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C. I. X.

ADMINISTRATOR,

My hat is off to you. You came close to clarifying for me the reason for the maze of when and whys of what we call liturgically Great or Holy Week. Side bar, my kids refer to it in whispers behind my back as hell week, not theologically just domestically for cramping their style.

We are the people of the Resurrection with our pascha (bread) and pysanky (eggs). Even as children it did not confuse us to bring our baskets Saturday to have our food blessed while singing �Khrystos voskrese!� (Christ is risen!), then on the way home stopping to kiss �Boshu�s booboos� (God�s wounds) on the �Plachanytcha� (holy shroud). Although we are the true church when the calendars coincide we crossed over to visit the other�s churches to kiss their Slovak or Polish Latin corpus statue or the real Greek or want-a-be Russian icon shroud�s wounds.

Now some of the new more orthodox then the pope clergy ridicule Saturday food blessings, but the crowds persist. So the boys forbid any Paschal singing. They are pushing for ONE Sunday food blessing after the ONE Divine Liturgy reserved for the faithful. Yes I know none of this is Tradition or necessary for salvation, but it could lead to damnation. Yes this domestic-church custom is counter-reformationary, but that is the point. Between the two parishes I attend because of scheduling and traffic, we can choose to bless our foods at 11, 1, 2, 4 or 6, than again after vesper or matins with Divine Liturgy. One Puny Matka (Lady Mother) complained Saturday's is mostly strangers, which my retort was exactly! It is our mission and we are responsible to make this encounter with Christ meaningful for them. Interesting when we use to sing �Khrystos voskrece!� on Saturday everyone sang, when the cantor sang �Christ is risen!� he did a solo. Besides their Easter only blessing is impractical. It takes an hour to pack cooked meats and decorated dairy products, a half hour travel, 2 and a half hours of services, a half hour for kissing the cross then 15 minute for the blessing, followed by another half traveling ending with unpacking time. That�s going on SIX hours without refrigeration. I realize originally it was instituted because Chrysostom�s sermon did not retard the malnutrition side effects of the puritanical reformation mentality of extreme self denial. This new orthodoxy can cause botulism. No wonder our domestic-church holds onto their belief anyone dying during Bright Week goes directly to heaven, whose royal doors are open wide. Are we just stubborn or practicing the lessons from the Sunday of Orthodoxy?

One of the highlights of my observance of Great Week this year was joining in the celebration of the Presanctified Liturgy and Mystery of Holy Anointing with the UGC seminarians in the crypt of the Basilica of the National Shrine in Washington on Great and Holy Wednesday. Afterwards I decided to do a little more reading on the subject of Holy Anointing. I came away a bit confused.

Some authors stressed the generous healing power of the Mystery (noting that it is sometimes referred to as "unctio ad gloriam" - however that might be expressed in Greek or Slavonic). These authors did not point to any language in the ritual (whether administered by a single priest or the traditional seven)imposing any conditions (either precedent or subsequent) on the power of the Mystery to heal sin. I heard nothing in the celebration I attended that suggested such a condition or restriction on the effects of the Mystery. Nor could I find anything in the various versions of the ritual I found in books last week.

Other authors whom I found, however, seemed reluctant to view the Mystery as accomplishing absolution from sin, or at least from serious sin. It was unclear to me whether they were saying: (a) that the Mystery is incapable of absolving from serious sin, but may absolve from lesser sin; (b) that the Mystery does absolve from serious sin, but only when administered to an individual in danger of death who is incapable of receiving Absolution afeer oracular Confession; (c) that the Mystery does absolve from serious sin, but the individual is bound to confess the sin later.

There seemed to be an opinion among a few authors that suggested that, whatever might have been the historical roots of the celebration of the Mystery during the Great Fast, it had evolved (degenerated?) into a mere Sacramental and was no longer the Great Mystery of Holy Anointing.

A subtext in some of what I read seemed to be that, for Eastern Catholics, the effects of the Mystery are limited by the language of the Latin and Oriental Codes of Canon Law. However, the Code sections cited by those authors seemed to be ones dealing with the Mystery of Repentance/Sacrament of Reconciliation. I could find nothing in the sections dealing with Holy Anointing/Extreme Unction that spoke directly to the question.

I would welcome any further insights that others might have.

Anyone keep a vigil? We were able to field enough people this year and it went well by all accounts.

Anyone who seriously believes that it is possible to do the full Paschal service, including Divine Liturgy, several times over, is living in a complete dream world. I suppose I should be grateful - or should I? - that there is not a demand to hold all the services of Holy Thursday, Good Friday, and Holy Saturday several times over. Insanity.

Once a year, folks, it is possible for most people to emerge from whatever wood-work they ordinarily inhabit and make it to the Midnight service (unless, as is the case in some parishes, the service is held at dawn - can be quite impressive, although I much prefer midnight for several reasons).

As for the blessing of the food, anyone who is all that concerned can equip himself with an inexpensive styrofoam "cold box" and pack it carefully. I've been blessing the Paschal foods directly after the the (one only) Divine Liturgy ever since I was ordained (in 1967), around 3 AM or so, and no one has yet complained of food poisoning.


If you think I'm living in a dream world come to one or another of our traditionalist parishes - notice the huge crowds which turn up for the Pascha services, and how much people enjoy sharing the blessed foods. I even bless wine, and no one has complained about that either.

"Boshe's boo-boos?" That's beyond comment.

Fr. Serge

Every parish in the whole Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America would agree with Father Serge on these points...

Alice

In response to Fr.Serge,I'm told(or I read it somewhere) that the Western Ukrainian custom of beginning Paschal Matins at about 5:00 or so in the morning dates from a time where a priest might serve the Paschal Matins in one or even two villages and then finish up with one final Matins back home just prior to starting Liturgy.It does seem a bit much for even a young priest, let alone a 55 year old like myself.I've heard that some Serbs and Romanians do the same thing,possibly for the same reason?In response to Mykhayl,I almost always blessed Paschal foods after the Holy Saturday Liturgy.On these occasions,many old timers who couldn't drive safely at night would come.At least,it brought people to the beautiful Vesperal Liturgy of Holy Saturday,which people often skipped in my first parish.In the one parish which I served almost 16 years,a record both for me and the parish,originally there had been a seperate blessing of Paschal foods about 6:00 Holy Saturday evening.After about 4 years,this was eliminated,so blessings were done after 3 services,Holy Saturday Liturgy about 1:30 PM,after Paschal Liturgy about 3:00 AM, and after Paschal Vespers about 3:30 PM.At the blessing following Holy Saturday Liturgy,"Christ is Risen" was never chanted,but rather the troparion for Holy Saturday,"When Thou didst descend into death,O Life Immortal..."

Alice,

You'd be happy to know that the three times I attended the Easter Vigil at the Greek Orthodox Cathedral here with my college friends the church was packed to the brim--literally seeing as the balconies were full too.

X. B.

Fathers Serge, Al and fellow readers,

Forgive me I fear my writing misconstrued my concerns. Yes aggressive pioneer priests at the turn of the XX century were circuit rider missionaries and old country heroic catacomb priests under the Soviet persecution did multiple services. Today our normal parish Pascha schedules can bring a just concern: �Christ is risen! And the priest is dead!�. We have today a new breed of clerics who seems to believe their personal schedule supersede the needs of the faithful.

To simplify my question as I see it, there is a trend for embracing a new style of orthodoxy with longevity of services and sermons while streamlining their schedules and also the congregations into a parochial coffee clutch. A hundred years ago there was offered a 7 o�clock Saturday night �Vechenya� Vespers, 8 AM Sunday "Ootrenya" Matins and 10:30 o�clock �Sluzhba� Liturgy all in Slavonic including sermon. Fifty years ago there was no more war threat and the new immigrants replaced congregational loses by assimilation. Saturday evening was now offering Ukrainian devotions or Slavonic vespers with a English sermon, Sunday morning Slavonic lo mass with English and Ukrainian sermon followed by a choir Slavonic hi mass with Ukrainian sermon in-between which student English Sunday school classes were the norm. Thirty five years ago English and Ukrainian was replacing the Slavonic language. Twenty years ago there began to switch Saturday evening with an English Vesper Liturgy, Sunday morning plain chant Liturgy mix of Ukrainian and English sandwiching Sunday school and ending with a Slavonic choral Liturgy with Ukrainian homily. Numbers were declining but no more than any local neighboring church. Through this long history many Roman Catholics and other visitors were ministered to, some stayed some went.

A new breed of clergy arrived who spoke ex cathedra concerning changes of a new ancient orthodoxy, with no explanation. We now only cater to the vernacular true believers while everyone else who may question is snubbed, angered or embarrassed into leaving. Services and sermons double in length while attendance shrink. Repeat scheduling of popular offerings were eliminated, including the student weekly education classes replaced by multigenerational afternoon motivational socials three times a year. Paschal basket blessings following all Holy Saturday services with one in-between welcoming ANYONE are now ridiculed as frivolously unorthodox in favor of ONE after the Easter Sunday service of true believers.

Why is one 2 � hour liturgy on Sundays for a congregation of 60 today more preferable to God than two 90 minute Sunday Liturgies servicing 300 people last year, many of whom were visitors? Why is it better to teach the indigenous churched rather then their children who may probably end up in another church as adults? Why is mutable Saturday counterreformation Paschal food blessings missioning to nonparishioners and seasonal visitors discouraged for ONE sanctimonious event prolonging the Easter Sunday experience? Why are we no longer to cater to the inner-city masses with legitimate personal obligations by developing exclusive club of connoisseur orthodoxy?

The iconoclast heresy taught us the Holy Spirit also works from the bottom (people) up. Are these changes God ordained or poor management by the sanctimonious? Are we really hateful and disruptive questioning this new clergy concerning their changes for the rediscovery of our custom of Tradition?

Dear Alice,

For neither the first time nor the last, Ευχαριστω πολη! (sorry; I'm not accustomed to the Greek fonts on this particular program).

Dear Everyone,

"Do not ask a wise man; ask an experienced man". I may be as dumb as they come, but I do speak from experience. When I was much younger (about 35 years ago) I was parish priest in Thunder Bay, sharing responsibility for a second parish in Thunder Bay, and attempting (without notable success) to serve 5 missions in North-Western Ontario (by coincidence, the distance between the two most distant missions is the same mileage as that from New York to Montreal). Pascha was incredible.

My second year in this somewhat challenging assignment I managed by begging a few friends to obtain the help of another priest and a deacon. Here's what we did:

Midnight: we all served in the main church in Thunder Bay - which is where we also did all the Holy Week services. We blessed the food after the Divine Liturgy, around 3 AM. The Deacon and I then drove 90 miles to Nipigon, served Orthros and the Divine Liturgy, and drove back to Thunder Bay (notice I did not say who drove the car - to this day the Deacon insists that I drove, and I maintain that the Deacon drove). On arrival in Thunder Bay, the Deacon and I drove to the other church that I was serving in Thunder Bay and did Orthros and Divine Liturgy, followed by the blessing of the foods.

While we were driving back to Thunder Bay, the guest priest took an airplane to Kenora, changed planes for Fort Francis, and on arrival served Orthros and Divine Liturgy and blessed the foods. Someone had driven from Atikokan to Fort Frances, collected him there, drove him to Atikokan, where he again served Orthros and Divine Liturgy and blessed the foods, then took a bus back to Thunder Bay.

While this was going on the Deacon and I made it back to the rectory. I told the Deacon to go and put up a sign that Vespers would not take place - the two of us were dead and were preparing to go to bed. The Deacon came back and said "Father, I can't do that - there are already more than sixty people in church!" So we served Paschal Vespers.

I was about to drop dead and so was the Deacon. However, the Ukrainian Orthodox priest appeared, sang Vespers with us, and then said - come at once; my wife is holding dinner for you! I pointed out that the other priest would be arriving soon at the bus station - the Orthodox priest said that this was no problem; a parishioner of his who worked there would meet the bus and tell the good Father to take a cab straight to Father Nicholas's house.

As you can imagine, the festivities went on until late in the evening. We finally got back to the rectory and fell into our respective beds.

Yes, it can be done - if you have an endless supply of young, enthusiastic priests who are willing to go through such a marathon. I wouldn't do it again on a bet.



Somebody who seems to think that my unwillingness to replicate this ridiculous schedule means that I think my personal schedule supersedes the needs of the faithful has a serious spiritual problem which I won't diagnose over the wire, nor will I attempt to "treat" it over the wire.

Never in my life have I heard a sermon in Church-Slavonic.

As for the crack about insisting on vernacular, the bishop and anyone else who knows me will testify as to the trouble I go to in order to provide people with the languages they need to hear in worship.

The last three paragraphs of Mykhayl's post clearly indicate that he is responding to some hidden agenda. I suggest he find a priest he trusts and bring his unhappiness to such a priest in person and in private

Fr. Serge

Dear Father Serge,

Παρακαλω!

In Christ,
Alice

Bless Father!

I just moved to Maryland a few months ago and have been attending Divine Liturgy at St. Gregory of Nyssa parish in Beltsville. What is the name of the Greek-Melkite parish? I would love to check it out as I actually live in Silver Spring.

Holy Transfiguration [holytransfiguration.org]

Don't remember the name of the Ukrainian (Old Calendar, thank God) parish in Silver Spring - the priest's name is Father Taras Lonchyna. He and his wife both speak English like natives.

Holy Transfiguration - the Melkite parish - is in Vienna, Virginia; I'm not sure of the street address. the Priest is Father Joseph Francavilla. The parish is very highly spoken of.

Fr. Serge

Thank you,Fr.Serge,for your defense of the Julian Calender!Thank you also for sharing your experiance.As far as catering to the faithful in blessing Paschal foods,had the rectory in my parish been right next to the church,I wouldn't have had a problem blessing baskets all day on Holy Saturday.It so happened that the trip to the church was 27 miles round trip minimum.I feel that three different times for blessing baskets after three services was sufficient.If one is devout enough to want to have his/her basket blessed,he/she ought to be able to show up for one of the three services.Furthermore,we Orthodox priests aren't allowed to liturgise more than once a day.Besides myself and my son,a Tonsured Reader,the only other "staff" member was my 80 year old choirmaster who would literaly collapse after Liturgy on both Holy Saturday and Pascha,my son would accompany me downstairs to help with the food blessings both times,after the Paschal Liturgy,whichever choir members were present would join in singing,"Christos Voskrese!".Most years,I would forgo the Vespers,Matins,& Liturgy for Bright Monday evening-Bright Tuesday morning not because I didn't want to serve,but because I didn't want to literaly kill the Choir Director.As for those few elderly who couldn't make any services for various reasons,I'd usually visit them during this period to greet them with Pascha and chant at least the Paschal verses.

Dear Father Al,

Thank you in turn. You remind me poignantly of an occasion ten years or so ago when I had occasion to visit our sole remaining priest in a certain country. He was very old, crippled, and ill and had not been able to serve for many weeks; by the time I got there it was Bright Week. So I brought him Holy Communion and chanted Paschal Orthros by his sickbed - it was perhaps the most moving Paschal experience I've ever had; the old priest died before Pentecost, but at least he knew that he had not been forgotten.

Fr. Serge