Head of the Patriarchal Liturgical Commission of the UGCC Presents a New Service Book at the Synod
At the Synod of Bishops of the UGCC, which is taking place in Rome, Bishop Hryhoriy Komar, chairman of the Patriarchal Liturgical Commission of the UGCC, presented to the bishops a new text of the Service Book, which theologians and liturgists have been working on for more than ten years.
As Bishop Hryhoriy Komar told the UGCC Information Department, this work had several stages. First, a group of translators and reviewers was created, and then a Synodal group of three bishops finalized the text of the Liturgy of John Chrysostom, which was approved at the Synod in Przemysl in 2022.
“Since the Service Book is not only the text of the Liturgy of John Chrysostom, the work continued, and to this already approved text, we added the edited and verified text of the anaphora of the Liturgy of St. Basil the Great and the prayers we pray at this Liturgy,” said Bishop Hryhoriy.
Whether the new text of the Service Book will be approved is to be seen after the Synod of Bishops in Rome on September 13.
“We hope that a decision will be made to approve the UGCC Service Book, but its implementation will take some time,” explained Bishop Hryhoriy. “His Beatitude Sviatoslav will present the approved Service Book to the Dicastery for the Eastern Churches, and then we will prepare it for printing. Once it is printed, a presentation will be held in all the eparchies of our Church, and during this presentation, we will have the opportunity to explain to our priests what the changes are. Afterward, there will be a separate decree of the Head of the Church stating that from a certain date, all priests of the Church will begin to use the new Service Book.”
The UGCC Department for Information
