When I first stepped into a Western Rite parish, I nearly walked out in the middle of the service. “What is this?” “It is so western!” “This can’t be Orthodox…” These were the thoughts that filled my mind as I watched the community chant in Gregorian tones and genuflect in front of the altar. I had been chrismated into the Church several years and had only experienced Orthodoxy in its eastern expression. Though I had heard a few references to “Western-Riters,” it was rarely in a positive light. Essentially, the thought of anything western struck me as a bad idea, and like so many people, I never took the time to examine these assumptions in the light of our Church’s history and theology.
The Orthodox West Journal