www.byzcath.org Forums Faith & Christian Life Parish Life & Evangelization Bishop Kudrick creates "buzz" at parish

Ed, I think if you ask most Byzantine Orthodox or Catholic bishops, they would rather not wear the headgear! I know one for sure who hates having to travel with so must "stuff"! But it's a part of their office and "work attire"

If the celebrant is a prelate, he puts on the masnaphto 'turban', a head-cover which symbolizes the cloth with which the Lord's head was bound for His burial. He makes the sign of the cross twice on it and wears it reciting Psalm 4:6-7: Who can show me He who is good? May the light of Thy countenance shine upon us, O Lord, Thou hast given gladness to my heart.

Thank you all for such wonderful explanations. The constant reference to Protestors was not, I am sure, meant to be pejorative. I am not a Protestor or *Protestant*. I am a Christian. Luther, Calvin, and Zwingli were idiots. Why this is constantly brought up puzzles me.

I liked Bob's statement about the saving events being re-presented liturgically. This is something to think about since it goes beyond mere symbolism. However, I think symbolism can lead one astray from true worship when it stimulates our senses and sentiments more than our love and devotion to God.

Of course, preaching and teaching isn't the end all of evangelization. Choosing life, not death, is where P & E gets tested. Glorifying God, not what he created, is also a part of that. But there is a danger when we dump the teaching and preaching in evangelization and put man in the center of our worship. I am not saying that the vesting of the bishop is wrong. But how different is it than Roman Catholics designing their churches to place emphasis on the congregation? In both cases, man, not God, becomes the focus. It becomes showmanship. It becomes glitter and gold.

Christians have always given their best in worship and the early Christians were no different when they were being persecuted and had many valuable gold and silver pieces confiscated by the Romans. It was later that the clergy adopted all the regalia for themselves, not God or worship.

I find it strange that in the many icons I have seen and studied of Saint Nicholas, he is rarely, if ever, depicted with a crown. And those that do have him wearing a crown, they are never *miraculous*. Does anyone find it strange that the patron of the Byzantine Churches doesn't wear a crown of gold? He was a pastor of souls, not a prince. Would any bishop today dare to be bold enough to rid of the fancy hats? Is it odd that the same people who insitute changes in their own worship to return to more pure forms (as exemplified recently by the Byzantine Catholics) are the same ones who will not give up all the symbolic and ornamental encrustations that came with it? A church ends up with 18th century clergy worshiping with fourth century liturgical texts. It becomes confusing, not *evangelical* in the classic missionary sense. It becomes a cafeteria-style Byzantine syncretism with Byzantine *Catholic* bishops wearing Orthodox attire.

What do Byzantine Christians do to spread the FAITH in Jesus Christ?

L-u-u-u-u-u-u-cy! You have some esplaining to do!

Ed Hashinsky

Aren't the vestments the Bishop wears the dress of the Emperor?

I read that the Bishop dresses as the Emperor because the Patriarch became an essential Ethnarch as well after Islam swept into Alexandria and Constantinople et al.

"Christian" means a lot of things, depending on how one is using it.