“The light of Orthodoxy is not lit for a small circle of people. No, the Orthodox Faith is Catholic; it is a commandment of its founder, ‘Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature’ Mark16:15. It is our obligation, therefore, to share our spiritual treasure, our truth, our light and our joy with those who do not have these gifts.” These are the words of Saint Tikhon, in his ‘Farewell Address’ to America at the beginning of the 20th century, where he had served as both Archbishop and evangeliser. He later became Patriarch of Moscow.
From the earliest beginnings of the Christian Church there were divergences in the manner in which the Eucharist was celebrated in the various regional Churches. There has always been a variety of local traditions, racial temperaments, historic development and language. It was inevitable that varying types of Eucharistic prayers should emerge. The unity of the Church of Christ did not ever require uniformity in the celebration of the Eucharistic Sacrifice.
In the first centuries of Christianity a family of Eastern Rites evolved in the Middle East and in what later became Byzantium, Russia and the countries of Eastern Europe. Similarly, a family of Western Rites arose in Europe, Britain, and parts of North Africa. These Western Rites came originally from Antioch. Both liturgical families developed under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. The same faith was fully expressed in each Rite. Before the Great Schism, clergy concelebrated in each other’s lands. Orthodoxy meant ‘right worship’ and ‘right belief’. Unity in diversity was a part of the Church’s witness. Even today there are variations between forms of the Eastern Liturgy, for example between Greek and Russian and between the Russian ‘Old Rite’ and ‘New Rite’, etc.
The Celtic Church, by about A.D. 400-500 had its own distinct Liturgy. Today a number of geographical versions exist of that Liturgy from the first Millennium. All are local versions of the basic Gallican Liturgy, a Liturgy that was distinct from the Roman Liturgy and the Eastern Liturgies, but having strong elements from the latter.
A brief examination of the geography of the Celtic Church is helpful in discovering the roots of its Liturgies. There seems to be evidence that early Christians in England came from the East, possibly from Galatia. The Galatians were Celts and the Celtic tribal chain extended in an arc from Galatia through Southern Poland and Brittany to England, Scotland, Cornwall and Wales. So there was trade, intermarriage and cultural exchange along this arc.
Following the decisions of the Synod of Whitby (664) Roman usage was introduced into southern England and the Midlands. Scotland, Wales and Ireland seemed able to retain their Celtic-Anglo-Saxon forms of worship, as did Sherborne Abbey in the West of England. These Celtic liturgical customs were gathered into a local variant which eventually became known as the ‘Sarum Liturgy’. (Sarum being Latin for Salisbury). The Sarum Liturgy was first used in Salisbury Cathedral.
We may conclude that the Sarum Liturgy developed as the predominant Liturgy of the British after the Great Schism, it was however, essentially a pre-schism Liturgy. The Western Rite Liturgy used by the Antiochian Church today contains much wording from the Sarum Liturgy.
One person of particular interest from the pre-schism English Church is a Greek known as Theodore of Tarsus (602-690). He became Archbishop of Canterbury and during his time the English Churches were ablaze with Greek Iconography. The Iconastsis was called a ‘rood screen’ meaning ‘cross screen’. The Sarum Rite prescribed the reception of communion at the Royal Doors underneath the ‘Rood’ or ‘Cross’, which was above them. Many English Churches have retained this form of architecture until now.
In the mid- nineteenth century there were efforts to bring Western Christians back into the Orthodox fold via the Western Rite. In 1870 the Holy Synod of Moscow established a permanent commission to examine the rites of Western Christianity for ex-Roman Catholics and Anglicans/Episcopalians. In 1904 Archbishop Tikhon of North America (subsequently Patriarch of Moscow and now a canonized saint), who was a man of immense spiritual gifts and who possessed a great missionary heart, asked this commission to examine the American edition of the Book of Common Prayer used by Episcopalians. After corrections to bring it into conformity with the Orthodox Faith, the Holy Synod gave approval for its use. Corrections included the insertion of Orthodox prayers at the epiclesis, prayers addressed to the Mother of God, to Angels and the Saints and prayers for the dead. This corrected Eucharistic Liturgy is now known as the ‘Rite of St. Tikhon’. This is what we use at St. Cuthbert’s.
In another part of the world, in the 1920’s, former Roman Catholic parishes in Poland were received into the Russian Orthodox Church. They were permitted to use the Gregorian Western Rite (named after the 7th century Orthodox saint and Bishop of Rome, Saint Gregory the Great).
An important date for Christians belonging to the Church of Antioch is 1958 when approval was given from Patriarch Alexander 111 of Antioch for the use of the Western Rite in North America. Both the Rite of St. Tikhon and the Gregorian Rite have been included in the Western Rite Prayer Book of the Antiochian Church.
Tags: Western Rite
