The Vicariate Ordo
By V. Rev. John W. Fenton, Assistant to the Vicar General
St Paul concludes his several chapters on liturgical directions with these words: “Let all things be done decently and in order” or “according to order” (secundum ordinem). (1 Cor 14.40) The Apostle’s point throughout this section (1 Cor 8-14) is that liturgical worship is not according to the whims of the presider, faithful, or anyone else; rather, it is orderly. This liturgical orderliness is inherited from the Old Testament worship prescribed by the Lord, and it helps unify both in the moment as well as across various boundaries. To borrow St Paul’s words from another place, liturgical order aids in “endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. ” (Eph 4.3).
The Purpose of an Ordo
An Ordo is an outline which orders or gives directions for the primary liturgical books used daily by monastics, priests, and deacons in the Vicariate. In the Antiochian Western Rite Vicariate, these books are the English Missal, the Monastic Breviary, and the English Office. The Directory, which provides directions for Vicariate clergy, states that “monastics are bound to the daily recitation of the Breviarium Monasticum” and “clergy above the order of deacon are bound to the daily recitation of so much of the Breviarium Monasticum as in their discretion they are able to say. ”1 In addition, the Directory offers parishes the option of the Mass using (in common terms) the Liturgy of St Gregory and the Liturgy of St Tikhon. Since the propers for these two liturgies differ particularly after Pentecost Sunday, directions for these propers are provided. All in all, the Ordo is designed to aid common prayer among the parishes and monastery in the Vicariate.
The Ordo takes into account and fits together two overlapping calendars: the temporal cycle, which revolves chiefly around the date of Pascha; and the sanctoral cycle, which is more directly tied to the solar calendar. For any number of reasons, these two calendars will coincide requiring decision concerning precedence. For example, when Annunciation occurs on a Sunday in Lent how are both celebrations given their proper due? Or when multiple saints are to commemorated, what is the order of precedence? Or when a patronal or titular feast occurs, what is to be done with the other days in that octave? For Orthodox churches in particular, the Julian Paschalion (the determination of Easter and its dependent Sundays) presents its own unique challenges. The Ordo, then, sorts through the various permutations of coinciding feasts in order to determine especially the manner in which major feasts are maintained while not overshadowing the Queen of Feasts. In all of these instances of “occurrence” or “concurrence,” the Ordo directs the precedence of these feasts so that more time can be spent in prayer.
Over centuries, methods for determining the precedence of Sundays, feasts, and commemorations have been developed, refined, and modified. The Ordo takes into account these rankings, according to the method used by the Vicariate (described below). Yet the Vicariate Ordo also provides more than a guide for each day. It also summarizes the particular directions or customs of the Vicariate, recalls the rubrics for the liturgical seasons, and offers guidance for occasional celebrations such as funerals, weddings, parish feasts, and votive masses. Finally, the Ordo offers an updated necrology of priests who have reposed, as well as a list of Vicariate patronal feasts, so that the bond of unity between the living and departed in the Vicariate may be maintained.
While the chief focus of the Ordo is the Breviary and Missal, it also provides some direction for the English Office. The Vicariate Directory states that “those [parishes] using the Moscow—Synodal 1904 (Anglican) Canon of the Mass will recite or celebrate Morning and Evening Prayer with the lectionary in the Ordo. ”2 The official lectionary, taken from The English Office published by Vicariate, is provided in the Ordo. Other directions for The English Office are not detailed since (a) Morning and Evening prayer offer few variations apart from the lectionary and (b) any variations in hymns are at the discretion of the parish pastor. (Some have opted to “augment” The English Office with antiphons, which are noted in the Ordo.)
The Vicariate Calendar
At the outset, it should be understood that there is no such thing as a common or unified Orthodox liturgical calendar. Over the millennia, each local church, diocese, vicariate, and monastic congregation has offered its own liturgical calendar. “Like everything else in the Church, the calendar developed regionally and represented the custom of the regional Church. As things began to become standardized before and after the year 1000, the calendars of the regions Churches began to take on the characteristics of the great Churches such as Rome, Constantinople, or Alexandria. Nevertheless, a single standardized universal calendar never developed. ”3
The Vicariate calendar, then, is a regional calendar. This calendar draws heavily upon the calendar in the Benedictine breviary since this breviary was deliberately approved in 1882 by the Ecumenical Patriarch and the Synod of Constantinople based on the previous approval of the Synod of Moscow4 since “only the Benedictine monastic order should be recognized since it existed previous to the schism. ”5 In addition to Benedictine observances, the Vicariate calendar also includes select feasts and commemorations deemed important or significant from the Missale Romanum, which was approved in 1869 by the Holy Synod of the Russian Church.6 Finally, various Orthodox saints since the time of the schism are also included in the Vicariate liturgical calendar, such as, St Alexis Toth, St John Maximovich, St Raphael of Brooklyn, St Mark of Ephesus, and many others.
The Vicariate calendar was first developed by the Rt. Rev. Alexander Turner, the first Vicar General, in 1961. Since then, it has been revised based on the devotional needs of the Vicariate by competent authorities: the Vicar General and, most recently, the Auxiliary Bishop. A study of these various ordine provide a rich and varied devotion based on feasts and commemorations which are both common (universal) and local. As indicated above, this Vicariate liturgical calendar is the basis for the annual Ordo.
While J.J. Overbeck envisioned a liturgical calendar in which “no Roman Catholic saints canonized after 1054 would be recognized, ”7 from the beginning of the Vicariate that rule has not always been followed for two reasons. First, saints were not formally canonized in the Roman patriarchate until 973 AD. Prior to that, “translation of the martyr’s remains from the place of burial to a church was equivalent to canonization.”8 Second, several feasts and commemorations have been included in the Vicariate calendar that were recognized after 1054. For example, St Edward the Confessor (1003-1066) has been included in Ordine since 1992, and Our Lady of Walsingham (1061 apparition) since 1998. In addition, other late developing “universal” feasts have been included in the Vicariate calendar. Trinity Sunday has always been listed in the Ordo, even though it first appeared in the Roman calendar in 1334 (after a checkered history).9 Likewise, the Feast of St Joseph (March 19) and his Solemnity (Wednesday after Easter II) have been listed since 1961 and 1999, respectively, even though the first commemoration of the Spouse of the B.V.M. is not celebrated in Western churches until the 12th century and first appears in the Roman calendar at the end of the 15th century.10 This brief sampling of post-1054 commemorations occurring in the Vicariate liturgical calendar is provided to demonstrate that the Vicariate’s calendar is developed to foster devotion that bolsters Orthodox faith in its Western expression.
With these parameters in mind, the annual Vicariate Ordo is compiled or edited anonymously. The name is deliberately withheld in the publication since the work is not individual or idiosyncratic, but a publication of the Vicariate based on a previously determined liturgical calendar. Hence, the editor obediently takes the liturgical calendar provided by competent authority (the Vicar General or the Auxiliary Bishop) and compiles the data, fitting the liturgical calendar to each day based, primarily, on the calculations of the Paschalion. Then the completed work is presented to the Vicar General or the Auxiliary Bishop, who then approval the publication and advertisement of the official Vicariate Ordo.
The Rubrics in the Ordo
The word “rubrics” refers to the directions for liturgical celebrations, as well as the table of precedence for feasts and commemorations. Rubrics have changed over time for any number of reasons, but they are usually inseparable from the particular Breviary or Missal. The decision, therefore, to require the use of the Benedictine Breviary, English Office, and English Missal necessitated that the rubrics conforming to these liturgical books be employed. In other words, the liturgy is much more than the text; it includes the ceremonies and the directions on how best to conduct the liturgical services.
The rubrics utilized in the Vicariate Ordo are those from the Benedictine Breviary and the Roman Missal prior to the departure from the Western liturgy in 1950 by the Church of Rome. Prior to this departure, the table of precedence for feasts and commemorations based on a sensible, albeit seemingly complex, series of rankings. As is the nature with any directions, rubrics attempt to anticipate every possible permutation; most notably, the dating of Easter, the occurrence and concurrence of overlapping commemorations, the various octaves, and the occurrence of parish festivals (titular or dedication feasts). This is what makes the rubrics sensible. At the same time, it also contributes to their seeming complexity.
For the most part, the ranking of feasts and commemorations together with the tables of precedence provided in the Benedictine Breviary govern the Vicariate liturgical calendar and, hence, the Ordo. In very few instances, these rankings are revised (usually downgraded) in order to recognize that the Vicariate is not a monastic congregation; or in order to give greater precedence to Eastern or certain saints of greater devotion for the faithful the calendar serves. Such adjustments are not usual in regional or local liturgical calendars.
The editor or compiler of the Vicariate Ordo is aided by two primary interpretations of the rubrics: The General Rubrics of the Monastic Breviary11 and Matters Liturgical.12 The former relates, as the title indicates, directly to the breviary while the latter relates to all other matters, most notably in the Roman Missal. Since the liturgical calendar is common to both the Liturgy of St Gregory and the Liturgy of St Tikhon, there is no need for the Ordo to consult Ritual Notes13 or Ceremonies of the Roman Rite Described14 since these books do not conflict with what is presented in the aforementioned materials. Those latter two books, rather, provide very necessary and useful information in the conduct of these offices once the table of precedence for each day has been set.
Brotherly Love
Liturgical order suggests the need for an Ordo. An Ordo is designed to promote unity in a diocese, vicariate, or monastic congregation by offering orderly directions for daily liturgical prayer. Above all, it is designed to encourage love between brethren (Ps 132 [133]) when they gather in separate places to pray and celebrate the Eucharist according to a common obedience or rule. For this reason, the Vicariate Ordo is compiled, with the blessing of the bishop, to manifest this liturgical unity and love among all those whom he oversees.
Footnotes
1) Turner, Alexander. “Western Rite Directory.” With What Zeal, edited by John W Fenton, Orthodox Christian Press, Whittier, CA, 2023, p. 23.
2) Ibid.
3) Hughes, Edward. “The Western Liturgical Calendar.” With What Zeal, edited by John W Fenton, Orthodox Christian Press, Whittier, CA, 2023, p. 131.
4) Hughes, Edward. “A Condensed History of the Orthodox Western Rite.” With What Zeal, edited by John W Fenton, Orthodox Christian Press, Whittier, CA, 2023, p. 42.
5) Abramstov, David. “A Brief History of Western Orthodoxy.” With What Zeal, edited by John W Fenton, Orthodox Christian Press, Whittier, CA, 2023, p. 56.
6) Hughes, Edward. “A Condensed History of the Orthodox Western Rite.” With What Zeal, edited by John W Fenton, Orthodox Christian Press, Whittier, CA, 2023, p. 42.
7) Abramstov, David. “ A Brief History of Western Orthodoxy.” With What Zeal, edited by John W Fenton, Orthodox Christian Press, Whittier, CA, 2023, p. 56.
8) “Canonization.” Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, inc., www.britannica.com/topic/canonization. Accessed 26 Oct. 2023.
9) Adam, Adolf. The Liturgical Year. Pueblo Publishing Co., New York, NY, 1981, pp. 167-8.
10) Ibid., p. 230.
11) The General Rubrics of the Monastic Breviary According to the 1925 Edition. Translated by Benjamin Andersen, Lancelot Andrewes Press, 2008.
12) Wuest, Joseph. Matters Liturgical. Translated by Thomas Mullaney, Frederick Pustet Company, 1944.
13) Cairncross, Henry. Ritual Notes. 9th edition. W. Knott & Son Limited, London, 1946.
14) Fortescue, Adrian. The Ceremonies of the Roman Rite Described. Burns Oates and Washbourne Ltd, London, 1943.