Problematic Return to Sources: Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary in the Liturgy of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church

Abstract

The article concerns one of the most important aspects of the Eastern Catholic Churches’ life, which is their faithfulness to their own rite, that is, a liturgical, theological, spiritual, and disciplinary heritage (c. 28 §1 of The Code of Canons of the Eastern Churches). The Magisterium of the Church, from the documents of the Second Vatican Council to the edition in 1996 by the Congregation for the Oriental Churches of The Instruction for the Application of the Liturgical Prescriptions of the Code of Canons of the Eastern Churches, urges these communities to rediscover the richness of their traditions, and if necessary, to prudently remove foreign borrowings and return to the sources. The example of the holiday celebrated in the Christian East on December 9 shows how difficult this process is in the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church. The Roman reform of liturgical books (1940s), which restored the name and liturgy of the Byzantine feast: The Conception of St. Anne, when she conceived The Holy Mother of God, changed in 1891, is still waiting for full reception and implementation.