Is Western Rite Truly Orthodox???

One look at the internet and you'll find various sites from Eastern Orthodox pundits; clergy and layperson alike, that will tell you a variety of opinions about Western Rite Orthodoxy.  Some of the opinions are very welcoming and expectant of great things regarding the potential of Western Rite Orthodox parishes to influence Western Christianity towards the fullness of the Faith, while others seem intent on dismissing the Western rite as groups of disaffected Anglicans and other Protestants simply applying a varnish of Orthodox appearance over a variety of Anglican/Episcopal or Roman Catholic liturgies.  I want to take this opportunity to speak a word of counsel to you regarding this controversy.

"Never, never, never let anyone tell you that in order to be Orthodox, you must also be eastern.  The West was Orthodox for a thousand years, and her venerable liturgy is far older than any of her heresies." ~St. John Maximovitch

It really is distressing to me that there are so many of these people who are from the Eastern Orthodox Churches who will simply dismiss Western Rite without the benefit of really knowing that much about it.  They assume that we are heretical because they view much that comes from the West with suspicion.  Some suspicion is good as it helps one avoid untruth, but unfounded suspicion is dangerous to the soul.  During World War II, some well-meaning but misguided Americans in rural towns met at bonfires and burned all of the books and publications they could find that were printed in German.  Exactly how many German copies of the Holy Bible that were actually burned, we have no idea. 

Misunderstanding breeds distrust, which in turn breeds contempt.  While some groups of Western Christians have at times tried to form their own congregations and have invariably implied that they are "orthodox" while having no ties to the Ancient Church, there are many more today that are truly part of the ancient, undivided Orthodox Church.  The Antiochian and the ROCOR affiliated parishes are making headway into an American Christian landscape that is littered with denominations that have succumbed to biblical, moral and social relativism.  The long-dormant fruits of false ecumenism are now being realized and are causing many to wander into the arms of the Orthodox Church.

But Eastern Orthodoxy is a far jump for many former protestants.  I can attest to the sublime beauty and sacredness of the Divine Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom.  I have experienced it and have loved it in my heart as a sacred "work of the people".  I can also see with a certain agreement that there are many who have the same desire to worship God in a way that is as profound and as sacred as that which the Eastern Liturgy proffers, but are minded towards an expression not unlike that of the Orthodox Christians in the West before the 1054 AD schism.  The Liturgy which we use at St. Nicholas of Myra is The Liturgy of St. Gregory, Our Father Amongst the Saints.  It is not a recent innovation, nor is it a modern liturgy that has been sanitized of errant protestant invention.  It is a pre-schism liturgy that has been restored and rendered in the English vernacular.  It is not as beautifully intricate as the liturgies of the East but it is simply beautiful.  The Western Church before the schism had an eye and an ear towards pragmatism and beautiful simplicity that can still be seen in the Western Orthodox liturgies of the Gregorian and the Sarum Missals.  We cannot simply discount the Western Church's contribution to the Orthodox Faith prior to the schism. 

The East cannot simply cover all of Western Orthodoxy with a blanket statement of suspicious dismissal and then say there is no Orthodoxy except Eastern Orthodoxy!   There is nothing lacking in our belief nor our liturgy.  In ROCOR and in the Antiochian jurisdictions that are in full communion with all of the other jurisdictions of Eastern Orthodoxy; here lies the question... if our own Eastern Prelates have sanctioned and blessed our liturgy and confirmed that we are of one Apostolic Faith... then why are there those in the East that would say differently?  What purpose would it serve to cause division where none actually exists?  This is a thought that I would offer to my Eastern brothers and sisters in the greatest of love.  We are amongst you who are of one Faith, one confession, and of one Church.  We have embraced the "Fullness of the Faith" back from a time that there was no need to insert the word Orthodox before the word Church.  When the Church was whole and undivided.  Remember that there was a time when Eastern Christians and Western Christians worshiped together; using the western liturgies in the west and the eastern liturgies in the east.  We were one Church before and we are becoming again.  Regard us with love as your brothers and sisters and co-laborers in the fields of the Lord's harvest.

With Much Love in Christ,

Fr. Benedict+

Rector, St. Nicholas of Myra Russian Orthodox Church
A Western Rite Parish of ROCOR
www.snmoc.org