishop Mathew's 1909 ''Old Catholic Missal And Ritual'' may have been approved as a Western Rite liturgy by Pope Photios of Alexandria. Both unions were contracted in quick succession and only lasted for an effective period of a few months. Though the union was protested by the
Archbishop of Canterbury The archbishop of Canterbury is the senior bishop and a principal leader of the Church of England, the ceremonial head of the worldwide Anglican Communion and the diocesan bishop of the Diocese of Canterbury. The current archbishop is Just ...
to Photios and the Patriarch of Antioch, Mathew's group claimed that communion was never formally broken off. In 1890, the first Western Rite Orthodox community in North America, an Episcopal parish in Green Bay, Wisconsin, pastored by Fr. René Vilatte, was received by Bishop Vladimir Sokolovsky. However, Vilatte was soon ordained a bishop in the
Jacobite Church , native_name_lang = syc , image = St_George_Syriac_orthodox_church_in_Damascus.jpg , imagewidth = 250 , alt = Cathedral of Saint George , caption = Cathedral of Saint George, Damascus ...
, an
Oriental Orthodox Church The Oriental Orthodox Churches are Eastern Christian churches adhering to Miaphysite Christology, with approximately 60 million members worldwide. The Oriental Orthodox Churches are part of the Nicene Christian tradition, and represent ...
not in communion with the
Eastern Orthodox Church The Eastern Orthodox Church, also called the Orthodox Church, is the second-largest Christian church, with approximately 220 million baptized members. It operates as a communion of autocephalous churches, each governed by its bishops via ...
. Other small groups using the Western Rite have been received, but usually have either had little impact or have declared their independence soon after their reception. Western rite parishes were established in Poland in 1926 when a half-dozen congregations were received into Eastern Orthodoxy; however, the movement dwindled during World War II.


Orthodox Church of France

In 1936, the received a small group led by a former Liberal Catholic bishop, Louis-Charles Winnaert (1880–1937), as the ' (EOO). Winnaert was received as an archimandrite, took the religious name Irénée, and soon died. Winnaert's work was continued, with occasional conflict, by one of his priests, Eugraph Kovalevsky (1905–1970) and Lucien Chambault, the latter of which oversaw a small Orthodox Benedictine community in Paris. After 1946, Kovalevsky began to recreate a Gallican Rite based on the letters of Germain of Paris, a sixth-century bishop of Paris, numerous early Western missals and sacramentaries, and some Byzantine modifications; his development was ''The divine liturgy of Saint Germanus of Paris''.Frédéric Luz. ''Le Soufre & L'encens''. Paris: Claire Vigne, 1995. pp. 34–36. Archimandrite Alexis van der Mensbrugghe, a former Roman Catholic monk, who taught at the Western Church's St. Denys Theological Institute but remained in the Eastern rite, attempted to restore the ancient Roman rite, replacing medieval accretions with Gallican and Byzantine forms. Eventually, Alexis was consecrated as an bishop in 1960, continuing his Western Rite work under the auspices of the Moscow Patriarchate. In 1953, pressured by the to adopt the Eastern rite, the Western Orthodox Church went its own way, changing its name to the Orthodox Church of France. After several years of isolation, the church was recognized as an autonomous Church by Metropolitan Anastasy Gribanovsky of and was in communion with from 1959 to 1966. While the Western Rite mission withered and ended, thrived; however, after Maximovich died, Kovalevsky was left without canonical protection until his death in 1970. In 1972, the church found a new canonical superior in the
Romanian Orthodox Church The Romanian Orthodox Church (ROC; ro, Biserica Ortodoxă Română, ), or Patriarchate of Romania, is an autocephalous Eastern Orthodox church in full communion with other Eastern Orthodox Christian churches, and one of the nine patriarchates ...
. Gilles Bertrand-Hardy was then consecrated as bishop and took the religious name Germain of Saint-Denis. In 1993, after long conflict with the Synod of the Romanian Orthodox Church about alleged canonical irregularities within , the Romanian Orthodox Church withdrew its blessing of and broke off communion.


North America

Saint
Tikhon of Moscow Tikhon of Moscow (russian: Тихон Московский, – ), born Vasily Ivanovich Bellavin (russian: Василий Иванович Беллавин), was a bishop of the Russian Orthodox Church (ROC). On 5 November 1917 ( OS) he was ...
's contribution to the Western Rite has been more enduring. While he was bishop of the 's diocese in America, some
Episcopalians Anglicanism is a Western Christianity, Western Christian tradition that has developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the context of the Protestant Reformation in Euro ...
were interested in joining Orthodoxy while retaining Anglican liturgical practices. Tikhon sent the 1892 ''
Book of Common Prayer The ''Book of Common Prayer'' (BCP) is the name given to a number of related prayer books used in the Anglican Communion and by other Christian churches historically related to Anglicanism. The original book, published in 1549 in the reign ...
'', enquired about the viability of Orthodox parishes composed of former Anglicans using Anglican liturgical practices. In 1904, the Holy Synod concluded that such parishes were possible and provided a list of doctrinal corrections to the ''Book of Common Prayer'' text of the prayers and rites that were necessary to profess in Orthodox worship. The Holy Synod also concluded that detailed changes in the ''Book of Common Prayer'' and in Anglican liturgical practices, together with compilations of new prayers, and entire rites, can only be carried out on location in America and not from Moscow. The most successful and stable group of Western Rite parishes originated within the Orthodox Church under Bishop Aftimios Ofiesh in the 1930s as part of the American Orthodox Catholic Church. In 1932, Bishop Aftimios consecrated an Episcopal priest, Ignatius Nichols, as auxiliary Bishop of Washington and assigned him to the Western Rite parishes. However, due to complaints from Episcopalians that the Episcopal Church was the "American" Orthodox Church, the American Orthodox Church that Aftimios and Nicholas were a part of became estranged from what would become the
Orthodox Church in America The Orthodox Church in America (OCA) is an Eastern Orthodox Christian church based in North America. The OCA is partly recognized as autocephalous and consists of more than 700 parishes, missions, communities, monasteries and institutions ...
(OCA). The subsequent marriages of both Aftimios and Nichols violated Orthodox
canon law Canon law (from grc, κανών, , a 'straight measuring rod, ruler') is a set of ordinances and regulations made by ecclesiastical authority (church leadership) for the government of a Christian organization or church and its members. It is t ...
, and left the church and its subsidiaries without canonical recognition. In 1932, Nichols founded the Society of Clerks Secular of Saint Basil as a devotional society for clergy and laity dedicated to the celebration of the Western Rite. Nichols also consecrated Alexander Turner as a bishop in 1939. Turner pastored a small parish in Mount Vernon until Nichols' death in 1947, when he assumed leadership of the Society and concluded that there was no future for the Society of Saint Basil outside of canonical E. Orthodoxy. Turner described the situation the Society found itself in by saying: Through Father Paul Schneirla, he began unofficial dialogue with Metropolitan Antony Bashir. Even before this, Turner had been promoting Western Rite Orthodoxy through his periodical ''Orthodoxy''. In 1961, the Society (consisting of three parishes) was received into the Syrian Antiochian Archdiocese on the basis of Metropolitan Antony's 1958 edict. Upon reception, Bishop Alexander Turner became a canonical priest of the Antiochian Orthodox Church, guiding the group as Vicar-General until his death in 1971, thereafter he was succeeded by Schneirla. However, after Turner's death, the sole surviving Basilian, William Francis Forbes, returned to the American Orthodox Catholic Church and was consecrated a bishop in October 1974. Besides the original communities associated with the Society, a number of other parishes have been received into the Western Rite Vicariate of the Antiochian Archdiocese, particularly as elements within the Episcopal Church became dissatisfied with liturgical change and the ordination of women. The first Episcopal parish to be received into the was the Episcopal Church of the Incarnation in Detroit, Michigan.


Current status in the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia

On July 10, 2013, the recognition and status of Western Rite parishes within seemed to change significantly. The Synod of Bishops of , presided over by its First Hierarch, decreed that: * would no longer ordain clergy for Western Rite parishes. *Bishop Jerome Shaw of Manhattan would be censured for unapproved ecclesial services and forcibly retired without the right to perform ordinations. *Some ordinations performed by Shaw would not be recognized, and those candidates would be thoroughly examined before regularization. *A commission would examine how to integrate Western Rite clergy and communities into the Russian Orthodox Church. *Western Rite clergy and communities need to adopt the order of divine services of the Eastern Orthodox Church, but may preserve "certain particularities of the Western Rite". *Adherence to the rules and traditions of the Russian Orthodox Church in particular is required. The Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia established a working commission to deal with the peculiarities that led to decision of July 2013. Within the following year there was established a new leadership structure that eventually led to the establishment of a revitalized Western Rite Vicariate under the Omophorion of His Eminence Metropolitan Hilarion. New Western Rite parishes and monasteries continue to be founded by ROCOR and priests, deacons and subdeacons within the Western Rite continue to be ordained from 2014 to the present, including in Sweden and the United States.


Orthodox Church in America

Mention of the Western Rite was often made in the , the most prominent being a mention during a speech by the
primate Primates are a diverse order of mammals. They are divided into the strepsirrhines, which include the lemurs, galagos, and lorisids, and the haplorhines, which include the tarsiers and the simians ( monkeys and apes, the latter includin ...
of the , Metropolitan
Jonah Paffhausen Metropolitan Jonah (born James Paffhausen, Jr.; October 20, 1959) is a retired American Eastern Orthodox bishop who served as the primate of the Orthodox Church in America (OCA) with the title ''The Most Blessed Archbishop of Washington, Metropo ...
, in April 2009. On September 8, 2018, the Orthodox Church of America established a Western Rite mission parish in Alberta, Canada. However, the OCA has not yet officially established an organizational structure for future Western Rite parishes.


Independent Western Orthodox churches and monasteries

There are a number of independent Western Orthodox congregations and monasteries.


Liturgy

Western Rite parishes do not all utilize the same liturgy, but often use a particular liturgy depending upon their individual affiliations prior to entering Orthodoxy. At present, there are nine different liturgies available to Western Rite parishes: * The Divine Liturgy of Saint Tikhon – this liturgy is currently used by approximately some churches of the . * The Divine Liturgy of Saint Gregory – used by some churches of the . * The English Liturgy – the Russian adaptation of the 1549 ''Book of Common Prayer'' according to the criteria set forth by the Holy Synod of Russia in 1907. This liturgy has been augmented with material from the Sarum Missal, the Gothic Missal, the
York rite The York Rite, sometimes referred to as the American Rite, is one of several Rites of Freemasonry. It is named for, but not practiced in York, Yorkshire, England. A Rite is a series of progressive degrees that are conferred by various Masonic ...
, and the 1718 Scottish Non-Juror liturgy. An epiclesis from the Gothic Missal is included. This liturgy is not the same rite as the Liturgy of Saint Tikhon, and the two rites differ in many respects. * The Liturgy of Saint Germanus – used by the French Orthodox Church. * The Glastonbury Rite – the Glastonbury Rite was at one time used in the Catholicate of the West. The Western Orthodox rites allowed in
Eastern Orthodoxy Eastern Orthodoxy, also known as Eastern Orthodox Christianity, is one of the three main branches of Chalcedonian Christianity, alongside Catholicism and Protestantism. Like the Pentarchy of the first millennium, the mainstream (or " canonic ...
are the Divine Liturgy of Saint Tikhon and the Divine Liturgy of Saint Gregory. In France, Bishop Alexis van der Mensbrugghe, of the , published a missal in 1962 which contained his restored Gallican rite and his restored pre-Celestinian Italic rite. Neither of Mensbrugghe's restored rites are used by Orthodox groups.


Liturgical development

Meyendorff, Schmemann, and Schneirla were already familiar with the Western Rite both from having been in contact with members of the ECOF while teaching at Saint Sergius Theological Institute. Schmemann actively followed the Liturgical Movement in the Roman Catholic and Anglican Church and was an advocate for renewal of the Orthodox liturgy.


Liturgical books

Officially, the provides one
liturgical book A liturgical book, or service book, is a book published by the authority of a church body that contains the text and directions for the liturgy of its official religious services. Christianity Roman Rite In the Roman Rite of the Catholic C ...
, ''Orthodox Missal'', which contains both the
Liturgy of Saint Tikhon The Liturgy of St. Tikhon is one of the Divine Liturgies authorized for use by the Antiochian Western Rite Vicariate (AWRV) of the Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of North America, itself part of the Eastern Orthodox Church. It is auth ...
and the Liturgy of Saint Gregory, with appropriate propers for seasons, feasts, saints, and prayers before and after Mass. The Antiochian Archdiocese publishes the ''Saint Andrew Service Book'' (SASB), also known as ''The Western Rite Service Book'', which was developed by Saint Michael's Church in California under the leadership of the late Father Michael Trigg; the 1996 second and 2005 third editions of the SASB received official sanction from Metropolitan
Philip Saliba Metropolitan Philip (Saliba) ( ar, ) (born Abdullah Saliba; Abou Mizan, Lebanon Fort Lauderdale, Florida) was the Archbishop of New York, Metropolitan of All North America, and primate of the Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of North ...
, with the latter containing explicit reference to the authorized nature of all previous editions of the SASB. In addition to duplicating the contents of ''The Orthodox Missal'', the SASB also includes forms for
Matins Matins (also Mattins) is a canonical hour in Christian liturgy, originally sung during the darkness of early morning. The earliest use of the term was in reference to the canonical hour, also called the vigil, which was originally celebrated ...
and
Vespers Vespers is a service of evening prayer, one of the canonical hours in Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox, Catholic (both Latin and Eastern), Lutheran, and Anglican liturgies. The word for this fixed prayer time comes from the Latin , mea ...
, the Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament, and the threefold Amen common to the Byzantine epiclesis but absent in ''The Orthodox Missal''. The SASB was produced by the Antiochian Archdiocese without the participation of the . Parishes within the are permitted to use either the Liturgy of Saint Tikhon or that of Saint Gregory. While most parishes use the Tikhonite liturgy, several use the Gregorian liturgy on weekdays or on specific Sundays of the year. Presently, there is no breviary specifically designed for the Orthodox Western Rite, though priests of the who celebrate the Liturgy of Saint Gregory are expected to pray as much of the ''
Breviarium Monasticum The Benedictine Rite is the particular form of Mass and Liturgy celebrated by the Benedictine Order, as based on the writings of St. Benedict on the topic. Mass The Benedictine Order never had a rite of its own celebrating Mass. Since the reform o ...
'' as possible, in the ''
Anglican Breviary The ''Anglican Breviary'' is the Anglican edition of the Divine Office translated into English, used especially by Anglicans of Anglo-Catholic churchmanship. It is based on the ''Roman Breviary'' as it existed prior to both the Second Vatican Cou ...
''. Also in common use within the , though not officially approved, are ''St. Dunstan's Plainsong Psalter'', ''The English Office Noted'', and the ''St. Ambrose Hymnal''.


Publishing houses

Lancelot Andrewes Press is the publishing arm of the Fellowship of Saint Dunstan and publishes material which is utilized by congregations and individuals in Western rites. The primary mission of Lancelot Andrewes Press is to publish material for the "advancement of historic Christian orthodoxy, as expressed by the liturgical and devotional usages of traditional English Christianity."


Devotional societies

There are also devotional societies within the : *The Orthodox Christian Society of Our Lady of Walsingham – dedicated to encouragement of devotion to the
Theotokos ''Theotokos'' ( Greek: ) is a title of Mary, mother of Jesus, used especially in Eastern Christianity. The usual Latin translations are ''Dei Genitrix'' or '' Deipara'' (approximately "parent (fem.) of God"). Familiar English translations a ...
, particularly under the title of Our Lady of Walsingham (and the preservation of the replica of the shrine of Walsingham).


Parishes and missions

Parishes and missions belonging to the Western Rite can be found in a number of Orthodox jurisdictions. The single largest group of such communities is to be found within the Orthodox Church of France, followed by jurisdictions of the Eastern Orthodox Church, and the Communion of Western Orthodox Churches. There are also parishes and missions belonging to the Old Calendarist tradition.


Canonical missionary societies

These groups are Canonical missionary societies with a core of canonical Orthodox laity served by E. Orthodox clergy within the E. Orthodox Church with the goal of future reception of converts into the Western Rite of Orthodoxy. *Saint Brendan OSS – Panama City Florida – ROCOR


Criticisms

Metropolitan
Kallistos Ware Kallistos Ware (born Timothy Richard Ware, 11 September 1934 – 24 August 2022) was an English bishop and theologian of the Eastern Orthodox Church. From 1982, he held the titular bishopric of Diokleia in Phrygia ( gr, Διόκλεια Φρ� ...
says that the Western Rite is inherently divisive: following different liturgical traditions than their neighboring
Byzantine Rite The Byzantine Rite, also known as the Greek Rite or the Rite of Constantinople, identifies the wide range of cultural, liturgical, and canonical practices that developed in the Eastern Christian Church of Constantinople. The canonical hours a ...
Eastern Orthodox Christians, those using the Western Rite do not share liturgical unity with them and present an unfamiliar face to the majority of Eastern Orthodox Christians. Ware is particularly concerned about the further fragmentation of Eastern Orthodoxy in non-Eastern Orthodox countries – in this case, in
Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island and the ninth-largest island in the world. It ...
.Bishop Kallistos. "Some Thoughts on the 'Western Rite' in Orthodoxy" in ''The Priest: A Newsletter for the Clergy of the Diocese of San Francisco'', 5, May 1996.


See also

*
Eastern Orthodox Church The Eastern Orthodox Church, also called the Orthodox Church, is the second-largest Christian church, with approximately 220 million baptized members. It operates as a communion of autocephalous churches, each governed by its bishops via ...
* Eastern Orthodox Church organization *
Western Christianity Western Christianity is one of two sub-divisions of Christianity ( Eastern Christianity being the other). Western Christianity is composed of the Latin Church and Western Protestantism, together with their offshoots such as the Old Catholi ...


References

*


External links


Liturgies


J.J. Overbeck's Liturgia missae Orthodoxo-Catholicae occidentalis
transcribed by Richard Mammana




Office and Prayers of the Oblates of St. Benedict
(PDF) – Western Rite oblates
The Divine Liturgy of St. Ambrose
as authorized by the Russian Orthodox Church outside of Russia for limited use


Apologetic sites


Comments on the Western Rite
by Bishop Basil (Essey) of Wichita

by Patriarch Sergius I (Stragorodsky) of Moscow in a letter to Vladimir Lossky
IN DEFENSE OF WESTERN RITE ORTHODOXY


Criticism



between Bishop Anthony (Gergiannakis) of San Francisco and Fr Paul W.S. Schneirla

by Fr Steven Peter Tsichlis

by Fr Michael Johnson {{Anglican Liturgy, state=collapsed East–West Schism