Western Rite Liturgies

       The Liturgy and its rites were given orally to the earliest churches by the Apostles.  In his First Letter to the Corinthians (12:23), St. Paul asserts that our Lord Jesus himself passed the liturgical tradition to the Apostles.

                                         The Last Supper

       According to the Reverend Father A. Iskander of the Coptic Orthodox Church, the Liturgy was written down only after heresies began to appear in the Church.  St. John Chrysostom informs us that the first written liturgy was inscribed in Greek by St. Mark the Apostle.  He is traditionally credited with bringing Christianity to Egypt about the mid-First Century.  This Divine Liturgy according to St. Mark is the oldest known liturgy in Christendom.

      The following liturgies are used in Western Rite Orthodox praxis.  In North American use, the two most common are the Divine Liturgy according to the Rite of St. Gregory the Great (of Roman origin) and the Divine Liturgy according to the Rite of St. Tikhon (of Gregorian heritage and Anglican and Russian development).

X  The Divine Liturgy according to the Rite of St. Hippolytus, 215 A.D.

       The earliest known liturgy of the Church of Rome in the West is the Liturgy of St. Hippolytus.  Most scholars agree that it probably originated in Egypt and was imported to Rome by Hippolytus, who was then an Alexandrian Priest.  It has been reconstructed for contemporary use from ancient fragments and extant ecclesiastical documents.

X   The Divine Liturgy according to the Rite of St. Gregory the Great, 483 A.D.

       The Fifth Century Liturgy of St. Gregory the Great came into common use in the Western Church during the Sixth Century.  It contained marked differences from the older liturgies previously in Roman use.  It appears that scholars have concluded that the Gregorian Liturgy is, by its similarities, closely related to the earlier Alexandrian Liturgy, the First Century Liturgy of St. Mark.

X The Divine Liturgy according to the Rite of St. Germanus of Paris, c. 6th Century A.D.

      As the Church expanded in the West, Gallican Liturgy appeared.  It is attributed to St. Germanus of Paris (496 - 576 A.D.), attested by his own letter published by Martene in Thesaurus Novus Anecdatorum.  The English version was compiled by + Jean Kovalevsky, Bishop of St. Denis, Catholic Orthodox Church of France.

X    The Divine Liturgy according to the Celtic Rite of the Lorrha (Stowe) Missal, c 7th - 9th Centuries A.D.

      This Liturgy in English is a contemporary translation by Kristopher Dowling, SSB from "Latin and Gaelic Missals transcribed at the Lorrha Monastery during the Ninth Century.  According to the translator's notes,"The Liturgy reflects true Celtic usage, dating prior to 650 A.D., in an era (in Europe) when Christianity was neither universal nor fully understood".?

X   The Divine Liturgy of St. Peter the Apostle, called the Sarum Use, of the Salisbury Cathedral, Wiltshire, England, c. 11th - 12th Centuries A.D.

      The Sarum Use is of Gregorian heritage.? The term "Sarum" is the abbreviation of Sarisburnium, Latin word for Salisbury, according to the Reverend Canon Professor J. Robert Wright in an article on "The Sarum Use", printed in the Anglican Society Magazine.  Only very slowly was it adopted throughout the Church in medieval England, Wales, Ireland, and Scotland.  It is now attributed to the instrumental efforts of Bishop + Richard le Poore, Dean of Salisbury 11-98 - 1215, then Bishop of the Diocese from 1215 - 1228 A.D.? The earliest written record of it comes from the Bishop's Consuetudinary or Liber Ordinarius (book containing the rites and services) which is dated prior to 1220.  However, a "Sarum Ordinal" already existed in Bishop + le Poore's time.  "More sources survive for the Use of Sarum than for all other medieval English rites..." (Wright).            

X     The Divine Liturgy according to the Glastonbury Rite of St. Joseph of Arimathea, c. 1950 A,D, (a reconstructed neo-Gallican Rite).

       According to Metropolitan + GREGORIUS of Glastonbury, England, of the Orthodox Church of the British Isles, in its reconstruction, "The Glastonbury Rite follows the ancient (6th - 10th Centuries) Gallican traditions and usages that were universal in the West prior to the Schism (1054 A.D.)".  As a matter of clarification and historical accuracy, he notes:? "The various Gallican Rites (Gallican proper in Gaul), Gothic in Western Germany, Ambrosian in Northern Italy, Mozarabic in Spain, and Celtic in the British Isles, stood midway between the Roman and the Byzantine Rites, which gave then an oecumenical character".

X     The Divine Liturgy according to the Rite of St. Tikhon, c. 1904 - 1928 A.D.

       In his published article, "Western Rite Orthodoxy:  Light from the East - Joy in the West", the Reverend Father Nicholas Alford discusses the restoration of the Western Rite within Orthodoxy and explains the development of the Rite of St. Tikhon.  "In 1904 Archbishop Tikhon Belavin (now revered as St. Tikhon) asked the Synod (Holy Synod of Moscow) to examine the American edition of the Book of Common Prayer, used by Episcopalians."  Following Synodical review and the preparation of a corrections list, additions and deletions, to bring the liturgy into conformity with the Orthodox Faith, the Synod approved its use. Essentially it is the liturgy of the Book of Common Prayer, 1928 Edition, with the filioque removed from the Creed and the addition of a clear Epiclesis".