EASTERN RITES 123 



1. Ruthenians, who use the Greek Rite in the ancient 

 Slavonic language. 



2. Melchites, who are Syrians, who use the same rite in 

 the Arabic language, or who use Arabic or Greek inter- 

 changeably. 



3. Rumanians, who use the Greek Rite in the Rumanian 

 language. 



4. Greeks of Constantinople, Syria, Greece and lower Italy 

 and Sicily, who use the Greek Rite in the original Greek 

 language. 



The Slavonic Liturgy 



The Mass, according to the Greek Rite, was originally cele- 

 brated in the ancient Greek language, but in the year 868 it 

 was translated into Slavonic by Sts. Cyril and Methodius for 

 the conversion of the Bulgarians, Ruthenians, Moravians and 

 other pagan Slavic tribes, and this translation was approved 

 by Pope John VIII at Rome in 879. Afterwards it was also 

 translated into Arabic and into Rumanian, so that nowadays 

 Greek Catholics celebrate Mass in one of these four languages, 

 in the various countries where those languages represent the 

 ancient tongue of the people. The use of one single language, 

 like the Latin in the Roman Rite, has never been the practice 

 among the Greek Catholics in celebrating Mass. None of 

 these things have been interfered with by the Holy See, which 

 has always permitted ancient rites and privileges which date 

 back to the time when the Church was not disturbed by schism 

 or separation. 



The language used in the celebration of the Mass by the 

 Ruthenian clergy is the Ancient Slavonic (Church Slavonic) 

 of St. Cyril. This language bears about the same relation to 

 the ordinary vernacular of the people that the language of 

 Chaucer does to current English. The people can understand 

 it with some difficulty and readily sing the church responses, 

 but it is very quaint and archaic to them and numerous words 

 have to be translated. In addition to this, it is written or 

 printed in a peculiar church alphabet or type called the 

 Cyrillic. 



Sts. Cyril and Methodius translated all the Greek service 

 books into Slavonic and said Mass in that language. This 

 gave offense to some German missionaries of the Roman rite, 

 who maintained that the Mass and the sacraments should be 

 in either Latin or Greek, or in the Hebrew of the Old Testa- 



