Re: CHAT: Religions (was: Visible planets)

--- Isidora Zamora <isidora@...> wrote:
> At one point, our son was about to run
> off or do something else that he oughtn't, and
> my husband called him back,
> "GABRIEL!"  And the bishop turns around.  (I
> just about died of
> embarrassment when my husband told me about it
> afterward, but I'm always
> terrified around bishops.)  Of course, no one
> ever addresses the bishop by
> his name; it's always Vladiko - Master.
> Vladiko is the vocative, and the
> nominative is Vladika.)
I'll bet he got the bishop's attention!

> My husband was just saying that he thought that
> Holy Saturday is the one
> day of the year when no Mass is performed.  Is
> that the case?
Yes.

> It certainly
> makes sense.  The East does things a bit
> differently.  The Liturgy on Holy
> Saturday is the longest one in the entire year.
>  It is a Vesperal Liturgy
> (but performed in the morning) with 15 old
> testament readings, including
> the entire book of Jonah.  That Liturgy is
> truly amazing, I highly
> recommend that you try to attend one in English
> sometime.
>
> >Prostrations being?
>
> Sorry.  I thought that you might already know,
> and I didn't want it to seem
> that I was treating you like a dummy.
I know what prostration is, just not sure what it
means in an Eastern context.

> First you make the sign of the Cross - Orthodox
> fashion (Eastern Catholics
> do it this way, too, so you've probably seen
> it.)  The thumb and first and
> second finger or the right hand are pinched
> together, signifying the Holy
> Trinity, and the last two fingers are laid in
> the palm of the hand,
> signifying the two natures of Christ.  (If
> you're Old Rite, the fingers are
> extended differently.)  You touch forehead,
> chest, right shoulder, then
> left shoulder.  (That's going to be backwards
> for Western Rite RC's.)  To
> make a prostration, you cross yourelf, then go
> down on your knees and touch
> your forehead to the floor.  Prostrations are
> not made on Sundays.  There's
> also something that we do, called a poklon or a
> metania, where we cross
> ourselves, then bend down and touch our right
> hand to the floor, and that
> is done on Sundays.
I saw several people do this, the poklon, at the
Byzantine church; none at the Ruthenian.

There's nothing like that I'm aware of in Western
churches. Some people do prostrate themselves for
prayer, usually before the statue of Mary and
newly ordained priests also prostrate themselves
at some point in the ordination service.

It is common to sign oneself before entering the
nave (using some blessed water); and while
crossing in front of the altar, it is usual to
cross oneself and bow slightly.

The Western church doesn't have any of the fancy
finger positions, though. Easter Catholics cross
in like fashion to the Orthodox, and I suspect
they have finger positions like you mention.

It's funny watching little kids learn how to
cross themselves. They usually do it in mirror
fashion to what their teacher does - i.e., they
cross in Eastern fashion, since the teacher will
cross herself left to right, the children see it
as right to left. Sometimes they make little
paper crosses and put numbers on the ends so the
children can follow which way to do it. When I
was little, I thought it made sense to follow
which way the priest blessed us, which from the
congregation's perspective is right to left.

Padraic.


=====
la cieurgeourea provoer mal trasfu ast meiyoer ke 'l andrext ben trasfu.


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