Identity, Formation, Transformation

Abstract

The Liturgical Movement of the twentieth century had a great impact on the liturgical life of much of Western Christianity, particularly Roman Catholicism and mainline Protestantism. Many of the early pioneers of this movement drew inspiration for their efforts from the liturgical forms and theology of the Christian East, primarily from late antiquity (i.e. third to eighth centuries). The question is, “Were the Eastern Christian Churches that trace much of their liturgical expression to this period themselves affected by this movement?” At first glance, the answer might appear to be negative. However, this dissertation aims to show that the Liturgical Movement did have an influence in some quarters of the Eastern Christian Church. In particular, it analyzes one community’s attempt to adapt the scholarship and principles of the movement to Eastern Christian worship, specifically focusing on the liturgical reform efforts of New Skete Monastery, a community of Eastern Orthodox monastics located in upstate New York. The dissertation begins with a discussion of the meaning of reform and an historical overview of the scholarship and principles of the Liturgical Movement in both the Christian West and East, focusing primarily on those aspects that will become relevant to the future liturgical reform efforts of New Skete. It then introduces the communities of New Skete, including a brief history of the communities, how they understand liturgy and the place it has in their lives, how they understand liturgical reform, why they think such reform is necessary, their principles of reform, and how they understand the authority for their reform. The bulk of the dissertation chronicles the liturgical reform efforts of the community over their fifty-year history for the communal services of the monastery and analyzes them in detail. Since the study of liturgy is not just textual, this dissertation also includes a presentation and cursory analysis of the architecture of the worship space and its iconic program, the calendar of saints, the music of the service, and other performative aspects of the celebration. The work concludes with a summary of the reception of their efforts gathered from an interview project that explored their liturgical life.