Caphiric Rite
 | This article is a work-in-progress because it is incomplete and pending further input from an author. Note: The contents of this article are not considered canonical and may be inaccurate. Please comment on this article's talk page to share your input, comments and questions. |
| This article is part of a series on |
| Caphiric Catholicism |
|---|
 |
The Caphiric Rite, also called the Imperial Rite, is a Catholic Occidental liturgical rite. It is the primary mode of worship of the Caphiric Church and Caphiric Catholicism, and was formally created by the Eight Points Agreement, recognizing the liturgical practice divergence that occurred in Caphiria between the Great Schism of 1615 and the Eight Points Agreement. The existence of the Rite itself within the Catholic hierarchy is preceded by the Caphiric Use, an adaptation of the liturgy used by the Personal Ordinariate of Reconciliation, and a Protestant variation is used by the Continental Church. It incorporates most of the changes which occurred during the schismatic era with only minor differences to ensure orthodox belief and practice, including a significant reemphasis of the sacrificial element of the liturgy as well as inclusions of significant Old Testament material related to the ancient temple sacrifice.
The Caphiric Rite, which differs from the Latin Rite, is used by some seven hundred million Catholics within the Caphiric Church and is used throughout Sarpedon. A liturgy within the Caphiric Rite is called a "hostia".
Origin
Differences from the Latin Rite
Posture and position
Unlike in the main Latin Rite, the faithful within the Caphiric Rite have few rubrics on their posture or positioning within Church during hostia. Caphiric Rite churches do not have pews, and accordingly those participating in the hostia are free to move about the nave, participating within the liturgy or praying particular devotional prayers. Although active participation in the liturgy is proscribed in the universal Church, definitions of the meaning of the term are understood in a more relaxed way in the Caphiric Rite. The only major proscribed posture in the mass requires that all be kneeling or seated between the beginning of the Eucharistic Prayer and the end of the Oblation of Fire. Unlike the Latin Rite, the Our Father is omitted from the hostia, and consequently the portion of communal prayer that would otherwise include standing has been removed from the liturgy.
Most Caphiric church buildings have benches running along portions of the nave; social etiquette typically reserves these seats for the elderly, pregnant, or very young, who are to use them in lieu of kneeling.
Type of bread
The Caphiric Rite uses leavened bread in its liturgy as opposed to the unleavened bread employed by the rest of the Latin Rite.
Oblation of Fire
The Oblation of Fire is a part of the hostia that is the greatest deviation from the rest of the Latin Rite. Following the distribution of the Eucharist, the priest will take the majority of the remaining consecrated hosts and place them in a depression built into the front of the altar (known as the Altar of Burning) and burned. This process, an "offering" called the Oblation of Fire, is intended as "a way for the people to participate in the eternal sacrifice of the Son to the Father in the timeless tradition given to Moses and the prophets", emulating the burnt offerings offered at the Temple in the Old Testament as prescribed by the Book of Judges and elsewhere. The resulting product, Sacred Ash, is used within a variety of religious and social practices in Caphirian society. As the Caphiric Church believes in the real presence and transubstantiation, the Ash is believed to have divine qualities.
Only a small amount of the consecrated host is retained and not burnt; it is usually a few pieces or even a single piece rather than many pieces as is the custom in the Latin Rite, kept to maintain the real presence within the tabernacle.