Kiev Missal?

[Frank McLellan]

>Anyone know why the Kiev Missal is Roman rite?
>
>I hadn't known that before - or maybe I'd forgotten it.  I assume 
>there are some theories.
>
>Peter Scotto
>Mount Holyoke College
>pscotto at mtholyoke.edu

I had meant to address this before; I hope it is still relevant.

To the best of my knowledge, in the Moravia of Constantine and 
Methodius, both Eastern and Western Rites were used.  They were 
working in a region that had previously known only Western 
ecclesiastical influence, and their activity was sanctioned by the 
Pope (and then un-sanctioned by his successor, and re-sanctioned by 
*his* successor).  The Kiev Missal itself, unlike most other 
monuments of Old Church Slavonic (as opposed to later recensions of 
Church Slavonic) literature, shows marked West Slavic, or Czech 
features, most notably *tj > c and *dj > z.  Auty believes the 
translation was made in the Cyrillo-Methodian period, and he is 
probably correct, even if this particular witness is of later 
provenance.

As for the connections between Cyrill and Methodius and the Western 
rite, remember that the papal bull that sanctioned the Church 
Slavonic liturgy stipulated that the Epistle and Gospel be read first 
in Latin and then in Church Slavonic.  Bob Mathiesen wrote an article 
on the Uspenskij Bifolium in which he demonstrated, I think 
convincingly, that one folium was from the (Eastern Rite) Liturgy of 
St Basil while the other was from the Liturgy of St Peter, as the 
Western Rite mass was known to them then.

If memory serves, there was a monastery in Prague where they 
continued to use Church Slavonic, albeit in the Western Rite, for 
some time after the death of Cyrill and Methodius, known popularly as 
"Na slovanech."

Frank McLellan
-- 
Francis R. McLellan, Ph.D.
Senior Lecturer in Slavic Languages and Literatures
230 East Pyne, Princeton University
Princeton, NJ 08544
Tel:  (609) 258-2190
Fax:  (609) 258-2204

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