The Orthodox Church is usually identified with the Byzantine Rite. This book examines a phenomenon that has hardly been studied to date and which calls this identification into question Western Rite Orthodoxy. While this chapter of recent Orthodox liturgical and church history has received little attention in academic discourse, this book systematically traces its ecclesiastical origins and liturgical expressions.
This study traces forms of Western Orthodoxy through in different contexts since the 19th and especially the 20th century, giving rise to pluriform forms that reflect not only different liturgical traditions but also highly diverse discourses on ecclesiological identity and further theological implications.
The focus lies on questions concerning the possibilities and limits of integrating “Western” liturgical traditions into the Orthodox lex orandi, the forms of liturgical developments, and implications for the self-understanding of Orthodoxy. The work combines liturgical analysis with ecumenical and ecclesiological perspectives, thus opening up a nuanced approach to a previously often marginalized field that can also provide insights into current Orthodox identity discourses