Western Rite Orthodoxy

From 1864, Julian Joseph Overbeck, a former Roman Catholic priest, worked to establish a modern Orthodox Western Rite. Overbeck converted from Catholicism to Lutheranism and married. He then emigrated to England in 1863 to become professor of German at the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich, where he also undertook studies of the Church of England and Orthodoxy. In 1865 Overbeck was received as a layman into the Russian Orthodox Church (because he had married following his ordination as a Roman Catholic priest), by Father Eugene Poppoff, at the Russian Embassy in London.{{cite thesis|location=Pittsburgh|publisher=University of Pittsburgh|last=Abramtsov|first=David F.|title=The Western Rite and the Eastern Church: Dr. J. J. Overbeck and his scheme for the re-establishment of the Orthodox Church in the West|year=1961|type=unpublished? MA thesis|url=http://anglicanhistory.org/orthodoxy/abramtsov.pdf|access-date=2014-05-26|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20051023214502/http://anglicanhistory.org/orthodoxy/abramtsov.pdf|archive-date=2005-10-23|url-status=live|via=Project Canterbury}}{{rp|page=5}}

As a part of his conversion into the {{abbr|ROC|Russian Orthodox Church}}, Overbeck requested permission from the Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church to begin a Western Orthodox church in England. Initially, Philaret was hesitant about Overbeck's request, but did not rule out the idea entirely. Overbeck outlined his rationale for a Western Orthodox Church in his 1866 book Catholic Orthodoxy and Anglo-Catholicism, a largely polemical work describing why the established Western churches should be rejected.Parry, Ken et al. (editors). The Blackwell Dictionary of Eastern Christianity. Malden, Massachusetts: 1999. Blackwell Publishing, p. 364

Overbeck convinced others about the feasibility of a Western Orthodox church and in 1869 submitted a petition containing 122 signatures, including many in the Oxford Movement, to the Holy Synod asking for the creation of a Western liturgical rite within the {{abbr|ROC|Russian Orthodox Church}}.Parry, Ken et al., The Blackwell Dictionary, p. 365. A synodical commission investigated Overbeck's petition, in 1870 he stated his case before the commission in St. Petersburg. The commission approved the petition and he was instructed to present a revised Western liturgy for evaluation by the commission. He presented a revised Western liturgy in December. That liturgy was subsequently approved for use – specifically in the British Isles.Sobranio mnenii i otzyvov Filareta, mitropolita moskovskago i kolomenskago, po uchebnym i tserkovno-gosudarstvennym voprosam, ed. Archbishop Savva, Tome V, Part II (Moscow, 1888), 711–713.

By 1876, Overbeck appealed to other Orthodox Churches for their recognition of his plan. In 1879 he was received in audience by the Patriarch Joachim III of Constantinople, who recognized the theoretical right of Western Christians to have a Western Orthodox Church. Three years later, Joachim III and the Synod of the Ecumenical Patriarchate conditionally approved Overbeck's Western rite and Benedictine offices. However, Overbeck's efforts ultimately did not result in the establishment of a Western Orthodoxy. He was especially suspicious of the role which the Greeks in London (and the Church of Greece generally) played in the stagnation of his ambitions, directly blaming the Greek Church's protest against the plan in 1892.{{rp|page=26}} The Orthodox Catholic Review ended publication in 1885 and Overbeck died in 1905 without seeing a Western Orthodox Church. Georges Florovsky summed up Overbeck's experience in this way: "it was not just a fantastic dream. The question raised by Overbeck was pertinent, even if his own answer to it was confusedly conceived. And probably the vision of Overbeck was greater than his personal interpretation."{{cite journal|last=Florovsky|first=Georges|date=1956|title=Orthodox ecumenism in the Nineteenth Century|journal=St. Vladimir's Seminary Quarterly|volume=4|issue=3–4|page=32}}

Some speculate Bishop Mathew's 1909 Old Catholic Missal and Ritual may have been approved as a Western Rite liturgy by Pope Photios of Alexandria.{{Cite web|date=2018-11-12|title=Western Orthodoxy|url=https://selsey.org/western-orthodoxy/|access-date=2020-07-31|website=+SELEISI|language=en}} Both unions were contracted in quick succession and only lasted for an effective period of a few months. Though the union was protested by the Archbishop of Canterbury to Photios and the Patriarch of Antioch, Mathew's group claimed that communion was never formally broken off.Peter F. Anson. Bishops at Large, pp. 186–188. Berkeley: Apocryphile Press, 2006.

In 1890, the first Western Rite Orthodox community in North America, an Episcopal parish in Green Bay, Wisconsin, pastored by Fr. René Vilatte, was received by Bishop Vladimir Sokolovsky.{{Disputed inline|text=[...] 1890, the first Western Rite Orthodox community in North America, [...] pastored by [...] Vilatte, was received by Bishop Vladimir Sokolovsky|Vilatte parish as first Western liturgical rite parish in America|reason=authenticity of document is questioned by reliable sources|date=June 2015}} However, Vilatte was soon ordained a bishop in the Jacobite Church, an Oriental Orthodox Church not in communion with the Eastern Orthodox Church. Other small groups using the Western Rite have been received, but usually have either had little impact or have declared their independence soon after their reception. Western rite parishes were established in Poland in 1926 when a half-dozen congregations were received into Eastern Orthodoxy; however, the movement dwindled during World War II.Parry, Ken et al., The Blackwell Dictionary, p. 515.

{{main article|Orthodox Church of France}}

{{Duplication|section=yes|dupe=Orthodox Church of France|date=June 2015}}

In 1936, the {{abbr|ROC|Russian Orthodox Church}} received a small group led by a former Liberal Catholic bishop, Louis-Charles Winnaert (1880–1937), as the {{lang|fr|Église Orthodoxe Occidentale}} (EOO).Parry, Ken et al., The Blackwell Dictionary, p. 514 Winnaert was received as an archimandrite, took the religious name Irénée, and soon died. Winnaert's work was continued, with occasional conflict, by one of his priests, Eugraph Kovalevsky (1905–1970) and Lucien Chambault, the latter of which oversaw a small Orthodox Benedictine community in Paris. After 1946, Kovalevsky began to recreate a Gallican Rite based on the letters of Germain of Paris, a sixth-century bishop of Paris, numerous early Western missals and sacramentaries, and some Byzantine modifications; his development was The divine liturgy of Saint Germanus of Paris.Frédéric Luz. Le Soufre & L'encens. Paris: Claire Vigne, 1995. pp. 34–36. {{ISBN|2-84193-021-1}}

Archimandrite Alexis van der Mensbrugghe, a former Roman Catholic monk, who taught at the Western Church's St. Denys Theological Institute but remained in the Eastern rite, attempted to restore the ancient Roman rite, replacing medieval accretions with Gallican and Byzantine forms. Eventually, Alexis was consecrated as an {{abbr|ROC|Russian Orthodox Church}} bishop in 1960, continuing his Western Rite work under the auspices of the Moscow Patriarchate.W. Jardine Grisbrooke, "Obituaries: Archbishop Alexis van der Mensbrugghe" in Sobornost 4.2 (1981), 212–216.

In 1953, pressured by the {{clarify span|text=Russian Orthodox Church|explain=Does this mean Russian Orthodox Church or Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia|date=June 2015}} to adopt the Eastern rite, the Western Orthodox Church went its own way, changing its name to the Orthodox Church of France. After several years of isolation, the church was recognized as an autonomous Church by Metropolitan Anastasy Gribanovsky of {{abbr|ROCOR|Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia}} and was in communion with {{abbr|ROCOR|Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia}} from 1959 to 1966.

While the {{clarify span|text=Russian Orthodox Church's|explain=Does this mean Russian Orthodox Church or Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia|date=June 2015}} Western Rite mission withered and ended, {{abbr|ECOF|Église Orthodox Catholique de France}} thrived; however, after Maximovich died, Kovalevsky was left without canonical protection until his death in 1970. In 1972, the church found a new canonical superior in the Romanian Orthodox Church. Gilles Bertrand-Hardy was then consecrated as bishop and took the religious name Germain of Saint-Denis. In 1993, after long conflict with the Synod of the Romanian Orthodox Church about alleged canonical irregularities within {{abbr|ECOF|Église Orthodox Catholique de France}}, the Romanian Orthodox Church withdrew its blessing of {{abbr|ECOF|Église Orthodox Catholique de France}} and broke off communion.

Saint Tikhon of Moscow's contribution to the Western Rite has been more enduring. While he was bishop of the {{abbr|ROC|Russian Orthodox Church}}'s diocese in America, some Episcopalians were interested in joining Orthodoxy while retaining Anglican liturgical practices. Tikhon sent the 1892 Book of Common Prayer, enquired about the viability of Orthodox parishes composed of former Anglicans using Anglican liturgical practices. In 1904, the Holy Synod concluded that such parishes were possible and provided a list of doctrinal corrections to the Book of Common Prayer{{'s}} text of the prayers and rites that were necessary to profess in Orthodox worship. The Holy Synod also concluded that detailed changes in the Book of Common Prayer and in Anglican liturgical practices, together with compilations of new prayers, and entire rites, can only be carried out on location in America and not from Moscow.{{Source-attribution|sentence=yes|{{cite book|author=[committee of the Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church on Old Catholic and Anglican questions]|year=1917|editor-last=Frere|editor-first=Walter Howard|title=Russian observations upon the American prayer book|series=Alcuin Club tracts|volume=12|others=Translated by Wilfrid J. Barnes|location=London|publisher=A. R. Mowbray|oclc=697599065|pages=34–35|url=http://justus.anglican.org/resources/pc/alcuin/tract12.html|via=Project Canterbury}}}}

The most successful and stable group of Western Rite parishes originated within the Orthodox Church under Bishop Aftimios Ofiesh in the 1930s as part of the American Orthodox Catholic Church. In 1932, Bishop Aftimios consecrated an Episcopal priest, Ignatius Nichols, as auxiliary Bishop of Washington and assigned him to the Western Rite parishes. However, due to complaints from Episcopalians that the Episcopal Church was the "American" Orthodox Church,Gary L. Ward, Bertil Persson, and Alan Bain. Independent Bishops: An International Directory, xi. Apogee Books, 1990. {{ISBN|1-55888-307-X}} the American Orthodox Church that Aftimios and Nicholas were a part of became estranged from what would become the Orthodox Church in America (OCA). The subsequent marriages of both Aftimios and Nichols violated Orthodox canon law, and they left the church and its subsidiaries without canonical recognition.Gary L. Ward et al., Independent Bishops, 295–96, 301–02.

In 1932, Nichols founded the Society of Clerks Secular of Saint Basil as a devotional society for clergy and laity dedicated to the celebration of the Western Rite. Nichols also consecrated Alexander Turner as a bishop in 1939. Turner pastored a small parish in Mount Vernon until Nichols' death in 1947, when he assumed leadership of the Society and concluded that there was no future for the Society of Saint Basil outside of canonical E. Orthodoxy. Turner described the situation the Society found itself in by saying:{{Cite journal|last=Hornus|first=Jean-Michel|date=1970|title=Les petites églises catholiques non romaines. Suite et fin : Les Églises, le milieu et les circonstances.|url=https://www.persee.fr/doc/rhpr_0035-2403_1970_num_50_3_4023|journal=Revue d'Histoire et de Philosophie religieuses|volume=50|issue=3|pages=263–293|doi=10.3406/rhpr.1970.4023}}

{{blockquote|It was [...] during the tempestuous days following the Bolshevik Revolution that the Society had its inception as a missionary organ of the nascent federation of American Orthodox colonies under Russian suzerainty, though of local Syrian administration. With the collapse of that plan and the submission of the ethnic groups to the churches of their homelands, the Society was left in isolation.}}

Through Father Paul Schneirla, he began unofficial dialogue with Metropolitan Antony Bashir. Even before this, Turner had been promoting Western Rite Orthodoxy through his periodical Orthodoxy. In 1961, the Society (consisting of three parishes) was received into the Syrian Antiochian Archdiocese on the basis of Metropolitan Antony's 1958 edict. Upon reception, Bishop Alexander Turner became a canonical priest of the Antiochian Orthodox Church, guiding the group as Vicar-General until his death in 1971, thereafter he was succeeded by Schneirla. However, after Turner's death, the sole surviving Basilian, William Francis Forbes, returned to the American Orthodox Catholic Church and was consecrated a bishop in October 1974.Gary L. Ward et al., Independent Bishops, 143–44.

Besides the original communities associated with the Society, a number of other parishes have been received into the Western Rite Vicariate of the Antiochian Archdiocese, particularly as elements within the Episcopal Church became dissatisfied with liturgical change and the ordination of women. The first Episcopal parish to be received into the {{abbr|AWRV|Antiochian Western Rite Vicariate}} was the Episcopal Church of the Incarnation in Detroit, Michigan.Benjamin J. Andersen, "An Anglican Liturgy in the Orthodox Church: The Origins and Development of the Antiochian Orthodox Liturgy of Saint Tikhon", Unpublished M.Div. Thesis, St. Vladimir's Orthodox Theological Seminary, 2005, p. 7.

On July 10, 2013, the recognition and status of Western Rite parishes within {{abbr|ROCOR|Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia}} seemed to change significantly. The Synod of Bishops of {{abbr|ROCOR|Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia}}, presided over by its First Hierarch, decreed that:{{cite web|author=Synod of Bishops of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia|date=2013-06-10|title=An extraordinary session of the Synod of Bishops is held|website=russianorthodoxchurch.ws|location=New York|publisher=Synod of Bishops of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia|publication-date=2013-07-12|url=http://www.russianorthodoxchurch.ws/synod/eng2013/20130712_ensynodmeeting.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130718052210/http://www.russianorthodoxchurch.ws/synod/eng2013/20130712_ensynodmeeting.html|archive-date=2013-07-18|url-status=live}}

• {{abbr|ROCOR|Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia}} would no longer ordain clergy for Western Rite parishes.
• Bishop Jerome Shaw of Manhattan would be censured for unapproved ecclesiastical services and forcibly retired without the right to perform ordinations.
• Some ordinations performed by Shaw would not be recognized, and those candidates would be thoroughly examined before regularization.
• A commission would examine how to integrate Western Rite clergy and communities into the Russian Orthodox Church.
• Western Rite clergy and communities need to adopt the order of divine services of the Orthodox-catholic Church, but may preserve "certain particularities of the Western Rite".
• Adherence to the rules and traditions of the Russian Orthodox Church in particular is required.

The Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia established a working commission to deal with the peculiarities that led to decision of July 2013. Within the following year there was established a new leadership structure that eventually led to the establishment of a revitalized Western Rite Vicariate under the Omophorion of His Eminence Metropolitan Hilarion. New Western Rite parishes and monasteries continue to be founded by ROCOR and priests, deacons and subdeacons within the Western Rite continue to be ordained from 2014 to the present, including in Sweden and the United States.{{Cite web | url=http://orthochristian.com/100459.html | title=New Western Rite monastery planned for Louisiana | date=2017-01-25 | website=orthochristian.com}} After the death of Metropolitan Hilarion in 2022, a pastoral letter was issued by the Synod of ROCOR, promising their continued care to the ROCOR Western Rite communities.{{Cite web | url=https://www.rocor-wr.org | title=ROCOR Western Rite | date=2024-01-20 | website=rocor-wr.org}}

Mention of the Western Rite was often made in the {{abbr|OCA|Orthodox Church in America}}, the most prominent being a mention during a speech by the primate of the {{abbr|OCA|Orthodox Church in America}}, Metropolitan Jonah Paffhausen, in April 2009.{{cite web|last=Paffhausen|first=Jonah|date=2009-04-09|title=+Jonah, in Dallas speech, challenges foreign Churches, stirs crowd|website=ocanews.org|publisher=Orthodox Christians for Accountability|url=http://ocanews.org/news/JonahSpeech4.8.09.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090410191001/http://www.ocanews.org/news/JonahSpeech4.8.09.html|archive-date=2009-04-10|url-status=usurped}}

On September 8, 2018, the Orthodox Church of America established a Western Rite mission parish in Alberta, Canada.{{cite web|url=http://www.icxc.ca/ |title=Christ the King Orthodox Parish - Edmonton, Alberta - Western Rite Orthodoxy Edmonton |publisher=Icxc.ca |access-date=2019-05-20}} However, the OCA has not yet officially established an organizational structure for future Western Rite parishes.

There are a number of independent Western Orthodox congregations and monasteries.

Important figures in the history of the Orthodox West Rite include Julian Joseph Overbeck, Fr. Michael Keiser, and Saints John Maximovitch, and Tikhon of Moscow, the Patron Saint of the Orthodox Western Rite. Another prominent figure is Fr. Dennis Chambault of Paris, a reputed wonderworker and healer,Serge Bolshakoff, The Power of Prayer, From Word Magazine Publication of the Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of North America February 1962 p. 10. Retrieved from: http://www.orthodoxresearchinstitute.org/articles/liturgics/bolshakoff_power_of_prayer.htm whom many regard as a saint.

{{see also|Ecclesiastical Latin|Liturgical use of Latin}}

Western Rite parishes do not all utilize the same liturgy, but often use a particular liturgy depending upon their individual affiliations prior to entering Eastern Orthodoxy. At present, there are different liturgies available to Western Rite parishes:

• The Divine Liturgy of Saint Tikhon – this liturgy is currently used by some churches of the {{abbr|AWRV|Antiochian Western Rite Vicariate}}.
• The Divine Liturgy of Saint Gregory – used by some churches of the {{abbr|AWRV|Antiochian Western Rite Vicariate}}.{{Cite web|date=2012-01-17|title=The Divine Liturgy according to the Rite of Saint Gregory|url=https://www.stgregoryoc.org/article/the-divine-liturgy-according-to-the-rite-of-saint-gregory/|access-date=2021-10-23|website=St. Gregory the Great Orthodox Church|language=en-US}}
• The English Liturgy – the Russian adaptation of the 1549 Book of Common Prayer according to the criteria set forth by the Holy Synod of Russia in 1907. This liturgy has been augmented with material from the Sarum Missal, the Gothic Missal, the York rite, and the 1718 Scottish Non-Juror liturgy. An epiclesis from the Gothic Missal is included. This liturgy is not the same rite as the Liturgy of Saint Tikhon, and the two rites differ in many respects.{{cite web|title=The English Liturgy: according to the Western Rite, derived from the Sarum, 1549, 1718 etc., adapted using the rules authorised by the Holy Synod of Russia|website=orthodoxresurgence.com|url=http://www.orthodoxresurgence.com/petroc/english.htm|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080724202405/http://www.orthodoxresurgence.com/petroc/english.htm|archive-date=2008-07-24|url-status=usurped}}
• The Liturgy according to Saint Germanus – used by the Orthodox-Catholic Church of France, the French Orthodox Church, and the Orthodox Church of the Gauls.{{Cite web|title=Ordinaire de la sainte liturgie|url=http://liturgieortho.free.fr/ordinaire_divine_liturgie.htm|access-date=2021-10-23|website=liturgieortho.free.fr}}{{Cite book|last=Mayer|first=Jean-François|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Wevtvpdkul0C&dq=The+divine+liturgy+for+the+celebration+of+the+Holy+Eucharist+according+to+the+Glastonbury+rite%2C+commonly+called+the+liturgy+of+Saint+Joseph+of+Arimathea&pg=PA211|title=Regards sur l'orthodoxie: mélanges offerts à Jacques Goudet|date=1997|publisher=L'AGE D'HOMME|isbn=978-2-8251-1079-9|editor-last=Ivanoff-Trinadtzaty|editor-first=Germain|pages=209–11|language=fr|chapter=L'Orthodoxie doit-elle être byzantine ? Les tentatives de création d'une Orthodoxie de rite occidental}}{{Citation needed |date=May 2024}}
• The Glastonbury Rite – the Glastonbury Rite was at one time used in the Catholicate of the West.{{Cite book|last=Anson|first=Peter F.|title=Bishops at Large|publisher=Apocryphile press|year=2006|isbn=0-9771461-8-9|series=Independent Catholic Heritage|pages=464–5|chapter=The Catholicate of the West|orig-year=1964}}{{cite book|author=Catholic Apostolic Church|title=The divine liturgy for the celebration of the Holy Eucharist according to the Glastonbury rite, commonly called the liturgy of Saint Joseph of Arimathea|publisher=Metropolitical Press|year=1979|edition=6th|location=London|oclc=16489110|author-link=Catholicate of the West}}{{Cite book|last=Mayer|first=Jean-François|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Wevtvpdkul0C&dq=The+divine+liturgy+for+the+celebration+of+the+Holy+Eucharist+according+to+the+Glastonbury+rite%2C+commonly+called+the+liturgy+of+Saint+Joseph+of+Arimathea&pg=PA211|title=Regards sur l'orthodoxie : mélanges offerts à Jacques Goudet|date=1997|publisher=L'AGE D'HOMME|isbn=978-2-8251-1079-9|editor-last=Ivanoff-Trinadtzaty|editor-first=Germain|pages=210–1|language=fr|chapter=L'Orthodoxie doit-elle être byzantine ? Les tentatives de création d'une Orthodoxie de rite occidental}}

The Western Orthodox rites allowed in Eastern Orthodoxy are the Divine Liturgy of Saint Tikhon and the Divine Liturgy of Saint Gregory.{{Cite book|url=http://doi.wiley.com/10.1002/9781405166584|title=The Blackwell Dictionary of Eastern Christianity|date=2017-09-01|publisher=Blackwell Publishing Ltd|isbn=978-1-4051-6658-4|editor-last=Parry|editor-first=Ken|location=Oxford, UK|pages=514–5|language=en|chapter=Western rite Orthodxy|doi=10.1002/9781405166584|orig-year=1999|editor-last2=Melling|editor-first2=David J.|editor-last3=Brady|editor-first3=Dimitri|editor-last4=Griffith|editor-first4=Sidney H.|editor-last5=Healey|editor-first5=John F.}}

In France, Bishop Alexis van der Mensbrugghe, of the {{abbr|ROC|Russian Orthodox Church}}, published a missal in 1962 which contained his restored Gallican rite and his restored pre-Celestinian Italic rite.{{cite book|last=Mayer|first=Jean-François|author-link=Jean-François Mayer|year=2014|chapter={{thinsp}}'We are Westerners and must remain Westerners': Orthodoxy and Western rites in Western Europe|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=y9oRBAAAQBAJ&pg=PA273|editor-last=Hämmerli|editor-first=Maria|title=Orthodox identities in western Europe: migration, settlement, and innovation|location=Farnham [u.a.]|publisher=Ashgate|isbn=9781409467540|pages=273–286}}{{rp|page=276}}{{cite book|last=Mensbrugghe|first=Alexis van der|year=1962|title=Missel ou Livre de la synaxe liturgique: approuvé et autorisé pour les églises orthodoxes de rit occidental relevant du Patriarcat de Moscou|language=fr|series=Contacts|volume=38–39/supplement|edition=revue and typ.|location=Paris|publisher=Contacts|oclc=716494134}}Vincent Bourne, La Divine Contradiction. Le chant et la lutte de l'Orthodoxie, Paris, Ed. Présence Orthodoxe, 1978 Neither of Mensbrugghe's restored rites are used by Eastern Orthodox groups.{{rp|page=278}}

Meyendorff, Schmemann, and Schneirla were already familiar with the Western Rite both from having been in contact with members of the ECOF while teaching at Saint Sergius Theological Institute. Schmemann actively followed the Liturgical Movement in the Roman Catholic and Anglican Church and was an advocate for renewal of the Orthodox liturgy.Alexander Schmemann, "Notes and Comments: The Western Rite" in St. Vladimir's Seminary Quarterly, 2.4 (1958), 37–38.

File:Western Rite Orthodox liturgical books.jpg

Officially, the {{abbr|AWRV|Antiochian Western Rite Vicariate}} provides one liturgical book, Orthodox Missal,{{cite book|author=Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of North America|title=Orthodox missal according to the use of the Western rite vicariate of the Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of North America|location=Stanton, New Jersey|publisher=Saint Luke's Priory Press|oclc=36287786}} which contains both the Liturgy of Saint Tikhon and the Liturgy of Saint Gregory, with appropriate propers for seasons, feasts, saints, and prayers before and after Mass. The Antiochian Archdiocese publishes the Saint Andrew Service Book (SASB),{{cite book|author=Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of North America|title=Saint Andrew service book: the administration of the sacraments and other rites and ceremonies according to the Western Rite usage of the Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of North America|year=2005|edition=3rd|location=Englewood Hills, New Jersey|publisher=Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of North America|isbn=9780962419072}} also known as The Western Rite Service Book,{{cite thesis|last=Andersen|first=Benjamin J.|date=May 2005|title=An Anglican liturgy in the Orthodox Church: the origins and development of the Antiochian Orthodox liturgy of Saint Tikhon|degree=M.Div.|location=Crestwood, New York|publisher=St. Vladimir's Orthodox Theological Seminary|oclc=166264677|url=https://www.academia.edu/460875|page=19}} which was developed by Saint Michael's Church in California under the leadership of the late Father Michael Trigg; the 1996 second and 2005 third editions of the SASB received official sanction from Metropolitan Philip Saliba, with the latter containing explicit reference to the authorized nature of all previous editions of the SASB. In addition to duplicating the contents of The Orthodox Missal, the SASB also includes forms for Matins and Vespers, the Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament, and the threefold Amen common to the Byzantine epiclesis but absent in The Orthodox Missal. The SASB was produced by the Antiochian Archdiocese without the participation of the {{abbr|AWRV|Antiochian Western Rite Vicariate}}.

Parishes within the {{abbr|AWRV|Antiochian Western Rite Vicariate}} are permitted to use either the Liturgy of Saint Tikhon or that of Saint Gregory. While most parishes use the Tikhonite liturgy, several use the Gregorian liturgy on weekdays or on specific Sundays of the year.{{citation needed|date=July 2022}} Presently, there is no breviary specifically designed for the Orthodox Western Rite, though priests of the {{abbr|AWRV|Antiochian Western Rite Vicariate}} who celebrate the Liturgy of Saint Gregory are expected to pray as much of the Breviarium Monasticum as possible,{{cite web|last=Andersen|first=Benjamin J.|date=May 2003|title=Sacrificium laudis: the Anglican Breviary and the Ancient Western Orthodox Divine Office|website=westernorthodox.com|location=Denver, Colorado|publisher=St. Mark's Parish|url=http://www.westernorthodox.com/stmark/lion/lion2003-05|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120206010932/http://www.westernorthodox.com/stmark/lion/lion2003-05|archive-date=2012-02-06|url-status=dead}} in the Anglican Breviary.

Also in common use within the {{abbr|AWRV|Antiochian Western Rite Vicariate}}, though not officially approved, are St. Dunstan's Plainsong Psalter,{{cite web|title=St. Dunstan's Plainsong Psalter|website=andrewespress.com|date=30 November 2020 |publisher=Andrewes Press|url=http://andrewespress.com/st-dunstans-plainsong-psalter-hardcover}} The English Office Noted,{{cite web|title=The Daily Office|website=stgregoryoc.org|date=17 January 2012|location=Silver Spring, Maryland|publisher=St. Gregory the Great Orthodox Church|url=http://www.stgregoryoc.org/article/the-daily-office/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150926063153/http://www.stgregoryoc.org/article/the-daily-office/|archive-date=2015-09-26|url-status=live}} and the St. Ambrose Hymnal.{{cite web|title=Order the St. Ambrose Hymnal|website=stgregoryoc.org|date=17 January 2012|location=Silver Spring, Maryland|publisher=St. Gregory the Great Orthodox Church|url=http://www.stgregoryoc.org/article/ordering-the-hymnal/}}

Lancelot Andrewes Press is the publishing arm of the Fellowship of Saint Dunstan and publishes material which is utilized by congregations and individuals in Western rites. The primary mission of Lancelot Andrewes Press is to publish material for the "advancement of historic Christian orthodoxy, as expressed by the liturgical and devotional usages of traditional English Christianity."{{Cite web |url=http://www.andrewespress.com/about.html |title=About Lancelot Andrews Press |access-date=2007-04-20 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070403230103/http://www.andrewespress.com/about.html |archive-date=2007-04-03 |url-status=dead }}

There are also devotional societies within the {{abbr|AWRV|Antiochian Western Rite Vicariate}}:

• The Orthodox Christian Society of Our Lady of Walsingham – dedicated to encouragement of devotion to the Theotokos, particularly under the title of Our Lady of Walsingham (and the preservation of the replica of the shrine of Walsingham).{{Cite web |url=http://www.westernorthodox.com/walsingham |title=Westernorthodox.com |access-date=2007-04-20 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070627085301/http://www.westernorthodox.com/walsingham |archive-date=2007-06-27 |url-status=dead }}

Parishes and missions belonging to the Western Rite can be found in a number of Orthodox jurisdictions. The single largest group of such communities is to be found within the Orthodox Church of France,{{cite web|url=http://eglise-orthodoxe-de-france.fr/lieux_de_culte_en_france.htm |title=Eglise Orthodoxe de France |publisher=Eglise-orthodoxe-de-france.fr |access-date=2019-05-20}} followed by jurisdictions of the Eastern Orthodox Church,{{Cite web|url=http://www.rocor-wr.org/parishes|title = ROCOR Western Rite (Parishes)}}{{cite web|url=http://www.antiochian.org/western-rite/edict-and-directory |title=Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of North America |publisher=Antiochian.org |access-date=2019-05-20}} and the Communion of Western Orthodox Churches.{{cite web|url=http://www.eglise-orthodoxe.eu/menu_lieux_celebration.htm |title=Lieux de célébration dans l' Eglise Orthodoxe des Gaules |publisher=Eglise-orthodoxe.eu |access-date=2019-05-20}}{{cite web|url=https://www.eof.fr/lieux/ |title=Lieux - Eglise Orthodoxe Française - EOF orthodoxie |publisher=Eof.fr |access-date=2019-05-20}}{{cite web|url=http://www.eoc-coc.org/ou-nous-trouver/france/ |title=France |publisher=Eoc-coc.org |access-date=2019-05-20}} There are also parishes and missions belonging to the Old Calendarist tradition.{{cite web|url=http://orthodoxmetropolia.org/parishes/ |title=Parishes – The Autonomous Orthodox Metropolia of North and South America and the British Isles |publisher=Orthodoxmetropolia.org |access-date=2019-05-20}}

These groups are Canonical missionary societies with a core of canonical Orthodox laity served by Eastern Orthodox clergy within the Eastern Orthodox Church with the goal of future reception of converts into the Western Rite of Orthodoxy.

• Saint Brendan OSS – Panama City Florida – ROCOR

Metropolitan Kallistos Ware considered Western Rite Orthodoxy inherently divisive, believing that following different liturgical traditions from their neighboring Byzantine Rite Eastern Orthodox Christians meant they did not share liturgical unity with them and presented an unfamiliar face to the majority of Eastern Orthodox Christians. Ware was particularly concerned about the further fragmentation of Eastern Orthodoxy in non-Eastern Orthodox countries, in this case, in Great Britain.Bishop Kallistos. "Some Thoughts on the 'Western Rite' in Orthodoxy" in The Priest: A Newsletter for the Clergy of the Diocese of San Francisco, 5, May 1996.

• Eastern Orthodox Church organization
• Western Christianity
• Eastern Catholic Churches

{{Reflist|30em}}

• {{OrthodoxWiki|name=Western Rite|oldid=44571}}

• [https://www.westernorthodox.info/ Western Orthodox Info]

• [https://www.academia.edu/79084113/J_J_Overbecks_Liturgia_missae_Orthodoxo_Catholicae_occidentalis J.J. Overbeck's Liturgia missae Orthodoxo-Catholicae occidentalis] transcribed by Richard Mammana
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20071208055201/http://members.aol.com/FrNicholas/liturgy.htm Text of the Liturgy of Saint Gregory]
• [https://theocacna.tripod.com/St_Tikhon_Liturgy.htm Text of the Liturgy of Saint Tikhon]
• [http://www.stmichaelwhittier.org/resources/osboff7.pdf Office and Prayers of the Oblates of St. Benedict] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210309120738/http://www.stmichaelwhittier.org/resources/osboff7.pdf |date=2021-03-09 }} (PDF) – Western Rite oblates
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20160304070726/http://rwrv.org/files/AmbrosianMass.pdf The Divine Liturgy of St. Ambrose], as authorized by the Russian Orthodox Church outside of Russia for limited use

• {{cite web |url-status=dead |url=http://www.westernorthodox.com/basil |title=Comments on the Western Rite |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070426115642/http://www.westernorthodox.com/basil |archive-date=2007-04-26 |author1=Bishop Basil (Essey) of Wichita |website=Western Orthodoxy }}
• {{cite letter |url=http://www.holy-trinity.org/modern/western-rite/sergius.html |subject=On the Question of Western Orthodoxy |author=Patriarch Sergius I (Stragorodsky) of Moscow |recipient=Vladimir Lossky |translator=A. Smirensky |website=Holy Trinity Orthodox Cathedral}}
• {{Cite web |title=In Defense of Western Rite Orthodoxy |url=http://www.pravoslavie.ru/english/91138.htm |website=Orthodox Christianity}}

• [https://www.holy-trinity.org/modern/western-rite/correspondence.html Correspondence on the Western Rite] between Bishop Anthony (Gergiannakis) of San Francisco and Fr Paul W.S. Schneirla
• [https://www.holy-trinity.org/modern/western-rite/tsichlis.html The Western Rite – Some Final Comments], by Fr Steven Peter Tsichlis
• [https://www.holy-trinity.org/modern/western-rite/johnson.html The "Western Rite": Is It Right for the Orthodox?], by Fr Michael Johnson

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Category:East–West Schism