www.byzcath.org Forums Faith & Christian Life Faith & Theology Should I have these icons blessed?

Greetings and a most blessed Feast of the Nativity to all!

This Christmas I received two icons as gifts. The icons were purchased from the Orthodox monks of Saint Isaac of Syria skete through their website www.skete.com. [skete.com.] I was wondering if I should have them blessed by my pastor, a Latin Catholic priest. Would this be proper or advisable? Should I take them to an Orthodox priest for a blessing?

God bless and keep you....

My Icons are from Skete. My Bi-Ritual priest blessed them.

My icons also are from Saint Issac of Syria Skete--all are blessed by my RCC priest. However, I've just purchased my first prayer rope and I'm going to wait for a blessing from either a GO priest or EC priest.

Dear Thomas,

Icons may be blessed by any Catholic or Orthodox priest.

And, Glad, when you seek out the Eastern Catholic or Orthodox priest to bless your prayer rope - do ask him also for a special blessing for you to wear it on your wrist!

An Orthodox priest I know told me about this tradition and blessed me to wear the prayer rope on my wrist (a tradition usually associated with clergy, bishops and monastics).

As my religion class students would say, "it's way too cool!"

Alex

Yes, be careful.

Many Orthodox Priests recommend that a prayer rope be kept in one's pocket and fingered there unobserved.

There is a tendency to pride. However, worse, is the temptation of others to judge you as being prideful.

St. Isaac's is a great place. In fact, I think they're the best domestic producer of mounted-print icons and I highly recommend them.

You can take an icon to be blessed by whomever. A Latin priest would be fine. In fact, icons are popular in many Latin churches. I know of one Latin parish that has almost as many icons as a Greek Catholic parish.

Markos

Thanks for your help everyone! I shall take them to be blessed. The icons, by the way, are of Saint Vladimir and Saint Olga, and they are beautiful.

God bless and keep you....

Regarding the blessing and consecration of icons:
In the Ukrainian Orthodox tradtion all icons should be brought to a church for the specific service of blessing and consecration for its use in prayer. Depending on the person in the icon, there are different prayers divided into 3 different categories: Christ, the Theotokos, or a saint and/or saints. Since your icons are of St. Volodymyr and Olha, the prayers for an icon of saints will be sung and at the end of the service, the Tropar and Kontakion of these saints on the icon will be sung.

Sorry, I could find all the services online in English. Here is an English version for icons of saints from the Greek Orthodox web site:

It is way cool. But the last two times I ran into someone with what I thought were chotki, I was told in short order that what was wrapped around their wrists were hindu prayer ropes! Much to my chagrin, one of the wearers was the daughter of a Ukrainian Catholic. Oh the irony.

Dear Simple Sinner (is there a nicer way to refer to you? )

Certainly, many religions place their bead counters around their wrists, including Tibetan Buddhists et al.

In fact, I understand that the early Dominicans wrapped their rosaries or "knotted cords" around their left wrists, just as Eastern Christians do today (during World Youth Day, I saw many Latin Catholic youth with their rosaries around their wrists too).

I've not heard of Hindu "prayer ropes" - were they strands of beads instead? In any event, they were sure not to have had a cross at the beginning . . .

If those two were witnessing to Hinduism or else a form of syncretism - then that was definitely not a good thing!

Laity must always guard against pridefulness, but then again there is always a tension between that and the need to witness through specific outward symbols.

I don't believe that is solely the domain of clergy and monastics. It is all dependent on the context, to be sure. I try to habitually wear a small button with the Cross of St Benedict. Far from being a source of pride of any kind, I rather have to fight the temptation to not wear it.

The Old Believers have a "neat" tradition of replying to anyone who asks what the Cross around their necks is all about. They say, "I bear on my body the Marks of the Lord Jesus."

Such an outward symbol could keep us in a prayerful state throughout the day, as a reminder to formally set aside time to pray as a way to punctuate our time and as a witness to our commitment to Christ.

Whenever I go on the public transit these days, I see all manner of people representing various faiths who appear to have an entire "portable prayer room" with them at all times.

Whatever our outward religious witness symbol happens to be, let us wear it habitually and discipline ourselves to wearing it for the sole purpose of religious witness.

Alex

I wear a gold Crucifix (western) maybe 1.5 inches high amd like the prior poster, have to resist the temptation to stick it in my shirt sometimes--I hate that about myself, but I've never actually done it.

As far as having my prayer rope blessed to wear it around my wrist, I doubt I would ever do that--nonetheless, the blessing couldn't do any harm--but for the first time I did have it in my coat pocket today. I had forgotten I put it there and I was stuck in a rather large line this morning, stuck my hand in my pocket and there it was! It reminded me to never cease in prayer so I used it in my pocket. It actually made me happy when I felt the rope there! I'm also surprised that I didn't remember to "speak with God" while standing idly in that line...

Glad

Our former pastor was once thanked in public for his attire and "visible sign of being Catholic" (his Franciscan robes, I presume).

His response was, "where is yours?"

hawk

Dear Hawk and Glad,

Sorry to be only reading your posts now.

Right on!

Let's all have our special external Christian witness symbol on at all times. Not for the sake of pride - and as you have born out, when we undertake this practice, we are sorely tempted to hide the fact that we "stick out" in the crowd as Christians.

One Catholic saint wore a large 15 decade rosary on his belt in France. While he was on a boat, he saw people point out his rosary wondering what kind of a religious fanatic he was, after all . . .

He then knelt and invited everyone to say the Rosary with him. They thought he was joking, but soon, they all joined in . . .

At another time, the same Saint was about to give a sermon and then he paused while he gazed on the Crucifix he always carried with him. As he looked in silence, he began to weep and sob greatly at the sight of our Lord's suffering. Soon the entire Church was sobbing right along with him. No other "sermon" needed to be delivered - everyone got up and went to confession and then to Communion . . .

If we are the temple of God then we make a conscious effort to make our witness of Christ our business.

And a "business with no sign - is a sign of no business."

But it is good to get a blessing from one's confessor and I received mine from the hand of an Orthodox priest which is what makes it all the more special for me!

Alex