I have removed Rdr Daniel's use of colors, and will continue, though from here on down actual arguments start to run out.
4) these liturgical ...developments...according to what our church teaches,( the same as for the doctrinal expressions and the iconography and other aspects of our faith), was....guided by the Holy Spirit, BECAUSE WE ORTHODOX firmly believe that our Holy religion is a divinely revealed religion, and not man-made! ...& they expressed 'The Mind of The Church', and were a blessed and totally natural development.......So this amalgamation of the liturgical worship, was seen as BLESSED and not in any way, some sort of wrong or evil suppression of local or quaint folk-customs, etc. ....as now many advocates of the Western Rite, seem to suggest. Nor as some 'layering' of novel additions to the Early PURE Church worship'...which the mistaken later Protestants felt that THEY alone, had 'recovered'...i.e. by throwing out most of the rituals and worship of centuries!
I don't doubt that liturgical growth (I despise the word "development" because of its meaning in a Roman Catholic/Schmemmanite sense) was guided by the Holy Spirit. But I also don't understand how this is an argument against Western Rites. I know of no "Western Riter", Orthodox or not, who feels that the amalgation of the Orthodox liturgy was an "evil suppression of quaint folk-customs". I do feel that Trent's consolidation was incredibly wrong-headed, as it was motivated by a desire to stop Protestantism, if that makes any sense. To me it does not.
However, the West's consolidation was indeed a supression of local customs and in no way matches the path of the use of the Orthodox East. See the Papal Bull Quo Primum of 1570: "Hence, We decided to entrust this work to learned men of our selection. They very carefully collated all their work with the ancient codices in Our Vatican Library and with reliable, preserved or emended codices from elsewhere. Besides this, these men consulted the works of ancient and approved authors concerning the same sacred rites; and thus they have restored the Missal itself to the original form and rite of the holy Fathers... Let all everywhere adopt and observe what has been handed down by the Holy Roman Church, the Mother and Teacher of the other churches, and let Masses not be sung or read according to any other formula than that of this Missal published by Us. This ordinance applies henceforth, now, and forever, throughout all the provinces of the Christian world, to all patriarchs, cathedral churches, collegiate and parish churches... This new rite alone is to be used unless approval of the practice of saying Mass differently was given at the very time of the institution and confirmation of the church by Apostolic See at least 200 years ago, or unless there has prevailed a custom of a similar kind which has been continuously followed for a period of not less than 200 years, in which most cases We in no wise rescind their above-mentioned prerogative or custom.... All other of the churches referred to above, however, are hereby denied the use of other missals, which are to be discontinued entirely and absolutely; whereas, by this present Constitution, which will be valid henceforth, now, and forever, We order and enjoin that nothing must be added to Our recently published Missal, nothing omitted from it, nor anything whatsoever be changed within it under the penalty of Our displeasure. " http://www.papalencyclicals.net/Pius05/p5quopri.htm
5) also, as gradually occurred, there was a ...liturgical expanding...of the worship, from the earliest Christian worship which was mostly a Hebraic style of worship, chanting of the Psalms, to the addition of the poetic Kontakia of St. Romanus the Sweetsinger...i.e. our Orthodox liturgical worship was always expanding and developing and was ALIVE and in movement., and centered in the monastery worship.
This is irrelevant, as the Hebraic roots of ALL the Orthodox Rites can be easily discerned.
6) as time went on, with the great growth and wide accepting of the Monastic Institution, what was liturgically done in famous old coenobitic monasteries, became the norm for each national Orthodox Church, which used that 'Typicon' of a particular monastery. That was what happened in the east, but in the west, I am not certain.
The development took the same form in East and West until the schism.
7) worship expresses belief/doctrine. That is very Orthodox. That is exactly why, we should fear, to change our worship. This Western Rite three-ring circus, does change it. Isn't that what the ecumenist betrayers of our faith, want? I really think so.
But we have asked no one to change their worship; we have asked only the right to preserve our own. Those genuine Orthodox who began the use of the Western rite in the 1800's have advanced in translation and practice to the point where they have restored the ancient forms of worship, used them as their own, and handed them to their children. In this way, they can demonstrate the Truth of Orthodoxy to those who are trapped in the ecumenist "ethnic" paradigm ("I am Anglo, so I am Anglican, he is Mexican, so he is Catholic, he is Greek, so he is Orthodox") and return them to the faith of their ancient ancestors, just as it was lived a thousand years ago, and is already lived in many places today.
As an aside, thank God for those who looked past the "ethnicity" of Orthodoxy for the sake of the truth (indeed, this is how I myself converted) but for the sake of those who cannot, why make them cross a line they cannot perceive a reason to cross? Is not becoming Orthodox difficult enough? I am Orthodox; I am not a pretend Greek, nor a pretend Russian. And yet actual Russians and Greeks always seem fascinated to learn of Orthodoxy's Western Patrimony-- why is it that certain converts are so hostile? My only guess is that this is because to some degree their understanding of Orthodoxy is trapped in an ethnic paradigm from which they must escape, because it is not of Christ, nor the Church His Holy Bride. The truth of Orthodoxy is for all mankind that is willing to accept it.
What Roman Catholic fasts half the year? What Anglican strives to preserve the Holy Icons in the way the Orthodox do? And most importantly, isn't the presence of GRACE in the True Mysteries what changes us, as well as prayer? Do the rites save us, or does Christ? Can anyone who is truly Orthodox really believe that if the faith is preserved, regardless of Western or Eastern rite, that their life is not going to change substantially from the dregs of earthly life in which they once lived?
