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Is this linked to the reverencing the mezzuzah on the right doorposts of Jewish homes?

I suppose the closest thing in the Russian tradition are the special doorposts for the holydoors of the ikonostas and the kissing of the small icons on them by the clergy.

Spasi Khristos -
Mark, monk and sinner.

Bless me a sinner, Fr. Mark,

When my grandfather blessed our old family home, he made a white paste with something and then marked the posts of many of the rooms with a Cross with it.

What was that all about?

Alexs

I have to confess my ignorance Alex. I simply use some of the oil form the unction service of Holy Week.

Spasi Khristos -
Mark, monk and sinner.

Bless me a sinner, Father Mark!

It probably makes much less of a mess!

Alex

I am curious inknowing if the Holy Fire is utilized by the Latin Church as well?

I hard I while ago that the fire has never appeared for the Roman Patriarch of Jerusalem when he tried to summon it.

Surely this cannot be true?

In Christ,

Robert

No - it was the Armenian Patriarch. The aedecule was struck by lightning and the mark is to be seen at the entrance.

Spasi Khristos -
Mark, monk and sinner.

The late historian Sir Steven Runciman recounts a story about the Holy Fire in the 2nd book (I think) of his monumental work on the Crusades. As expected, it deals with the Greeks and Armenians, with accusation of celebrating Pascha on the wrong day and of the Holy Fire appearing twice in one year (so guessing someone was cheating.....). As to the Latin Patriarch, upon the conquest of the Holy City, and the imposition of Latin control, all the Latin clergy and nobles descended on the Church of the Ressurrection and the Latin patriarch attempted to summon the Fire; he failed and this was a great cause of concern for the Latins who had no idea what it bode (again recounted by Sir Steven). To my knowledge, there has never been any other attempts to summon the fire, which seems to be exclusively granted to the Greek Patriarchs (with the Armenian one being the first one to try and light his candle from it...). Ah...what would life be without the delights of rivalry....more peaceful I guess....but less interesting!

Anton

Dear Friends,

I've heard arguments saying that both the Latins and the Armenians use Azymes and are otherwise "heretics," so . . .

At Glastonbury, in Father Mark's English backyard, there is the hawthorne, said to have been planted by St Joseph of Arimathea, that flowers ONLY near the Old Calendar date of the Nativity.

A cutting is taken from it and sent to The Queen as a Christmas gift . . . belated Christmas gift . . .

Could it be that Old Calendarists aren't the only ones or things that are resistent to the New Calendar?

Alex

Author Topic: Christos Voskres!
Fr. Joe
Member
Member # 958 posted 05-15-2003 04:01 PM
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Dear Father Lev:

I have heard of your parish in Mississauga and am pleased to learn of its growth and progress.

Fr. George Ayoub is a wonderful priest who is well known for his dedication to his parishioners.

Also, I know that your Primate, Metropolitan Stephan is a strong and God-loving leader, deeply committed to service to God, people and the church. I admire his views on church unity and the fact that he will not let jurisdictional politics and pride to get in the way of bringing all of Our Lord's children together as one.

I wish that there were more bishops like His Beatitude in the Ukrainian and all Eastern Christian churches. We need them so badly - men who are not afraid to take a stand on what the church is really all about - love of God, love of each other and commitment to the Gospel teachings of Jesus.

May God bless you in all that you do and "thank you" for your priestly ministry that you and all priests provide to God's people.

In Christ,

Fr. Joe Lavryshyn
Brooklyn, NY
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Posts: 308 | From: Brooklyn, NY | Registered: Nov 2001

CHRISTOS VOSKRES!

Hi Alex

You wrote:"...When my grandfather blessed our old family home, he made a white paste with something and then marked the posts of many of the rooms with a Cross with it..."

Among the Roman Catholic Slavs, it's custom for the priest to mark the top of the doorways with the sign of the cross and the letters of the names of the 3 Kings.

It looks like this 20 + B + M + K + 03 for this year.

When we washed the walls and doorways for the various Holidays, we were not allowed to touch this part of the door.

This may be a variation of that custom.

Hope this helps...

marko

ps
Are you guys bringing a bus to the Otpust in Uniontown this year? I know the Bishop who was there last year mentioned something about bringing more down from Toronto...

Right! The lintels are marked with the white chalk blessed along with frankincense in the Slav RC churches at Epiphany. But if the priest doesn't come to do it, the male head of the household does it.

OrthodoxEast

Dr. John,

This tradition began when the Apostles asked our Lord who would be sitting with him on his right in the kingdom. Things never change.

Joe

Hi Orthodox East

Among the Poles, Czechs, Slovaks, Hungarians, Croatians and Slovenes, it's the parish priest who does this blessing. I've never heard of the head of the household doing this.

I do know that on New Year's Day, the first visitor had to be a dark-haired male who didn't live in the household. My uncles used to get lots of pocket money from the neighbors on New Year's Day being the first visitor.

This custom has fallen out of favor in this country, however, this past New Year's, my mother's Roman Catholic parish did give each family a piece of blessed chalk and paper with instructions on what to write above the doorway.

mark

Hi, Medved! CHRIST IS RISEN!

I come from a family of mixed Polish- Latin/Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Rites. The Polish parish to which my Latin-Rite Catholic relatives belonged (the largest such parish in New England) long ago dropped the practice of having one of their six priests (now down to two!) come to the homes of parishioners to inscribe the Cross, followed by the initials K.M.B.(for Kaspar, Melchior and Balthazar), followed by the year, above the lintels of the doorways entering into the home. The blessed chalk given at Epiphany in church was instead used by the male head of household (or whoever could get on a chair or small ladder) to make the customary inscription.

OrthodoxEast

This practice of marking the lintel with the 3 Wise Men's initials is also practiced in Catholic Germany as well as in Austria. That's where I first saw it many moons ago.

Now, what about the custom of the Greeks in bringing home the Light from Paschal Matins/Liturgy and letting the smoke make a cross mark on the underside of the lintel. Anybody else do that?

Christ is Risen!!