Ruthenian Liturgy: An Historical-Theological Explanation

The Ruthenian Rite is the Slavonic version of Greek Catholicism brought to the Slavs in the ninth century by SS Cyril and Methodius. In America the Ruthenian Catholic Church is the Byzantine Metropolitan Church Sui Juris of Pittsburg U.S.A. In 2007, the English Liturgy then in use since 1970 was replaced by a revision much changed in language and music. While it contains a few excellent changes, such as substituting “Covenant” for “Testament” in the anaphora, overall the revision is deeply flawed.

For Ruthenians, the authoritative Slavonic liturgy is to be respected. Slavonic bohol’ubiv’im and Bohoródista ought to be normative, for instance, not Greek thesphilestatou and Theotokos. The trite and secularizing language imposed on the Divine Liturgy give it limited shelf life. Idiosyncratic new translations such as “Holy Gifts For Holy People” needlessly distance Ruthenian worship from the Orthodox. The music of authentic Slavonic chant was subjected to countless distracting musical changes. Centuries ago the Slavonic liturgy developed a vibrant tradition of paraliturgical hymnody, but it was inauthentic in 2007 to set liturgical texts to modern, non-liturgical melodies.