Reading does not equal expert...especially in the spiritual life

In our democratic society, everyone can claim to be an expert simply because they read something once on the subject.  I have no objection people to reading and becoming informed but to claim expert status in debate because of something they once read is laughable.  A humorous instance of this same phenomenon occurred fairly recently when Barack Obama said he knew more about Judaism than any other President because he has read about it.  If you  missed this story, you can read about it here.

Now, I'm a fairly well read person.  What am I an expert on?  Well, I teach Greek and Latin so I can say those areas with confidence.  I'm also an expert in Late Antiquity as that was the area of my post-graduate work, concentrating on the Latin West, though recently my emphases have shifted to the Greek East and the Eastern Roman Empire up to its fall.  But, I am no expert on the Eastern (Byzantine) Empire.  I wouldn't claim to be.  I can hold a rational discussion on the subject.  I have also read a lot about economics, even took a few classes in my college years and I probably know more about it than most journalists who write about the "debt crisis" in Europe and here, but I will not claim expert status.

Where am I going with this?  When I was received and chrismated into the Orthodox Church, I went through the catechism classes with my priest.  During that time I read a lot.  I'm a natural reader anyway so it wasn't a big deal.  I'm pretty sure that I also read more than most other catechumens do, but that's just the kind of person I am.  My priest was always recommending books to the people in the class.  Even when I attended a few of the catechism classes years later just to get a "refresher" my priest was still always recommending books to read and directing me, as bookstore manager, to make sure that we had these books available for purchase.  Rarely, if ever, did I ever hear my priest encourage catechumens to come and pray at Vespers or Orthros.  They came for Liturgy, which is important, but as my priest has told me in private conversation, people would know their faith so much better and practice it so much better if they would also come to Vespers and Orthros. Why he rarely brought this up I do not know.  Maybe he was afraid that it would appear as if he was "forcing them to go."  Again, I don't know.

When I'm invited to gatherings of parishioners, most of whom are about my age and are converts, we inevitably talk about the Orthodox Faith.  I suppose that's the zealousness which still lurks in us when we were catechumens and remains even after we were chrismated. That discussion usually centers around what books have been recently read or what podcasts have been listened to.  My thoughts are, "OK, you have this knowledge. Now what are you going to do with it?"  I can only imagine what would be the response if I actually posed that question?  "What are you going to do with this knowledge that you have acquired from this book?"

Such a question leads me back to something I have asked before on this blog: Is it more important to understand the Liturgy or to live the Liturgy?  I think most people would agree with me that it is the latter--to live the liturgy.  But, of course, detractors would say "How can you live the liturgy when you understand" which is new rendition of the old medieval contention:  Do I believe to understand (credo ut intellegam) which represents the Augustinian view or do I understand to believe (intellego ut creadam) which represents the Abelard view? 

I know people who can dissect the entire Liturgy and get into the Scriptural basis for each of the prayers or the historicity of them, but then they confess that they can never truly pray or they have difficulty doing so.  Many of these same people have been coming to Liturgy for a great while and still need the pew books to help them through the sequence.  They've got the Liturgy in their head, but it seems to be making a slow journey to the heart.

Don't get me wrong: I have no objections to people reading about the Orthodox faith.  But you can only truly know the Orthodox faith by experiencing it and living it and that starts by praying it.  I think we do a great disservice, especially for our catechumens, by systematizing the theology of the Orthodox church into book form and hoping that the prayer aspect will naturally take care of itself.  They may be great readers of Orthodoxy, but you hardly see them at Liturgy let alone the offices of Vespers or Orthros. I honestly have no idea how other priests do catechesis so my observations may be an anomaly.  What is the goal of catechesis then?  Is it to produce Orthodox experts or Orthodox faithful?  Should we know the whys and whens of the pronouncement, "Let us commend ourselves and each other and all our life unto Christ our God" or should we actually do that?  I know that Orthodoxy is supposed to be a both/and phenomenon, but I think in this case an either/or approach may be better.

The future of the Western Rite in the Orthodox Church

A week ago I had a brief conversation with a friend of mine who is a catechumen at our sister church here in Omaha, St. Vincent of Lerins. St. Vincent is a Western Rite Parish of the Antiochian Archdiocese. Before, I get into what the conversation was about, let me give some background on the Western Rite.

Currently, only two jurisdictions in this country have Western Rite Vicariates, the Antiochians and the ROCOR (Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia). Most Orthodox Christians worship according to the Eastern Rite, which revolves around the Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom. Western Rite Orthodox Christians use either the Rite of St. Gregory the Great or that of St. Tikhon. The latter was an emended form of the Rites used in Anglican Churches. St. Tikhon saw nothing unorthodox about it but made some changes, most especially in the canon, and it was pronounced Orthodox. Thus, many Roman Catholics as well as High Church Episcopalians and Lutherans will find that the Order of Service for a Western Rite Orthodox Church is very familiar to their own rites.

The Western Rite is not without controversy. As I said, only two jurisdictions here in America (and probably for the world) offer the Western Rite. There are many, both cradle and convert, both layperson and clergy who feel that the Eastern Rite is the only Rite for Orthodox Christians. Some say that Western Rite Orthodox Christians have yet to embrace the fullness of the faith and the church. I shake my head at such accusations. We must remember that there were a number of "competing" liturgies even in the Byzantine Empire. It was not until the 8th century where the Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom was made the "usual" practice thus sidelining the Liturgy of St. Basil the Great, which is now used only about 10 times a year. We must also remember that the West (as a whole) was Orthodox until about the 10th century when diversions from the true faith such as the filioque, azymes, different baptismal practices and the doctrine of papal infallibility would cause schism later. Nonetheless, the Western Rite, developed long before these innovations came into practice is Orthodox, in its theology, in its prayer. Granted, those innovations I mentioned crept into the prayers but those, for a modern Western Rite, can be easily excised.

That is not to say that I am all keen on the Western Rite. For instance, some ceremonies and feasts have been retained that lead not only to split between east and west, but also to the Reformation. The feasts of the sacred heart, the immaculate conception, corpus Christi have been retained and these are problematic.

Now, back to my conversation. My friend is an Orthodox catechumen. He was enrolled as a catechumen at St. Vincent of Lerins. Catechumens are required to go through an exhaustive preparation before they are received into the Church. This is done for their benefit. It is all the craze now to go "church shopping." The catechumenate exists so as to eliminate any doubt that this is just a passing thought in his/her mind. Anyway, as preparation, catechumens go to classes, attend the Liturgies and as many other services as they can to accustom themselves to the lex orandi, lex credendi of Holy Orthodoxy, and also read a lot of books. These catechumens are reading Bishop HILARION's (now Metropolitan) book "The Mystery of Faith." It is an excellent book, but like all books on the faith of the Eastern Orthodox, it relates the faith through the Liturgy of the Eastern Rite exclusively.

The Liturgy is our great teacher. It is not something we dispense with simply to go with something more hip and more "relevant." It is our great teacher and has been for a long time. The problem is that with all the books out there about the Eastern Orthodox faith, they all reference our faith through the lens of the Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom or Basil the Great. This poses a problem for our Western Rite catechumens who, desiring to learn the faith and process it and make it part of thesmeslves, cannot make connections between what they read and what they experience in the Western Rite.

Thus, there is a great need for books to be published on how the Orthodox faith can be grasped and apprehended through the Western Rite just as through the Eastern Rite. Sadly, nothing as yet exists. And, if there is no remedy, I fear that the Western Rite for Orthodox may disappear altogether. And that should not be allowed to happen.

As for my friend, he has decided to complete his catechumenate at St. Mary which uses the Eastern Rite. He was originally to be chrismated at Pentecost, a few short weeks away, but now his chrismation and his entry into the church will be delayed for a little longer. He has decided upon this course because, whether rightly or wrongly, he experiences the fullness of the faith only in the Eastern Rite. The lack of adequate reading materials to help him and others complete his journey in the Western Rite needs to be given great attention.

At the same time, I feel that this is not an isolated case. Western Rite parishes are very hard to start up and maintain here in America. And many Western Rite parishioners have come over to Eastern Rite churches because they feel that the Eastern Rite is, to them, "more Orthodox," whatever that may mean. It would be a great shame and sadness if the Western Rite were to disappear. I hope someone would take it upon himself or herself to write about how the Western Rite Liturgy is just as Orthodox as the Eastern Rite; to demonstrate how the Western Rite reflects and practices Orthodox spirituality through its Liturgy. That needs to happen sooner rather than later.