My exposure to the Byzantine rite

 

The image of Our Mother of Perpetual Help was one of the first icons I was exposed to


From a young age, even before I turned one years old, I was already exposed to the Byzantine rite of the church. My exposure would later help me admire the Byzantine Eastern rites as a Latin rite Catholic.

St. Basil's Cathedral, Moscow

My first exposure to the Byzantine rite was when I was 10 months old in Feb. 2007 in which mom bought me a book about historical landmarks featuring Mickey Mouse. I can still remember I memorized the Statue of Liberty, the Pyramids of Egypt, the Eiffel Tower and Leaning Tower of Pisa, and Mount Rushmore, which was one of the places I visited as a baby.
But most of all was a segment of the book featuring St. Basil's Cathedral in Moscow, Russia. I was so attached to it because of our religious family, but at the time I thought it was a Roman Catholic church. It was only years later I realized it was a Russian Orthodox Church that followed the Byzantine rite.

My second exposure to the Byzantine rite was when my mother in January 2008 after my therapy (I was diagnosed with autism at the time) brought me to the Redemptorist church in Cebu, built by Irish priests in 1929. There, one of the icons she exposed to me was the icon of Our Mother of Perpetual Help, a Byzantine icon painted by Saint Luke, and is also used by Russian Orthodox as well.

As a result of my upbringing, I became a fan of traditional values to the point of distinguishing who was promoting these values, Disney or Russia. I then realized that Russia is much more traditionalist compared to Disney, which promotes immorality as opposed to Russia promoting Christian values.

It was only years later that I realized that both St. Basil's and Perpetual Help have one thing in common: the Byzantine Rite of the church. The Byzantine rite is normally used by Eastern Orthodox churches but used by Eastern rite Catholics in communion with Rome. I could have attended a Byzantine Catholic divine liturgy (Holy Mass) but unfortunately, most Byzantine Catholics are compromised with Vatican II, there are rare Byzantine priests who reject Vatican II, and the Byzantine rite is not native to the Philippines compared to the Latin rite compared to the Spaniards. However, I make friends with Russian priests, like my priest Father Alexander Kryssov, a Russian Catholic priest from CMRI and is the first Russian I met in person, and Father Alexei, a Russian Orthodox priest assigned in the Philippines. I keep Russian icons like the Christ Pantocrator, Our Lady of Kazan and Pochaev, and the Holy Mandylion.

Never forget that Our Lady told to consecrate Russia to her Immaculate Heart at Fatima in Portugal.






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