“Fritz West, himself a methodological master of ... - Liturgical Press

the Roman Rite in the West and the Byzantine Rite in the East. 55 At the
same time that these rites had in themselves become uniform, however,
they had also become distinct from one another. Their differences
stemmed from how language and culture had shaped them (chapter
11), 56 to what degree they embraced change or valued continuity
(chapter 12), how they managed the pastoral question of comprehensibility
(chapter 13), and their attitude—prior the ninth century—toward
the liturgical embellishment of poetry (chapter 14). 57 Baumstark counts
it significant that the imperial rites became firm in form in the very
same century that they accepted challenges of evangelism. For in the
ninth century both embraced evangelical missions toward the north:
the Latin Church among the Scandinavians and the western Slavs,
the Greek Church among the eastern Slavs. 58 In this work the imperial
rites encountered cultures and languages different from their own.
Having already been firmly formed, however, they had the confidence
to project their imperial cultures into alien worlds to the north.
At this point another organic process emerged—malformation, with
two aspects: (1) the clear lines of the classical liturgy became blurred,
and (2) the “natural” processes of the liturgical organism were compromised.
59 The first aspect came to pass with the rampant growth of
55 Baumstark, On the Historical Development, pp. 128–29. The Byzantine
Rite is a blend of the old Constantinopolitan Rite and the Jerusalem Rite, the
Roman Rite a blend of the old Roman and the Frankish rites.
56 For Baumstark, cultural traits can be distinctive enough to serve as criteria
for categorizing liturgical texts. For example, ibid., pp. 69–70.
57 While the period for the “Formation of Rites: Contrasts” is generally the
same as that for “Formation of Rites: Similarities” (313–842/43), there are
some differences. Notably, “Language and Nation” (chap. 11) impacted the
liturgy from its first days and continues do so on through its history. The characteristics
of “Development, Persistence, and Hardening” are set in this period
but not limited to it. Finally, chap. 14, “The Ivy of Poetry” pertains both to the
“Formation of Rites: Contrasts” and “Malformation.” In dealing with poetry
prior to 842/43 (an approximate date), Baumstark describes how the East and
the West contrasted sharply in their attitude toward liturgical poetry. Following
that time, however, liturgical poetry overwhelmed and suffocated venerable
liturgical forms in both East and West (see below).
58 Ibid., pp. 128–29.
59 The period of “malformation” needs to be qualified as well. The liturgy
began to be overgrown by poetry and prayers approximately in the ninth century,
but the terminus ad quem of this process is different in the West and
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