As the Apostles and
their successors evangelized throughout the world (both East and West, and
beyond these boundaries of the Roman Empire), various regional liturgies were
used in the earliest times. These liturgies were "cultural
expressions" of the faith. This means that the faith itself and the key
outline of the Mass and Divine Office were unchanged, but the musical tones
(cadence, tonal system) and means of rhetoric (circular or linear; analogical
or typological or otherwise) and ceremonies (usually based on local court
customs) were employed. This was noticed primarily, then, in the prayers and
chants, as well as the 'flow' of the liturgical services.
In the Western part
of the Roman Empire (and later extending into the remainder of Europe), all of
these liturgies were built, in some way, on the Roman Rite (i.e., the rites
used in the Church of Rome) with some influences (in a few scattered instances)
from Eastern customs. Over time, in both East and West, for various reasons
usually related to the dominance of a capital city or the need for more uniform
practices, these various liturgies collapsed into four major rites, centered
around the major regions of Christianity: The Antiochian Rite; the Alexandrian
Rite; the Roman Rite; the Carthaginian Rite; and the Edessan Rite. (See the
chart below.) In turn, these rites (among the canonical Orthodox and Roman
Catholic churches) collapsed, again for various reasons usually having to do
with desire uniformity, into two: the Roman Rite (which was influenced by the
Gallican Rite and which, in turn, influenced the still extant Ambrosian and
Mozarabic Rites as well as the rites of a few religious orders); and the
Constantinopolitan Rite (which was heavily influenced by the Antiochian Rite,
but is not at all identical with it; and which influenced all the other
Byzantine Rites.) In Europe, the collapsing into the Roman Rite was chiefly
completed by 600 AD (although it underwent a few minor changes in the 9th
century) and has remained in tact (excluding the protestant changes in England,
etc., and the revolutionary change in Rome in 1970). In Asia and Eastern
Europe, the collapsing into the Constantinopolitan/Byzantine Rite was not
completed until the 13th century and has remained in tact (although different
minor 'uses' appear in Russia and elsewhere).
Given this
background, it is perhaps clear that the 'pre-schism' Western Rite is the Roman
Rite which was used (most often in Latin) from 600 AD until 1970 AD in the
Church of Rome; and has been used in the Orthodox Church since the 1880s. To
use 'ancient Western liturgies' offers an historical, liturgical, and
theological challenge. The historical challenge is that the documentation for
exactly how those Rites were used (the ceremonies and chants, as well as the texts)
is spotty at best; certainly it is not in tact fully. Furthermore, the best of
these rites have already been folded into the Roman Rite, and so teasing them
out may leave lacunae. The liturgical challenge is that 're-creating' a Rite
that hasn't been used for at least 1000-1400 years follows the Protestant model
that the Rites are not received nor the work of the Holy Spirit, but devised by
humans and therefore open to 'liturgical archeology' (the exact same argument
that lies behind the Novus Ordo of the Roman Church). The theological challenge
is centered around this question: what is objectionable now to the Roman Rite
that was never objectionable before the so-called 'Great Schism.' (Remember,
the date for the Great Schism is arbitrarily chosen by post-reformation
European scholars, mainly Anglican [i.e., Protestant]). Some will answer that
question by presuming that the liturgy carries the seed for whatever heresies
might be extant in the Church of Rome; a dubious premise, at best.
Given this history
with the attendant challenges, when the Churches of Russia, Constantinople,
Antioch, Romania, Serbia, and Alexandria issued decrees concerning the use of
the liturgical tradition of the Western liturgy in their churches, they
collectively approved the continued use of the Roman Rite (with the use of the
Benedictine Breviary) as it was practiced prior to the 'Great Schism'--which is
no different (except in a few feasts) than what was done in the Church of Rome
and the Benedictine monasteries until 1970.
