Re: CHAT: Religions (was: Visible planets)

> > Eastern Church buildings, and the physical
> > building is called a "temple,"
> > are laid out like the Jewish temple.  The
> > sanctuary (the part behind the
> > iconostasis) is the Holy of Holies, and the
> > Iconostasis is the curtain that
> > separates it from the Holy Place - the nave.
>
>Well, that explains it. I still don't hold with
>it, though! ;)
Well, that's your perogative.  I'm Orthodox, so I don't have any problems
with it (unless the icons on it are bad.)

>Oo, yes. They also had a hand cross out on that
>little tetrapod for veneration. I like the idea
>of hand crosses, too (I have an Ethiopian
>Orthodox hand cross).
The hand cross is something that is the priest is always using.  During
Pascha, it has three candles attached to it.

> > In addition to
> > this, the walls are generally fitted out with
> > as many icons as there is
> > room for.  The cathedral of St. John the
> > Baptist in D.C. has these
> > beautiful stitched icons (they're as good
> > quality as painted ones.)
>
>Will have to make a visit down there some time.
>An actual cathedral would be something to see.
>Now, is this an Orthodox cathedral? Must be, as
>the Eastern Catholic bishop is up in NJ.
It's a ROCOR (Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia) cathedral.  However
there is no ROCOR bishop in D.C.  The cathedral is under Bishop Gabriel of
Manhatten and the South, whose diocese extends from Maine to Haiti and as
far west as Santa Fe (It's sort of L-shaped.)  (And this reminds me of the
time when we were at a Southern Missions Conference, and Bishop Gabriel was
there.  Our son's name is Gabriel, and he was very excited to learn that he
had the same name as the bishop.  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.)

> > They
> > also have an amazing number of relics out for
> > veneration.  You really need
> > to come to Church half an hour or so early just
> > to take your time
> > venerating all the icons and relics.  (It helps
> > if you know the letters in
> > the Church Slavonic azbuka, however, because
> > practically everything is
> > labeled in Slavonic.  (It's always nice to know
> > exactly whom you are venerating, you know.))
>
>No worries there! I can sort out most of the
>letters (some of the ligatures are troublesome,
>though); and know enough Greek to pick out most
>of the characters.
My husband's website has information on the alphabet.  However, my husband
dislikes trying to decipher the legends on icons, because they will often
write two letters one on top of the other, put a line break in the middle
of a word, and other things like that in order to get the writing to fit
artfully into the space available.

>Is it always cloth? Is the image painted on or
>stitched?
These days, it is sometimes a paper icon underneath a sheet of clear vinyl,
which is then stitched onto the cloth, but my husband says that most of the
ones that he has seen have been embroidered.  The words around the border
of the icon read, "The noble Joseph, taking down Thy most pure body from
the tree, wrapped it in clean linen with sweet spices, and he laid it in a
new tomb."  Or, at least, that's what it translates to.  The text itself
will be in Slavonic or in Greek, or in some other liturgical language.

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?  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.

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.

>!! You mean they wear actual clothes under the
>cassock!? Gosh. I don't think Catholic priests
>do. I mean, shorts, obviously! But not like jeans
>and whatever.
As far as I know, they all do.  Some centuries ago, I expect that they
didn't have on a shirt and pants underneath, but today they do.

Isidora

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