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Western Rite

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{{westernrite}}
==Modern History==
===The Nineteenth Century===
:''Main article: [[Western Rite in the Nineteenth Century]]''
In 1864, 44-year-old [[Joseph Julian Overbeck]], a former German [[Roman Catholic Church|Catholic]] priest who had left the priesthood, disillusioned with papal supremacy, became Lutheran and later married, was [[chrismation|chrismated]] into the [[Orthodox Church]]. He then published, in 1866, ''Catholic Orthodoxy and Anglo-Catholicism'' which contained the groundings for his work for the next twenty years. A year later, be began publishing a periodical, ''Orthodox Catholic Review'', aimed at putting forward Orthodoxy and rejecting Catholicism and Protestantism.
 
1867 saw Overbeck, with 122 signatures from the Oxford Movement, petition the Church of Russia for the establishment of a Western Rite church in full communion with the Eastern Rite. A seven-member synodal commission was then formed, and invited Overbeck to attend. The idea was approved, and Overbeck set about submitting a draft of the proposed Western liturgy. The base of Overbeck's submission was the 1570 rite which added in an epiclesis and the Trisagion hymn. This rite was submitted in 1871, and was examined and approved by the commission. Overbeck focused his efforts on the Old Catholic movement, who had rejected Papal Infallibility. He continued to engage in polemics with Catholics, Anglicans and Orthodox converts using the Byzantine rite.
 
In 1876, Overbeck issued an appeal to the various Holy Synods, travelling to Constantinople in 1879. There he met the Ecumenical Patriarch, who authorised him to deliver sermons and apologetics. in 1881, some success was had when the Ecumenical Patriarchate agreed that the West had a right to a Western church and rite.
 
However, it went no further. Overbeck's marriage after his Catholic ordination was a canonical impediment to the priesthood, the Holy Synod of Greece vetoed his scheme amongst the Orthodox Churches, the ''Orthodox Catholic Review'' ended its run, and by 1892 he admitted failure due to the Church of Greece of the time. Overbeck reposed in 1905.
 
===The Twentieth Century===
[[Image:Fon-du-Lac Circus.jpg|right|thumb|300px|Episcopalian Consecration of Reginald Weller as co-adjutor bishop of Fon-Du-Lac, 1900.]]
:''Main article: [[Western Rite in the Twentieth Century]]''
The Western Rite continued. In 1890 a Swiss Old Catholic parish in Wisconsin, pastored by Fr Joseph Rene Vilatte, was received by Bp Vladimir (Sokolovsky); however, Fr Vilatte soon led the church into Old Catholicism. In 1911 Arnold Harris Mathew, an Old Catholic bishop, entered into union with the Patriarchate of Antioch, but parted ways soon after, leaving behind a model for future Western Rite groupings to join Orthodoxy. In 1926 the six-parish ''Polish Catholic National Church'' was received into the Polish Orthodox Church, flourishing until wiped out by the Nazi's. [http://occidentalis.blogspot.com/2004/09/western-rite-history-part-five.html] [http://occidentalis.blogspot.com/2004/09/western-rite-history-part-four.html]
 
St. Tikhon's involvement in the Western Rite has been one more enduring. While he was head of the Russian mission in America, some Episcopalians were interested in the possibility of joining Orthodoxy while retaining Anglican liturgics. St. Tikhon, sending the 1892 Book of Common Prayer, enquired as to the viability of such an idea; in 1904, the Holy Synod admitted its possibility, including many notes on how the BCP could be used in an Orthodox manner. St. Tikhon did not receive any Episcopalians who used revised Anglican forms, but it lay the groundwork for the reception and liturgics of the [[Western Rite Vicariate]]. [http://occidentalis.blogspot.com/2004/09/western-rite-history-part-five.html]
 
There has been a significant [[Orthodox Church of France|Western Rite movement in France]], the largest remaining group thereof being the ''Union des Associations Cultuelles Orthodoxes de Rite Occidental'' (UACORO - the Union of Western Rite Orthodox Worship Associations).
 
====The United States====
The Antiochian Archdiocese received the most stable and successful group of Western Rite parishes, the [[Society of Clerks Secular of St. Basil]], in 1961.
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