This is from Lux Occidentalis and touches on many of these criticisms.
If the “Rite of St. Tikhon” is more suspect, because of its history among English speaking people, than the “Rite of St. Gregory,” then it should be examined for its antiquity versus Bishop Anthony’s theory that these Rites are “not in direct continuity with the worship of the early Church of the West.”
According to Blunt (1882) the “Ancient Liturgy according to the use of Sarum” begins following this pattern: “The priest, having first confessed and received absolution, said the Hymn, “Veni Creator,” whilst putting on the holy vestments, and then the Collect, “Deus, cui omne cor patet,” Ps. xliii. Judica me, with the Antiphon, “Introibo ad altare Dei, ad Deum qui lætificat juventutem meam;” followed by “Kyrie,” “Pater Noster,” and “Ave Maria.” All this was done in the Sacristy.
The Introit, having been begun, the Priest proceeded “ad gradum Altaris,” and there (with the Deacon on his right and Sub-deacon on his left) said “Confiteor, etc. Then going up to the Altar, and standing in the midst, said secretly, “Take away from us, we beseech Thee, O Lord, all our iniquities...” He then censed the Altar while the Choir sing the Introit, the Kyries, and the priest himself intones the “Gloria in excelsis Deo” after which he returns to the dexter (right) horn of the Altar to say the Collect and remains there for the reading of the Epistle...”
The Orthodox Missal (1995) page 172 ff... provides Psalm 43 (xliii.), the antiphon “I will go unto the altar of God.” (Introibo ad altare Dei...) followed by the Collect: “Almighty God, unto whom all hearts are open, all desires known, and from whom no secrets are hid: Cleanse the thoughts of our hearts by the inspira- tion of thy Holy Spirit, that we may per- fectly love thee, and worthily magnify thy holy Name; through Christ our Lord. Amen.”
“Deus Cui omne cor patet, et omnis voluntas loquitur, et Quem nullum latet secretum; purifica per infusionem Sancti Spiritus cogitationes cordis nos- tri; ut Te perfecte diligere, et digne lau- dare mereamur. Per Christum Dominum nostrum. Amen.”
This “Collect for Purity” is not found in the preparatory prayers of the Roman Sacramentary. Perhaps it points to a “result of 16th century Reformation or Counter Reformation debates.” On the contrary, this prayer appears (in Latin as above) in the Sarum Sacramentary (c. 1085) in the Priest’s preparation prayers, and again in a Mass “ad invocandum gratiam Spiritus Sancti” at the end of the Sarum Missal, and in a Mass attributed by Muratori [ii.383] to St. Gregory, the Abbot of Canterbury about A.D. 780. It is also found in the Sacramentary of Alcuin (c. 735-804), and at the end of the Mass in the Hereford Missal, and the York Litany. It also occurs in the Roman Missal in a votive Mass “Missa votiva de Spiritu Sancto.”
Surely the antiquity of the Introit Psalm and the Kyries are above reproach. The “Gloria in Excelsis” follows immediately. The Gloria is known anciently, appearing completely in its present form in St. Athanasius’ De Virgin, tom. ii., and undoubtedly dates from the Apostolic period. The angelic hymn was part of Western Matins and introduced into the Eucharistic Liturgy at least by the time of Symachus, Bishop of Rome, A.D. 500.
The Collect of the Day, Epistle, Gradual and Alleluia verses, and Gospel follow as on pages 175, 176 of the Orthodox Missal. These “Propers” of the Western Rite have been established since at least the time of St. Jerome [c. 342-420] and are not just similar, but for most part identical, in the Sacramentaries and Missals from the fifth century to the present usage of the Western Rite. Compare the Collect for Pentecost in the Missal of Robert of Jumièges [English c. 1000] withthat of the Orthodox Missal (1995): “Deus qui hodierna die corda fideli- um sancti spiritus inlustratione docuisti. da nobis in eodem spiritu recta sapere. et de eius semper con- solatione gaudere, per dominum. in unitate eiusdem...”
“God, who as at this time didst teach the hearts of thy faithful people, by sending to them the light of thy Holy Spirit: grant us by the same Spirit to have a right judgement in all things: and evermore to rejoice in his holy comfort. Through... in the unity of the same...”
The “Credo in unum Deum” follows as always, without the “filioque” in conformity to Orthodox pneumatology. The Offertory sentences and prayers follow, unchanged in over a thousand years. A “Proper Preface” follows the Sursum Corda and these have varied somewhat over the centuries. In the middle of the first millennium there were more Proper Prefaces, in some books a unique text for every Day of the year. The Eastern Liturgies have a fixed form that does not vary from Advent to Christmas to Lent to Pascha. Most Western Missals provide at least ten Proper Prefaces, including one for the Virgin Mother of God, for Apostles’ Days, as well as for the major Feasts of the Temporal Cycle. The Orthodox Missal provides (p. 216 f.) twenty-two Prefaces.
Following the threefold Sanctus, the Canon continues...
Orthodox Missal p.185 (St. Tikhon)
“All glory be to thee, Almighty God, our heavenly Father, for that thou of thy ten- der mercy, didst give thine only Son..."
Orthodox Missal p.205 (St. Gregory) “Therefore, most merciful Father, we humbly pray and beseech thee through Jesus Christ thy Son our Lord,"
Missal of Robert of Jumièges p.45: “Te igitur clementissime pater per iesum christum filium tuum dominum nos- trum"
The Liturgy is always offered ‘ad Patrem’ through the Son. The gifts are offered as an explicit oblation to the Father:
Orthodox Missal p.185 (St. Tikhon) :
“do celebrate and make here before thy divine Majesty, with these thy holy gifts, which we now offer unto thee..."
Orthodox Missal p.205 (St. Gregory) : “... these gifts, these offerings, these holy, spotless sacrifices, which we offer thee..."
Missal of Robert of Jumièges p.45 :
“...supplices rogamus et petimus uti accepta habeas et + benedicas + haec dona + haec munera haec sancta sacrifi- cia inlibata..."
The Commemoration of the Departed brings us to an instance where the local [English] Church has caused a variation in the text. How charming to read the list of Saints in Jumièges (p. 47) as compared to the standard [Roman] Western reading followed in our Orthodox Missal (pp. 186, 187):
“...cum tuis sanctis apostolis et mar- tyribus cum Iohanne Stephano Mathia Barnaba Ignatio Alexandro Marcellino Petro Felicitate Perpetua Agatha Lucia Agnae Caecilia Anastasia Ætheldrythae Gertrudis et cum omnibus sanctis..."
“...with thy holy Apostles and Martyrs: John, Stephen, Mattias, Barnabas, Marcellinus, Peter, Felicitas, Perpetua, Agatha, Lucia, Agnes, Cecilia, Anastasia, and with all thy Saints..."
Perhaps the names of Ætheldreda and Gertrude might be restored to the Orthodox Missal. Neither pious lady was seen to participate in the “16th century Reformation or Counter Reformation debates.” For that matter, they, and all the above mentioned Saints, reposed centuries before the Schism of East and West. It is also worth noting, in this discussion of an Antiochian Orthodox Service Book, that Ignatius of Antioch was included in the constant Commemorations of the pre- Schism English Church.
There follows the Pater Noster and the prayer Libera Nos which since the 6th century has included the name of the Apostle Andrew. This is simply because Pope St. Gregory the Great of Rome offered the Mass with an explicit commemoration of St. Andrew, the patron Saint of the monastery Gregory had founded at his family’s estate in Rome. Pilgrims may still visit this monastery and other churches nearby mentioned by Gregory in his sermons. The monastery is now dedicated to San Gregorio himself. Gregory had earlier served in Constantinople whose Apostolic patron is St. Andrew. The universal Liturgy has ever after continued this commemoration of St. Andrew the Apostle. One writer, lately published by St. Vladimir Press in its Quarterly, mistakenly argued that the name of Andrew entered the text when a parochial Service Book was published by St. Andrew’s Parish in Eustis, Florida! The same writer has argued that the word “remembrance” in the text of the Administration of the sacrament (Missal p. 191) relegates the entire Rite to a kind of Zwinglian “memorialist” service. He “proves” this by supposing that the assumptions of one or more deceased English sovereigns has determined the meaning of “remembrance” wherever it appears in an English Liturgical text. On the contrary, “remembrance” means what our Lord meant when He Instituted the Sacrament saying “This do in remem- brance of me.” (St. Luke 22.19, I Cor 11.24, I Cor 11.25.) The text was established some fifteen hundred years before Zwingli or the “Reformation debates” and is present in every Liturgy of the Universal Church. For a discussion of “remembrance” in relation to the Liturgy see: Carlton, The Faith, Regina Press, 1997, pp. 204, 205.
Perhaps a “Reformation debate” can be found in the fixed “post Communion” prayer or “thanksgiving” of the St. Tikhon Rite Missal (p. 192). There is no such in the Roman Missal, or in the old English Missals. There is, however, a corresponding prayer in the Liturgy of St. James, which is as follows: “We give Thee thanks, Christ our God, that Thou hast vouchsafed to make us partakers of Thy Body and Blood, for the remission of sins, and eternal life. Keep us, we beseech Thee, with- out condemnation, because Thou art good, and the lover of men. We thank Thee, God and Saviour of all, for all the good things which Thou hast bestowed on us; and for the partici- pation of Thy holy and spotless mysteries... Glory to Thee, Glory to Thee, Glory to Thee, Christ the King, Only begotten Word of the Father, for that Thou hast vouchsafed us sinners and Thy unworthy servants to enjoy Thy spot- less mysteries, for the forgiveness of sins, and for eternal life: Glory to Thee.”
The word “duly” in “duly received” (p. 192) of the Orthodox Missal is the English word for “proper rite” according to the proper form and ordinance.
There is one more statement in Bishop Anthony’s encyclical that needs comment. He continues: “[The Western Rite is] pastorally unwise because this adds still further to our fragmentation as a Church in the Americas and creates a tiny group of missions and parishes that are liturgically isolated from the rest of the Church.” How sad that a Greek Orthodox prelate is still actively suppressing legitimate Liturgies of the Orthodox Church in the interest of promoting only one: the so-called “Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom.” The historical John Chrysostom (Golden Mouth) was a son of Antioch, an Arab Christian, who served the Liturgy of St. James most of his life. That venerable Liturgy (and the Liturgy of St. Mark of Alexandria) was needlessly suppressed in the 13th Century by “Patriarch” Theodore IV (Balsamon), who was a Greek bishop living at Constantinople, and who never saw Antioch and never served the Liturgy of St. James. The arrogance of those who discard sacred tradition does not belong only to the modern period. Nor does such arrogance belong only to the Latin West.
The worship of the one, holy, Apostolic, and Catholic Church, through the first millennium, was expressed in several regional Liturgies with local variations. These Liturgies include that of St. James in Antioch and the East, St. Mark in Alexandria and Africa, St. Peter in Rome and the West (with some residue of the Liturgy of St. John of Ephesus, and the local Ambrosian and Gallican and Mozarabic Liturgies) and St. Basil and St. John Chrysostom in the Imperial City and among the Hellenes (Greeks). This is the early Church which St. Ignatius of Antioch [c. 35- 107] first described [Ep. ad Smyr. 8.2.] as the Catholic Church and which is confessed in the Nicene Creed... “and I believe one holy Catholic and Apostolic Church.”
The Western Rite has undergone some “development” and augmentation in 1500 years, and so has the Eastern Rite. If the Western Rite seems strange to some Orthodox observers, it is probably because of its antiquity and austerity as compared with the highly developed and elaborated expression of the Eastern Rite.