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This part I from a talk by Father General at the 2003 Path to Rome International Conference in Vienna, Austria explaining the Eastern and Western rites of the Roman Catholic Church. The Eastern-rite Catholics are not the same as the Orthodox churches, for the latter are not in union with Rome. Miles Jesu practices both the Eastern and Western rite.
Both the Latin Church and the Eastern Church are the Roman Church. One is Latin. One is Greek. Both are Roman. Why? Because Peter and his successors chose Rome to be their seat of teaching. Some people get confused, and say, “The Romans and the Greeks.” It is not a division between the Romans and the Greeks. The division is between the Roman Latins and the Roman Greeks but all of us are Romans, all of us under one pope.
The Latin rite Mass is called Mass because it finishes with the words, “the Mass is ended,” (ite, missa est, which means “Go, you are sent forth”) but the Byzantine or Greek rite Mass is called “liturgy.” Both are liturgies but the Greek Mass is called the Divine Liturgy.
Both Liturgies have the same essential elements: offertory, consecration and communion. These are the essential elements needed to have a truly valid Mass. But besides these, there are many other elements that look different but are the same. You can see our vestments, some of us are wearing Byzantine vestments, and some are wearing Latin vestments.
In both Liturgies the Creed is recited. The Creed is always recited in the Byzantine Liturgy. In the Latin Mass, it is only recited on all Sundays and solemnities.
The “Our Father” is said in both Liturgies after the consecration.
The consecration of the Latin Mass is normally spoken; in the Byzantine Liturgy it is sung, with a solemn Alleluia also sung immediately after the consecration of the bread and then again after that of the wine.
Before the Liturgy, the bells of the church are rung. This is done in the Latin Church and in the Byzantine Church. In the Latin Church bells are rung at the consecration. In the Byzantine Church, the priest strikes a discus (paten) with an ornamental star four times, with three taps each time. It is a metallic sign that the most important part of the Liturgy is coming: the consecration.
I am bi-ritual because i am the General Director of Miles Jesu. I have the right given to me by the Holy See of saying both the Latin Mass and the Byzantine Liturgy. The other priests who concelebrate with me, because of the fact that they are concelebrating with me, are allowed to concelebrate in the Byzantine rite.
The Byzantine rite has great respect for and continually invokes the Most Holy Trinity. Also, the Byzantine rite has a great respect and continually calls upon the Blessed Mother. The Holy Father is mentioned only once in the Latin Mass. In the Byzantine Liturgy we mention the name of the pope three times.
This Byzantine Liturgy was instituted by none less than St. Basil and St. John Chrysostom in the Fourth Century, so it is very ancient.
This is the second part of the talk. Here Father General takes up the topic of the Orthodox churches, which are not in union with Rome. Please note that the terms “Eastern” and “Byzantine” refer to Roman Catholics of the Eastern Rites and are used interchangeably.
Some people still have some misgivings. They try to convert the Byzantine Catholics to the Latin Mass. That is wrong. They don’t need to be converted because they are Catholic, whether Byzantine or Latin. The Holy Father is continually telling us to explain these two Liturgies and their history.
This is why during every Path to Rome convention we have a celebration of the Byzantine Liturgy.
The Holy Father is crying and praying that one day there will be unity between the Orthodox and Roman Catholic Churches, whether they are of the Latin rite or the Byzantine rite.
In Ukraine alone, about a thousand priests and five bishops have joined the Catholic Church from the Orthodox. I visited the Byzantine Rite Catholic bishop of the capital of Ukraine about two years ago and he told me that he had 40 Orthodox priests that were applying to become Catholics.
But don’t think the Catholic Church accepts people easily. No, the Church has conditions. The Church knows that some of those bishops in the Orthodox church are not true bishops because they were not validly consecrated. In most cases, the priests who become Catholics are actually ordained again, conditionally.
Let’s see if we can develop understanding, if we can open our hearts and our minds and study more about these things so we can appreciate each other and love each other as true Christians and true followers of Christ and become true disciples of the Holy Father, the pope.
One thing that Catholics and Orthodox certainly do share is devotion to the Blessed Mother. There’s a great devotion to the Blessed Mother in the West, especially in Latin countries. In Spain alone, there are 50,000 different invocations to the Blessed Mother.
Some of you can see my beautiful crucifix. I bought it in Russia. In the Latin Church, the bishops wear a beautiful crucifix but in the Eastern Rite churches the priests wear a crucifix and the bishops wear a medallion with a picture of the Blessed Mother. This is one of so many signs of how much our brothers and sisters from the East love our Blessed Mother.
In the Protestant countries, like Germany, there is an aberration and they sometimes even attack the Blessed Mother. But the Catholics in Protestant countries have great devotion to the Blessed Mother. There’s a prophecy by Leo XIII that England’s Protestants and Catholics will visit the Shrine of Our Lady of Walsingham together, and that when more and more pilgrims go there, then England will return to the Catholic Church.
The Blessed Mother will bring about the reunion the Holy Father is waiting for.
It is very difficult because there are so many prejudices, but as the angel told our Blessed Mother there is nothing impossible for God.
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