There has been a development in Western Christianity that Easterners has never adopted. This development is about the correlation between the number of priests and the number of Eucharistic celebrations.
In the late first millennium, the following practice got well established in the West: every priest celebrates “his” Mass at least once a day; no matter if there is a community celebrating with him or not.
This development had several consequences that we can still see in our days: Catholic parishioners require different opportunities to attend Mass on Sundays and even on Weekdays. They expect the priests to say Mass as often as possible (at least twice on Sundays, at least once on Weekdays). They want different options for their personal Sunday or Weekday schedule.
Another consequence was that we Westerners got used to Masses celebrated in a very short time and in a reduced esthetic design (apart from High Masses on popular holidays of course). The Liturgy of the Hours almost totally disappeared from the parishes. The current Canon Law permits every priest to celebrate his personal Mass every day, even when there is a community that he could join for concelebration on the same day (can. 902 CIC). The Canon Law also requires religious orders to celebrate Mass every day (can. 663 §2 CIC), even orders like the Benedictines whose founding generation consisted of laymen and did not know regular Masses, not even on Sundays.
Even after the Second Vatican Council and all the great things it said about the Eucharist in Sacrosanctum Concilium, the Catholic Church still defines the practice of Eucharistic celebration more with regard to the priests than with regard to the communities.
You will find almost none of these aspects in Eastern Christianity. Admittedly, Orthodox monasteries tend to celebrate Eucharist every morning, and Eastern Catholic parishes sometimes do the same. You can find Orthodox communities of different languages that celebrate Eucharist on the same day in the same church. In some Eastern churches, Eucharist is celebrated more than once a day in case that the building is too small for the entire community. But everyone knows that these are exceptions due to certain circumstances. Orthodox parishioners would never require their parish priest to say a second Mass in the afternoon to give them different choices for their personal preference. No Orthodox would expect to abolish Vespers on Saturday evening and celebrate a Vigil Mass instead. No Eastern priest would refuse to concelebrate with others and say a “private Mass.ˮ No one demands that the Mass is celebrated a bit quicker than usual and shortened a bit so that the next Mass can begin in time.
For me, this is a very important aspect that I like about Eastern Christianity. The Eucharist is not an omnipresent “priestly supply of service” for the laity. Instead, it is the one and only highlight in the weekly life of a Christian community. Instead of the principle “any priest says Mass as often as possible, no matter whether there is a community with him or not”, we find the rule “any community celebrates Eucharist once every Sunday/holiday, no matter how many priests concelebrate.” This is one of the Eastern principles that should be adopted by Roman Catholics immediately.
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