Instructions for applying the
liturgical prescriptions of the Code of Canons of the Eastern Churches: an
appraisal.
Dr Martin Thomas Antony
This is an important document published by the Holy See in
1996 where all the liturgical norms described in Orientalum Ecclesiarum,
the Second Vatican Council’s decree on the Eastern Churches are gathered
together systematically with further details presented to the Eastern Catholic
Churches.[1]
These instructions pose the following objectives.
1 To lead to a more profound understanding of the immense
richness of the authentic eastern traditions which are to be scrupulously
maintained and communicated to all the faithful.
2 To arrange the liturgical norms valid for all the Catholic
Eastern churches in an organic summary and to introduce recovery where
necessary of the eastern liturgical authenticity according to the tradition
which eastern church has inherited from the Apostles through the Church Fathers.
3 To exhort a permanent liturgical formation to be organised
on a solid basis for both the clergy- beginning with the seminarians and the
formation institutes- and the people of God through schools of mystagogical
catechesis.
4 To list the principles in common for the elaboration of
Liturgical directories for the individual churches sui iuris.
Through this, the Holy See is affirming the importance of
the richness of the Eastern Churches. Saint Pope John Paul II in his Apostolic
letter ‘Orientale Lumen’ states that the Christian East are the living interpreters
of the treasure of the tradition they preserve and they have a unique and
privileged role as the original setting where the Church was born[2].
II Vatican Council decree on ecumenism ‘Unitats
Reddintegratio’ states ‘everybody should realise that it is of supreme
importance to understand, venerate, preserve and foster the rich liturgical and
spiritual heritage of the eastern churches in order faithfully to preserve the
fullness of Christian tradition and to bring about reconciliation between
eastern and western Christians’[3].
The Holy See instructs all Eastern Catholics to carefully
examine the history of the traditions and parts which have been inappropriately
taken off in the course of time due to political and other reasons that should
be restored. The Holy See also confirms that retaining the original traditions
and spirituality is not a sign of stagnancy and backwardness but of precious
fidelity to the sources of salvation. The Holy see even goes on to exhort that
any attempts to distance the members of the Eastern Churches from their genuine
spirituality by inducing them to join another or favouring the acquisition of
forms of thought, spirituality and devotions that are not coherent with their
ecclesial heritage are condemnable.
The Holy See accepts the richness of the Holy traditions of
the Eastern Churches through various post-Vatican Council II documents. They
use the expressions like ‘inalienable value of the heritage’, ‘the shining traditions
that derived from the Apostles through the Fathers which constitutes part of
the divinely revealed undivided heritage of the Universal Church’, ‘variety of
manifestations of the faith leading to the fullness of the mysteries revealed’
and so on. The Universal Church respectfully observes that the Eastern Churches
have jealously retained the symbolic Biblical theology developed in the early
Church that is explained by the Church Fathers and thereby maintained a direct
continuity with the spiritual experience of the Christian origins.
Lumen Gentium declares that ‘by divine providence, whilst
safeguarding the unity of faith and the unique divine structure of the
Universal Church, the Eastern Catholic Churches enjoy their own liturgical
traditions, theological heritage, unique spirituality and their own discipline.
The Universal Church desires that these treasures should be flourished
and contribute more efficiently to the evangelisation of the World. Orientum Ecclesiarum
and other post-conciliar documents exhort that the members of the Eastern
Churches have the right and duty to preserve, know and live in their
traditions. The Holy See also instructs that it is the duty and obligation of
the Pastors of the Latin Church to preserve and encourage the traditions and
spirituality of the Eastern Catholics in their territories living as immigrant
communities to express the multi-coloured richness of the Universal Church.
The Universal Church desires that the Eastern Catholic
Churches return to their genuine traditions if they had made undue and
inopportune modifications in the past due to various reasons. Saint Pope John
Paul II in a homily during Armenian Liturgy in 1987 expressed a firm attitude
of the Holy See that those Eastern catholic Churches should have the courage to
rediscover the authentic traditions of their own identity and to restore them to
their original purity. Pope Paul VI exhorted to the members of the commissions who
were preparing the Code of Canons of the Eastern Churches that any renewal
should be coherent and agree with sound traditions blossoming as though
spontaneously from the already existing traditions.
In the document Instructions for applying the Liturgical
prescriptions of the Code of Canons of the Eastern Churches, the Universal
Church appreciates the richness of the Liturgy and heritage of eastern Churches
in terms of the sacredness, emotions developed from the poetic dimensions of
the texts, rituals related to liturgy and administration of sacraments,
devotions and so on.
Any Liturgical reforms even in the west would be
rediscovering the full fidelity to their own liturgical traditions, benefitting
from their riches and eliminating that which has altered their authenticity
from external influences foreign to the traditions. If any new element is
introduced due to any serious pastoral reasons, it should blend without
contrast but with coherence, as it had naturally derived from it. Fidelity to
own traditions has ecumenical value as well.
The Eparchial Bishop is the moderator and guardian of the entire
liturgical life of the Eparchy. Therefore, the Liturgy should be celebrated in
the Cathedral of the Bishop in the most exemplary way. The role of the Holy See
is to promote a sense of return to the ancestral traditions of the Eastern
Churches.
The Universal Church advises the eastern Churches to
translate their liturgy to languages understood by the faithful in the migrant
communities. The Holy See even asks some eastern Churches, if they lack their
own editions of the liturgical texts, to use the texts used by the
corresponding Orthodox churches. The Holy See suggests avoiding unnecessarily
differentiation between liturgical books of the eastern catholic churches and
those of the corresponding Orthodox churches.
In the Liturgical celebrations and feasts, the Universal
Church instructs to conform to the liturgical cycle of the Eastern Churches.
The Holy See also instructs to restore the liturgical calendar to its
traditional structure eliminating the elements assimilated due to historical
reasons that are incompatible with the spirit and features of the Eastern
Churches.
If undue changes to the Liturgical vestments were
introduced, the traditional rules should be reinstated. For the non-liturgical
dress of the clergy, it is appropriate that the eastern Churches should return
to their traditional eastern usage.
The Holy See observes that there are devotions developed in
Eastern Churches due to extraneous influences which give rise to a parallel
form of spirituality. The Eastern Churches should promote authentic
mystagogical catechesis to allow the faithful to rediscover the riches of their
own spirituality. Such popular devotions from extraneous influence should harmonise
with the liturgical seasons in accord with the sacred liturgy. The II Vatican
Council prescriptions confirm and approve the ancient discipline related to the
sacraments in the Eastern Catholic Churches with the rituals observed with
their administration and advise to restore them where there are deviations from
their original traditions.
Christian initiation with Baptism, Chrismation with the Holy
Myron and the Eucharist was abandoned due to historical and cultural reasons in
the Western Church, if the Eastern Churches changed their practice due to the
external pressure from the Latin Church, these should be reformed and restored.
The Universal Church instructs the same to all the sacraments, divine praises
or Liturgy of hours, liturgical space and architectural elements like altar
veil, bema or ambo, icons, baptistry, prayer facing the east and so on.
Conclusion
The scope of these instructions is to assist the Eastern
Churches which are in full communion with the Church of Rome to recover a full
celebrative coherence in their liturgy, their traditions and spirituality in
such a way that the whole Church is enriched by their specific heritages.
