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The western rites of the Holy Orthodox Church have now been in use for more than a century. The intitial action taken by the Holy Synod of Moscow established a "typical" text for the Gregorian Rite in the 1870's. At the request of Archbishop (later Patriarch of Moscow) St. Tikhon of America, the Holy Synod of Moscow issued a learned critique and changes required for conforming of the American Anglican Book of Common Prayer (1892) for use by Orthodox Christians just after the turn of the Century. On May 31st 1958 His Beatitude, Alexander III, Patriarch of Antioch and all the East [of thrice- blessed memory], in consultation with the heads of the other Autocephalous Orthodox Churches, authorised His Eminence Metropolitan Anthony (Bashir) [of thrice-blessed memory] to establish the western rite in the Antiochian Archdiocese of All North America. The enunciated prupose for the establishing of the western rite is (1.) to privide a home in the Hole Orthodox Church for western people of non-Byzantine cultural and religious heritage, and (2.) To witness to the CATHOLICITY of the Orthodox Church to her Byzantine-rite people, priests and theologians. The faith of the western rite is the Faith of the Holy Orthodox Church. The parishes of the western rites are specifically directed to conform to the main-stream of pedagogical and theological standards established at St. Vladimir's Seminary, in New York. The term "rite" encompasses many important technical issues: the liturgical texts, the calendar, the regulations of fasting, the vestments, the required matter for the sacraments, daily prayers of the reverend clergy, clerical attire, theological formation and education and many other aspects of life. Our liturgical texts are approved by the Western Rite Commission and Vicariate of the Archdiocese. From the out-set, the Western Rite Commission has included clergy, theologians and scholars from our Archdiocese, as well as eminent authorities from other canonical jurisdictions of the Orthodox Church. The western rite, because it is an intregal part of the Orthodox Church, is spiritually "at one" with the entire Orthodox world. It is not just "an Antiochian thing," but rather invloves the whole world of Orthodoxy. Western rite Orthodoxy is never parochial, eccentric, sui generis nor "congregational" in spirit, but always looks to the well-being of the whole Body of the faithful. Approved liturgical texts for the Sacraments have been published by the Archdiocese: The Orthodox Missal (including both the Gregorian rite and the St. Tikhon Liturgy), the Orthodox Ritual, the English Office Book, and other authorised and mandated liturgical texts. There is no authority for any "home-made," extemporaneous, trial or experimental liturgies. Yhe Church functions under the authority of Christ, and her clergy are under the authority of the hierarchs who hve been set as the arch-pastors over the flock of Christ. As in all other matters, the reverend clergy function under the authority mediated to them by the Patriarch of Antioch and All the East, through our Metropolitan Archbishop. The fasting rules, vestments of the clergy, clerical attire and other ceremonial details of the western rite are those of the dissident west in 1950. This date, it is to be noted, considerably precedes the invocations of the so-called second Vatican "council." In fact, the authorized western rite forms antedate even the earliest wave of changes instituted in the West in the mid-and late 1950s. The Western Rite Edict, and the resultant and subsidiary Commission and Vicariate which oversees the rite, regulate a full-spectrum of the worship and life of the Church. The daily offices are divided between the Brevarium Monasticum and the English Office Book. The official hymnal of the rite is Hymns Ancient and Modern, and the Hymnal 1940 is authorised, in large part, for use. The Sanctorale calendar of the western rite is the Roman Marturology, with any post- schismatic heretical "saints" and feasts expunged. The western rite uses the common Orthodox date for Holy Easter, and the Temporale Calendar is based on that date. The Western Rite Vicariate publishes and annual ORDO delineating the feasts, fasting rules, and regulations regarding the Calendar and similar related matters. Because Liturgy is a living thing, organically connected to culture and the daily life of Christians, there is some minor development and change from time to time in the manner and way the ceremonies [not the texts] of the Liturgy are carried out. The ceremonial actions are determined in large part by which of the two western rites are being used. In the case of St. Augustine's Church, where the Gregorian Rite (the oldest Liturgy of the Orthodox Church) is utilised, the authoritive source for our ceremonial is the exhaustive work of eminent ceremonialists Adrian & Fortecue and the Revd J.B. O'Connell, S.J. in their monumental work, The Ceremonies of the Roman Rite Described ninth and previous editions). Those parishes which use the rite of St. Tikhon receive ceremonial direction from Ritual Notes (eleventh and previous editions) which is and resource based almost entirely on the seminal work of Fortescue and O'Connell. In some cases, more recent editions of each book may also prove to be useful, but the older editions are always better sources for specific ceremonial directions. The clergy are required and morally bound to follow these authorities in their parishe ceremonial. The are not authorised to "male it up as they go along." Pastors may be forced to adapt and modify the directions of ceremonial authorities, because of local circumstances and church design, but the authoritive guides are always followed as closely as possible. Certainly no modification of ceremonial in a modern and contemporary direction is ever to undertaken. Orthodox Christians are "maximalists" not "minimalists" (as the modernists are called). The worship of the God of Glory should never be mean, common, nor mundane but rather, ordered and authorised, always beautiful and splendid, raising our hearts and souls to Heaven. Fair Use Notice: This web site may contain copyrighted material the use of which may not always have been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available in our efforts to advance understanding of political, human, religious, and social issues. We believe this constitutes a 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. 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