The Rakowski article

This is the one that set me thinking in the first place.

The Rakowski article

It's an article that I read years ago, containing a lot of the ideas that led me to think about rood screens yesterday. Trying to make sense of this blog without reading it (and understanding / caring about its contents) is undoubtedly futile.

I was interested to find this republica-web-ification of the same article, with an additional introductory paragraph or three:

"The Holy Orthodox Catholic and Apostolic Church of America has blessed the historic Orthodox Western Rites for use as well as the traditional Eastern Liturgies.

"Prior to the Patriarchate of Rome breaking away from The Orthodox Church, the Western Rites were a part of the Undivided Great Church. Indeed, even after the year 1054 some Western Communities continued in union with Holy Orthodoxy. There was a Western Rite Monastery on Mt Athos up to the year 1283. Recent scholarship has shown that a form of the Western Roman Liturgy, though Byzantinized, was used in Turkey up to 1963. This is called the Liturgy of St Peter.

"For the last hundred years there has been a steady stream of Western Christians coming into Holy Orthodoxy and using the Restored Western Rites. Today one finds The Orthodox Church of France using the Gallican Rite, The Milan Synod using the Sarum Rite, The Antiochian Archdiocese using the Liturgy of St Gregory and the Liturgy of St Tihkon, The Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia using the Dom Augustine Liturgy which is based on the old Orthodox Roman Liturgy, and The Holy Orthodox Catholic and Apostolic Church of America which has blessed the old Orthodox Roman Rite, though, for pastoral reasons the other Orthodox Western Rites may be used."

In other words, the whole article was polemic (which was probably what made it interesting in the first place). The intent was to demonstrate to isolated Western Orthodox faithful that they were in fact in a prime position culturally and ecclesiologically; perfectly placed to appreciate the spiritual jewels of both east and west!

Even so, I still think there's some truth in the rest of the article. The 'money' quote, the bit that is pertinent to this discussion is as follows:

"In the Middle Ages the pulpitum would have been supplemented by another screen -the rood screen- one bay further to the west. This had a dual purpose. It supported the Rood (the large crucifix, with accompanying images of the Virgin and St John, which dominated the nave) and it also formed a reredos to the Nave Altar. It would have been equipped with two doors, one on either side of the Nave Altar, which in the Sarum rite, were used by the Deacon to pass around the Altar while censing it."

OK.