Author: Stephen Brannen

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Western Rite Orthodox and the Roman Catholic Crisis

The Roman Catholic Church is currently in the midst of some very serious scandals. Voices from within that communion are calling it a crisis. Voices from outside that communion are also weighing in on what’s going on, but outsiders’ voices should always be more cautious. And we, as Orthodox Christians, are outsiders. The following advice, like many things that “ought to go without saying,” is something that probably needs to be stated clearly, for the record. Continue reading “Western Rite Orthodox and the Roman Catholic Crisis”

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The Tools of the Spiritual Craft

From Chapter 4 of the Rule of Saint Benedict:

First of all, love the Lord God with your whole heart, your whole soul and all your strength, and love your neighbor as yourself. Then the following: you are not to kill, not to commit adultery; you are not to steal nor to covet; you are not to bear false witness. You must honor everyone, and never do to another what you would not want done to yourself.

Renounce yourself in order to follow Christ; discipline your body; do not pamper yourself, but love fasting. You must relieve the lot of the poor, clothe the naked, visit the sick, and bury the dead. Go to help the troubled and console the sorrowing. Continue reading “The Tools of the Spiritual Craft”

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A Western Rite Album

As Western Rite churches and organizations continue to build up resources, one that deserves more attention is an album of choral music recorded by St. Patrick Orthodox Church in Bealeton, VA. This album’s the first of its kind (that I know of), providing an actual example of what a good Western Rite Orthodox choir can sound like. Scores and hymnals are well and good, but here in this recording is what the music sounds like, what it’s meant to be.

Continue reading “A Western Rite Album”

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A Rood Awakening

Typical rood screen with solid bottom, open arches, a beam up top, and a Crucifix flanked by St. Mary and St. John

A major architectural feature of many medieval churches across Europe was the rood screen. “Rood” (from Old English, rōde) means “cross” or “crucifix,” and a rood screen is a partition, usually solid to about waist-high with open tracery above, atop which is a large cross or crucifix, that delineated the nave from the quire and Altar. The immediate visual impact of seeing a screen between the nave and the Altar will be one of familiarity to Orthodox of the Eastern Rite.

Continue reading “A Rood Awakening”
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“Elijah in Horeb,” by John Keble

[July 20 – Saint Elijah the Prophet]

And after the earthquake a fire; but the Lord was not in the 
fire: and after the fire a still small voice.  1 KINGS xix. 12.

IN troublous days of anguish and rebuke,
While sadly round them Israel’s children look,
And their eyes fail for waiting on their Lord:
While underneath each awful arch of green,
On every mountain-top, God’s chosen scene
Of pure heart-worship, Baal is ador’d: Continue reading ““Elijah in Horeb,” by John Keble”

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Relating to Orthodox of a Different Rite

How should Eastern Rite Orthodox faithful relate to Western Rite Orthodox faithful, and vice versa? In terms of faith, doctrine, and theology, all Orthodox are (or at least ought to be) the same. But in the outward expressions of that faith–in prayers and postures and pictures–how uniform should we expect to be? And if we allow for legitimate differences of practice within the Church, how should those of one tradition communicate with, commune with, and otherwise relate to those of a different tradition? Continue reading “Relating to Orthodox of a Different Rite”

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St. Ephrem and the Tangled Battle of Sin and Repentance

As I was growing up (as a Baptist), I was taught that because of my own free will, I was responsible for my sins, and that these sins separated me from God. Though I could never do anything to fix my sins or carry myself back across the chasm I’d put between myself and God, Jesus, through means I could never articulate, has bridged the gap between myself and God and put away all my sins. All I had to do to accept this gift was to ask that Jesus apply it to me; through a sincere, contrite prayer offered to Jesus, I had only to ask once that he forgive me of my sins and live in me, so as to assure my salvation forever. Continue reading “St. Ephrem and the Tangled Battle of Sin and Repentance”

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Suicide and the Light of The Angelus

In the wake of some shocking statistics recently released by the CDC that more Americans die by suicide than in automobile accidents, and also of two very high profile celebrity suicides, and with the knowledge that people in my immediate sphere of friends are affected by this darkness, I’ve been contemplating the nature of this evil that affects–of all the animals on this planet–only humans. This darkness clouds the mind from the truths about ourselves, the world, and life in God that are otherwise perceived in the light of reality. But I believe that The Angelus, a devotion long used in the West to mark morning, noon, and evening, can be a powerful reminder of reality and a destroyer of this particular shadow. Continue reading “Suicide and the Light of The Angelus”

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The Glory of that Perfect Rest

In the Western Rite there’s room for what may be termed ‘paraliturgical’ hymns in our services. These are hymns or anthems or carols that are not prescribed as part of the official liturgical texts (as is the case for the Ordinary and Propers of the Mass), but rather serve to accompany actions like processions or the distribution of Communion, etc. And because these hymns are not part of the prescribed texts, there is some latitude that can be exercised regarding their source. The rules governing what songs can be used are not dogmatical, but they are very sensical. In a word, the Orthodox phronema is employed to choose.

I’ll return to the broader theme of hymnody in the Western Rite in the future, but at present I’d like to briefly introduce a set of general criteria for appropriate hymnody, and provide an example of a hymn that I think meets these criteria, a hymn especially appropriate both for the Feast of the Holy Name and for the Feast of the Ascension. Continue reading “The Glory of that Perfect Rest”