www.byzcath.org Forums Faith & Christian Life The Christian East & West Serbian sanctus bells

Allow me to weigh in on the Sanctus bells. I was an altar boy in the Roman Catholic Church before the Vatican II, so I am well familiar with their use. I also refreshed my recollection by looking at an old hand missal I have had for years.

The bells were rung at the Sanctus (3x), at the epiclesis when the priest spread his hands over the gifts (1x), at each elevation (3x), at recitation of "Domine non sum dignus" before the priest's communion (3x), and at the recitation of "Domine non sum dignus" before the peoples' communion. (In the Roman rite, the epiclesis or invocation of the Holy Spirit precedes the words of institution; in the Byzantine rite it follows the words of institution.)

The original purpose of the bells was to call the peoples' attention at critical points of the action at the altar. Later, the bells fortified the Church's teaching on the Real Presence. In my experience, the bells have been eliminated in most Novus Order parishes -- which means in most parishes in the U.S. This, however, is not the case in Mexico. I started attending a Ukranian Greek Catholic parish a little over a year ago. Before then I attended a NO parish. Since there is virtually no "quality control" in the U. S. Church, use of the bells depended on the priest currently assigned. If he was a liberal, the bells would be banished; if a conservative, they would come back. We referred to it as the "Battle of the Bells." The old-timers in the parish always wanted the bells; the liberals did not care for them.

I have never run into use of hand bells in my limited experience in the Orthodox and/or Eastern Catholic churches. Instead, I have found the congregation's profound belief in the Real Presence manifested by prostrations right after the Epiclesis and before receiving communion. I happen to think that the bells are a nice tradition in the Roman rite, because anything that connects that rite with tradition is helpful. Bells gladden the heart and reflect the great mystery of the Holy Eucharist. But I do not believe that hand bells are part of the Eastern tradition. Please correct me if I am wrong.

What is a "cadilla"?

It looks like it could be a Spanish term, but I didn't find it in the dictionary. Maybe there are some people who attach bells to their Cadillacs, which might be a tad bit effeminate.

Maybe it's related to "kadilo" but I'm not sure how one would attach bells to incense.

Dave

"Cadilla" is the Slavic word for the censer.

Indeed, though the term is used loosely to mean the censer - Get the kadilo!- the correct understanding of the words of the deacon, for instance, Blahoslovi, Vladyko, kadilo, is Master, bless the incense. The incense=kadilo was placed in the censer=thurible=kadilnica; see, e.g. the Ruthenian liturgicon at the proskomedia, top of page 184 [patronagechurch.com] . The blessing of the priest is Kadilo Tebi prinosim... We offer incense to You...

I always thought the word for censer was "kadilnitsa" (in Ukrainian - "kadyl'nytsja"). Maybe I am wrong. Is "cadilla" a Russian word? I would like to learn.

And perhaps we could drop the term "effeminate" on this forum, especially when used for of all things - bells?

Nino

Where do the speak Slavic? Does a dictionary exist for "Slavic."

AJK is right on. "Kadilo" is incense. "Kadilnica" is censer. If a priest or deacon says "Get the kadilo!" he's saying to fetch the incense, not the censer (even though many altar boys--myself included--have been told that kadilo=censer).

And while I am rather ambivalent to the whole topic of Sanctus bells, I fail to see how they're "effeminate." Honestly, why are little bells on a censer or, say, a sakkos masculine, but hand-held bells feminine?

Dave

Kadilo refers to the smoke of burning incense. The actual incense is properly called ladan.

Fr. Serge

Perhaps because it takes a real man to hang bells on smoke?

I think the problem started with someone assuming that bells in church was an RC thing and using an RC term to start with for a small hand held bell. I attended a Greek Catholic Liturgy in the USA where the main bell outside the church was rung a various points in the liturgy. The Bishop had bells on his Mandyas and on his Sakkos. A hand held censer with a number of small bells on was used when the Services were conducted without a Priest present and the censer when used by the deacon (when a priest was present) had a number of small bells on. Bells were rung to call people to church and again during processions. There were in short bells rung all over the place and their being rung had nothing to do with RCs living or dead as far as I could tell.