So for those of you who don't know me that well, I am Roman Catholic. A year ago, I would have just said that I was Catholic, but then I learned this past year that there are multiple rites in the Catholic Church; 22 to be exact! So what is a rite then? A rite represents a church tradition about how the sacraments are to be celebrated. So the sacraments are all maintained in all these different rites, but how did there come to be so many rites in the Catholic Church? When Jesus ascended into Heaven, the Holy Spirit then came down upon the Apostles in the form of tongues of fire, where they were then able to speak in many different languages. (Acts 2: 1-6) This allowed them to go out into the world so that they may proclaim God's love and word to everyone that they would meet. Peter did this when he traveled to Rome to established the western church, or the Roman Catholic Church, in which he became the first pope. Before he established the church in Rome, he evanglized the people of Antioch, and founded the Melkite rite of the Catholic Church, also known as the Greek Orthodox. Therefore, Roman and Melkite Catholics are from the same patriarch!
So how did I come to learn about all this? My one good friend from school, Melanie, is Melkite Catholic, and she began to teach me some of the prayers and chants that they do for the liturgy of the hours, which is one of my favorite prayers to do every single day. Finally, a few weeks ago, she invited me up to her home parish which is a Melkite church to join her for a service. I was both nervous and excited; I barely knew anything about the Melkite rite, but at the same time I was excited to learn everything about them; traditions, similiarities, differences, and everything inbetween.
When we got to the church I was blown away by how beautiful it was; it was decorated all around with icons of everything; saints, apostles, Mary, Jesus, prophets, angels, and Bibical events (the Annuniciation, Transfiguration, Last Supper). As soon as we entered the church, I began learning some differences between the two rites. For example, while the Romans genuflect whenever they are in the presence of Jesus, the Melkites do a metany, which is bowing and touching the floor. They touch the floor out of a sign of humility, for we are not worthy to be in the presence of the Lord, for we are lowly sinners. They bow instead of genuflect because the people of Antioch believed that genuflecting was for servants and slaves, while we are sons and daughters of God should not at as servants and slaves do. To make the sign of the cross, you take your tumb and first two fingers and put them together, for this represents the Holy Trinity. You then make the sign of the cross going from right to left instead of left to right. This has several meanings; one is that Jesus is to come from the east (the right) when He comes again, so the sign of the cross is made as if Jesus were coming to Earth again from the east (the right) across the Earth (over to the left). The other meaning is just that at one point the direction of the sign of the cross was all the same, but when the priest would turn to the crowd and bless them with the sign of the cross, the people were confused of how to copy him, which is why there is a division in the direction of the sign of the cross.
What I loved about the actual service was how everything is chanted; readings, the Gospel, the sacraments,everything except for the homily. There are also no books to follow along, which allowed for me to really listen and enjoy the mass. While the way of receiving the Eurcharist was different, the sacrament itself was the same. Finally, one of my favorite parts of the service was actually at the very end where they will serve the people blessed bread. This is because they believe that after receiving communion,the first thing that should be eaten should be blessed.
I could go on and on about how beautiful everything was, what the similarities and the differences were, but you all would be reading for hours on end.
So what do I say when people ask me about the different rites of the Catholic Church? I say that Catholocism is like an oak tree; it has roots and a sturdy trunk of which is the basis of the tree and holds everything together. You then have your branches which all differ; heights, lengths, leaves, no leaves, and so on. The trunks/roots is God; it's Jesus, Mary, the Holy Spirit, the sacraments, everything that we believe all together as Catholics, what holds us together. The branches are the different rites; while we are all connected to the same trunk, the sacraments, we have different traditions that we follow. These branches, these rites, give us a new perspective on our faith, on how beautiful the work of God really is, bringing together many cultures and traditions by having and keeping the sacrements pure.
So what do I say to those people who ask me about the different rites? I tell them to go and climb the oak tree and have a new view. Go and experience and learn about the different rites. I have been blessed to experience both the Roman and Melkite rites and there are aspects from both of them that I love very much; from the Roman I love all of our saints, the rosary, the Divine Mercy Chaplet, and the liturgy of the hours, while from the Melkite I love the chants, the chocki prayer rope, the Jesus prayer, and the prayers in the Horologian (their version of liturgy of the hours).
Go climb the tree, get a new perspective on our beautiful faith, and discover something that you never knew was there.
Learn more about the different rites here.
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