www.byzcath.org Forums General Discussions Town Hall invented greetings

Dear Friends,

Parishes up here variously use "Christ is Born" and "Christ is Baptized" on the feast of the Theophany (which is coming soon! ).

But what about the greeting, "Christ is among us?"

Can Christians say this to each other as they give the three-fold kiss? Or at other times?

I've read an article where an Orthodox priest says this greeting is reserved to priests alone.

Your thoughts?

Alex

Alex, +May He Who is Born for us---bless you! You are absolutely correct, CHRIST IS AMONG US! is a proper greeting for Orthodox Christians always. St. John of Kronstadt use to add: LIVE AND ACTIVE!

May He remain ALWAYS in our midst!

In Him,
+Father Archimandrite Gregory

Couple o' thoughts...

I have also heard as a greeting "Christ is Baptized in the Jordan" with a response of "Glorify Him." Dunno if it's traditional, proper, or any such.

I've always gotten a chuckle out of the "in the Jordan" bit, being a bit demented. Usually toward the beginning of January in these parts, we are enjoying the *balmy* weather brought to us in blasts from Arctic areas & northern Canada. Despite the antics of "polar bear clubs" all over the globe, on January 6th, most rational beings would not consider a dip in any river around here to be anything but insanity. So the "in the Jordan" part acknowledges the actual event - but also in a small crazy way, that it wasn't HERE. Mebbe it's not so crazy - even thogh the events of the Lord's life are made present to us liturgically, they did originally happen in specific places. Of course the demented part of my brain hears the faint echo of "In the Scioto! Get an ice pick and call 911!"

Silly Monday Musings,


Sharon

Bless, Father,

Yes, I've often thought we've forgotten about how Christians used to greet one another in the Lord.

"Good-bye" as I understand it was formerly "God be with ye!"

To greet one another with the three-fold holy kiss of peace with "Christ is among us!" - a true occasion for a sacramental meeting with one another in the Lord!

Kissing your right hand, I again implore your blessing,

Alex

Slava Isusu Christu!

Everyone's favorite conservative criminal-turned-radio-personality G. Gordon Liddy read a letter from a fan a few years ago, where the writer had been almost fired from her job for saying, "God bless you" to people in her checkout line as they were leaving. Some miscreant atheist complained to the manager and the woman was called into the office and told to stop saying "God bless you" because, and I quote, "There's such a thing as separation between church and state".

Of course, the G-man went nuts with this, wondering how working in a supermarket had anything to do with working in a government office and enforcing a state-sponsored religion on the masses. He also pointed out that if the manager wanted to get technical, he should also outlaw saying "Goodbye" to people in his store because, as Alex pointed out, the term is merely a shortened form of "God be with ye".

Please return to your regularly scheduled program.

In Christ,
mikey.

I was amused by the title and first message in this thread. Isn't eveything we do invented in some way?

The Rusyn/Galician use of Christian greetings, especially liturgically (still prevalent among some in the OCA, at least in these parts), has some interesting ramifications when dealing with people from other traditions.

My priest said, "Christ is baptized" to one person on the feast and they replied "Thank you." I've known some Greeks who thought a priest saying "Christ is among us" is saying "Christos anesti" and responded appropriately. A friend of mine said "Christ is born" to a guy on Christmas and he said "Truly He is born!" (Don't the Serbs say that, anyway?) On one occasion, my priest also said "S'prazdnikom" to the local GOA priest, who was befuddled, thought a second, then said "He is and always shall be!"

To end this post, I will say:

Christ is baptized! In the Jordan!

Dave

Dear Mikey,

And perhaps the U.S. should also outlaw the expression "Good Friday' since it was originally "God's Friday?"

And what about "So Long?" This comes from the Arabic "Salaam" or a religious expression that British soldiers from the Middle East.

And then there's that "In God we trust" on U.S. currency. And what about your President talking about God all the time? Shouldn't he be impeached or something?

Someone should tell the Iraqi insurgents attacking U.S. forces to stop referring to the American soldiers as "crusaders."

There is separation of church and state, after all . . .

Alex

Dear Chtec,

And to which I say - hold that thought until this coming Sunday evening!!

Alex

Slava Isusu Christu!

Alex,

Perhaps we should just outlaw language alltogether and work on developing our inate telepathic abilities, where words mean nothing as whoever we are communicating with will just know and understand what we're thinking!

Now, where did I leave my aluminum foil helmet...

Slava Isusu Christu!

I spent this past Christmas at the Monastery of the Holy Cross in DC where a nice young Ukrainian fellow named Andrew is staying while he goes to Catholic University. After Liturgy, while Archimandrite Joseph was in the other room, he shouted "Christos razdajetsja!" to Andrew, who didn't quite hear him properly.

He replied, "Umm...thank you!".

Quite amusing to say the least.

In Christ,
mikey.

Dear Mikey,

As you know, I'm an active monarchist up here . . .

At the place I work, I began greeting people with "God save the Queen!"

It is always well received, even by the Irish

Some responded with the same invocation back, others with "Long may she reign over us!"

And some just say, "Same to you!"

God save the Queen, Mikey!

Alex

Same to you, Alex!

Alex & Mikey:

In our neck of the woods, some would reply:

"Shame on you!"


AmdG

Dear Amado,

O.K. - shame on you!

Alex

Alex:

Now is the opportune time to reply:

"Same to you!"

Amado