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by Ted Campbell (Editor), Stephen Duncan (Foreword by)
This service book continues the work done in liturgy by the Orthodox Catholic Church of America over the past 130 years. Our jurisdiction began as a Western Rite of Oriental Orthodoxy as embodied in the Jacobite Syrian Orthodox Church of India in 1892. Many of our clergy down through the years have been former Roman Catholics and the appeal of the Western Rite remains strong within the OCCA. There are also members with Byzantine Orthodox roots who find those forms most useful in prayer, and of course the Syrian Orthodox roots of our mother Church in India. Over the past 130 years many people have worshipped in our communities using multiple liturgies. Under Archbishop E. Brian "Skip" Carson, the church undertook a project to bring together a number of these liturgies in formats that would be usable throughout the OCCA. This collection became known as The White Book because it was published in loose leaf format in white ring binders. Included are Western, Eastern and Oriental anaphoras. Within each of these divisions there are more ancient and more modern uses of language. The pastoral imperative continues to be near and dear to the heart of OCCA. Since the liturgy is quite literally "the work of the people" it should make sense to the community celebrating it. In many ways this is a collection of prayers which are "Paths to God," each of which speaks slightly differently of the same mystical eucharist. Some communities may use all of them, some may use only one or two. Others may opt for different liturgies en-tirely. Rather than One God, One Liturgy we see it as Many Voices, One Song. We hope that each person may find their voice, their way to pray, their expression of faith, and join those together in a greater chorus of praise. Other jurisdictions are welcome to adopt and use our services. The ancient ones are already available to many, the modern ones our gift to the wider church. May God bless us all now and forever and unto ages of ages. ♱ Mar Stephen
