Dear Mike:
The Ukranian Divine Liturgy that I attended was indeed concelebrated. If the sign is indeed present in the liturgy, then I must of somehow missed it. It's possible that I may not have recognized where it was inserted due to my inability to understand Ukranian (or Slovanic, not really sure which language was used
) I do however recollect that no one came from the altar to give me or the people around me the sign.
Since the priests exchange it, do the people also receive it? In our Church, the whole Church receives it in an orderly fashion from the front to the back. In the Maronite Church, I noticed the overall similarity between their sign and ours except for minor differences such as the way the hand was folded during the exchange from one to the other.
I am a little unclear regarding your last paragraph. Is the monastic tradition you refer to applicable only among the monks or is it also practiced on the parish level among the people? This practice of the sign as you describe it is very different than what I'm used to. Not that one is better than the other, just two different methods of exchanging peace I guess
Also, I am unclear about your last sentence regarding the image of the Lamb. Is this also part of the Ukranian sign of peace? For us, that just signifies a devotional practice and not part of the liturgical sign of peace.
By the way, one of the celebrants I saw there was Fr. Andriy Chirovsky of the Sheptytsky Institute, who came to San Diego for a visit. He spoke about the Creed on that Sunday, and I noticed his teaching was very well put together. He spoke in both English and Ukranian(Slovanic?).
God bless,
Rony
