AA WR uses 1950s Roman Catholic Fasting Rules
The fasting rules, vestments of the clergy, clerical attire and other ceremonial details of the western rite are those of the dissident west in 1950. This date, it is to be noted, considerably precedes the invocations of the so-called second Vatican “council.” In fact, the authorized western rite forms antedate even the earliest wave of changes instituted in the West in the mid-and late 1950s. – St. Nicholas Antiochian Orthodox Church 1/16/2008
Note: 1950, besides being before Vatican II, and signifying a nostalgic cultural era in the hearts of many Roman Catholics, is the year the Pope Pius XII declared that the bodily Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary into heaven was the “infallible” dogma of the Roman Catholic Church.
Note also: The fasting rules of the pre-schism (i.e. Orthodox) West were notably more severe/devout than those used by Roman Catholics in 1950. Arguably, though, they are also moreso than those practiced today by many Orthodox members of large Antiochian churches.
5 Comments »
Leave a reply to asimplesinner Cancel reply
Moderation- An error has occurred; the feed is probably down. Try again later.
- Enthusiasm
- Orthodox Benedictine Monastery Receives Favorable Media Coverage
- Met. JONAH's Speech to the Anglican Church in North America
- Met. JONAH Renews St. Tikhon's Dialogue with Anglicans
- The Next Western Rite?
- The 140th Anniversary of Dr. J.J. Overbeck's Conversion Remembered
- Pope Shenouda III on Pentecost
- Pope St. Gregory the Great on Doubting Thomas
- Holy Saturday
- Good Friday, East and West
- OCA's Met. JONAH Acknowledges the Western Rite
Western Rite Critic 
I can say.
Jeanne there is no such rule. Why anyone would make something up so ridiculous (even misunderstanding seems hard to swallow) I cannot say.
Jeanne, in Holy Orthodoxy there can be no such thinking. Elsewhere, I cannot say.
We were discussing rules regarding Mass attendance. I remember my Mom saying that Grama should stay home instead of going out to Mass because you could not go to Mass after 64 without penalty of sin. Still true? Was this preVatican Two? Any help out there
Well, I hear you. Not being combative, but since you raise the point, I’ve never actually said I’m against a Western Rite. My own conclusions have to do with the concept, to wax rhetorical, of “the Western Rite” vs. “a western rite”. The former seems to be the cry of those who talk of converting to the WR, being WR, joining the WR, and it’s a fundamental confusion of liturgics with ecclesiology – imo, a heretical ecclesiology which, in the latest AA surge, has become institutionalized. In the latter concept, by contrast, that of “a western rite”, one converts to the Church, is Orthodox, and the rite is merely one of many that we use, like the liturgy of St. James. In the first type of thinking, you get deeply erroneous ideas and disturbing developments, which are even reflected in the official and semi-official pamphlets and materials coming out of the AA right now. And it becomes the coup de gras on many of the more questionable attitudes and practices that prevail. But in the latter, thinking, if done soberly, without haste, with deeper reflection, you get Orthodox people simply praying excellent prayers from the heart of the fathers of our Faith. More on this is coming in future posts. Keep reading, and your comments are always appreciated.
Even as a proponent of the Western Rite, I agree that this is a legitimate critique. Along with that of the sanctoral cycle and the calendar issue, also based on 1950’s Roman (and Anglo) Catholicism. ROCOR western rite parishes and monasteries DO use the Traditional (Julian) Calendar and use the older pre-schism Sarum use as the foundation for their texts.