Bright Sadness

Slowly, reluctantly, in a world where there is already so much suffering and sacrifice, especially in Ukraine at the moment, the fast of Great Lent this year has approached not without some dread perhaps. But in dread of what we shall give up we must not overlook what we gain: Lent is a time of such splendid and diverse liturgical riches--the Canon of St. Andrew, the Akathist hymn, the life of St. Mary of Egypt, the prayer of St. Ephraim the Syrian, and crowning it all the Pre-Sanctified Liturgy.

As we begin to think on our forty days in the desert, I draw your attention to something I wrote three years ago about making fasting perhaps a bit more practicable in our own day. 

I also reprint something I wrote on here more than five years ago now, offering some very rich readings as we prepare for, and then enter into, the mystery of the Lord's passover. 

Perhaps my favourite of his Alexander Schmemann's books, which every year I re-read at this time, is Great Lent: Journey to Pascha (SVS Press, 1974), 140pp.

This book, I think, is Schmemann at his best: serious but light, indeed lyrical; never letting the season of penitence and the tears of sorrow overwhelm the joy of knowing that Christ's Pascha has already happened, that death has been defeated, and that life will be given to those in the tombs.

One year I read the above work with his then just-released Journals of Father Alexander Schmemann, 1973-1983, and you can see in these latter reflections how much he loved the Lenten season and how he could, in spite of it all, never fail to see that Pascha really does stand at the heart of everything.

There are other books that come to mind here as well: Frederica Mathewes-Greene, First Fruits of Prayer: A Forty Day Journey Through the Canon of St. Andrew (Paraclete Press, 2006, 195pp.).

If you are not celebrating the Penitential Canon of St. Andrew of Crete in your parish, or cannot attend, then her little book is a good way of reading a short passage from the canon for each of the forty days. 

Lev Gillet's book The Year of Grace of the Lord: A Scriptural and Liturgical Commentary on the Calendar of the Orthodox Church also has much good food for thought in meditating on the liturgical cycle of Lent, and in offering practical recommendations for askesis in addition to the customary fasting.

Equally edifying is the little book by the prolific pastoral theologian and Orthodox priest William Mills: The Prayer of St. Ephrem: A Biblical Commentary, on which I commented previously, and whose author I have interviewed several times about his other books.

Similarly, this splendid CD is a wonderful resource if you are on the road a lot or sitting at your desk: Have Mercy on Me, O God: The Great Canon of St. Andrew of Crete (Schola Cantorum of St. Peter the Apostle). Under the expert direction of J. Michael Thompson, this schola's rendering of the canon is sublime. I received from Thompson a version of the Liturgy of the Pre-Sanctified gifts performed by the Schola under his direction. I have to confess that its lovely prostopinije setting has forced me to reconsider a chant system I had previously considered a poor cousin to the Galician and Kyivan. (This latter CD is available from the Sisters of St. Basil in Uniontown, PA.)

For those who want a serious scholarly understanding of the liturgical heart of Lent as it were, the Pre-Sanctified Liturgy, see Stefanos Alexoupolos, The Pre-Sanctified Liturgy in the Byzantine Rite: a Comparative Analysis of its Origins, Evolution, and Structural Components (Peeters, 2009), xvi+355pp. 

In his expert review of Alexoupolos in Logos: A Journal of Eastern Christian Studies, the Byzantine liturgical scholar Peter Galadza lauded his book and said that his work is sure to become the scholarly standard for years to come.

Eastern Christian Liturgies Re-Introduced

Liturgical Press just sent me their most recent catalogue, and in it I spy a compendium by two leading liturgical scholars that looks like it will be very valuable to many upon its publication at year's end: Introduction to Eastern Christian Liturgies by Maxwell E. Johnson and Stefanos Alexopoulos (Liturgical Press, December 2021), 480pp. About this book the publisher tells us this:

In Introduction to Eastern Christian Liturgies, renowned liturgical scholars Stefanos Alexopoulos and Maxwell E. Johnson fulfill the need for a new, comprehensive, and straightforward survey of the liturgical life of the Eastern Christian Churches within the seven distinct liturgical Eastern rites still in existence today: Armenian, Byzantine, Coptic, Ethiopic, East Syrian, West Syrian, and Maronite. This topical overview covers baptism, chrismation, Eucharist, reconciliation, anointing, marriage, holy orders, burial, Liturgy of the Hours, the liturgical year, liturgical ethos and spirituality, and offers a brief yet comprehensive bibliography for further study. This book will be of special interest to masters-level students in liturgy and theology, pastoral ministers seeking an introduction to the liturgies of the Christian East, and all who seek to increase their knowledge of the liturgical riches of the Christian East.

Liturgies East and West

Liturgical scholars will tell you that it has become a commonplace--especially for those influenced by the Baumstark-Mateos-Taft school of liturgical history--that liturgy today can only be studied comparatively. A recent academic symposium did just that, and was recently published: Hans Jurgen Feulner, ed. Liturgies in East and West. Ecumenical Relevance of Early Liturgical Development: Acts of the International Symposium Vindobonense I (Lit Verlag, 2013), 352pp.

This book contains many articles of interest to Eastern Christians, including one from the Greek Orthodox scholar Stefanos Alexopolous (author of the definitive work on the pre-sanctified liturgy), “Accepting Adult Converts in the Orthodox Church: Theory and Practice.”

About this book the publisher further tells us:

The celebration of the liturgy is central to the life of faith and also for the self-understanding of the various churches in the East and West. An amazing convergence of Christian denominations has taken place in the area of liturgy and liturgical studies since the Second Vatican Council, entering also into the practice of liturgical celebration. In this collection - with contributions from a symposium held in Vienna in November 2007 - internationally recognized scholars from various Christian denominations present the ecumenical contributions and the Jewish roots of the Christian liturgy. [PLEASE NOTE: The individual essays in this volume are written in various languages. The book contains ten essays in English, eight in German, and two in French.] (Series: Austrian Studies of Liturgy and Sacramental Theology / Osterreichische Studien zur Liturgiewissenschaft und Sakramententheologie - Vol. 6)

Honoring Maxwell Johnson

The University of Notre Dame is noteworthy in many respects but it is especially its doctoral program in liturgical studies that enjoys a stellar scholarly reputation, and for good reason. People like Maxwell Johnson, whose previous books I have noted here and here, lead the field today and enjoy wide respect. It is no surprise, then, that his colleagues, friends, and students have collaborated on a new book being released this month, A Living Tradition: On the Intersection of Liturgical History and Pastoral Practice (Liturgical Press, 2012), 192pp.

About this book the publisher tells us:

Maxwell Johnson has made a multiple contributions to our understanding of liturgical history and liturgical theology. This volume honors his work by offering a set of important essays by respected scholars that bridge the distance between scholarship and praxis, to be accessible and relevant to both pastoral ministers and academic theologians. It is organized according to three categories: liturgical year, Christian initiation, and Eucharist. Within these categories, the contributors are especially attentive to three important aspects of liturgical history: the role that important figures in liturgical history played as liturgical pastors; how liturgical history has been used in shaping contemporary liturgical rites and prayers; how liturgical history informs contemporary understandings and beliefs. Ultimately, the book pays tribute to Johnson s contributions to the life of the church by exploring ways that the study of liturgical history might help the church remain faithful to God and to the sacramental worldview that continues to define and characterize classic Christianity.

There are numerous Eastern Christian contributors or articles from people with specialization in Eastern Christian liturgics--Byzantine and Armenian especially. These include Stefanos Alexopoulos (whose book on the Byzantine Pre-Sanctified Liturgy is, according to Peter Galadza, the scholarly standard of our time), Nicholas V. Russo, Bryan D. Spinks, Robert F. Taft, and Gabriele Winkler.