A New Stone on an Ancient Foundation: Traditional Liturgical Aspects in Taizé Order of Prayer

During the 20^th Century, the Taizé Community created a unique liturgical tradition, combining Byzantine and Latin liturgical elements with Protestant background worship. The combination of these liturgical elements concurred with the rediscovery of the old Tradition of the Church and with the entrance of a considerable number of Catholic brothers into the Taizé community. The high point of this reconsidered Tradition is the introduction of the weekly Sunday Eucharist using the Taizé liturgical order. Nonetheless, the Community maintains a Eucharistic discipline and tries to avoid intercommunion. The combination of different traditional liturgical elements on a traditional Protestant base under the supervision of the community’s founder, Br. Roger, aroused great interest among both theologians and simple believers during the time.