www.byzcath.org Forums Faith & Christian Life Faith & Theology Is there a Byzantine Tradition of Kneeling at the Epiclesis?

For our experienced or expert liturgists out there...

Is there a tradition of the main celebrant and/or the laity kneeling right before (or for the laity, during) the prayer of the epiclesis?

It seems to me that at some point I saw this in both an OCA parish and a Melkite parish some years back.

I know that the Maronites do this (the celebrant before) and I believe the Armenians do as well.

We do a full metania after the epiclesis in our parish (the celebrant, the deacon and the acolytes).

Any insight?

I was also curious what reflected the earliest traditions of the Anaphora of the Twelve Apostles...or did that depend on the Church that was using it at the time.

My apologies for a complicated question...

In ICXC,

Fr. Deacon Daniel

Also, out of curiosity, does anyone know the roots of the Maronite tradition of saying the Kyrie before the invocation of the holy Spirit in the Epiclesis? Does that also have its roots in the Anaphora of the Twelve Apostles?

I just watched a You Tube video of a Maronite Liturgy. It has been years since I attended such a service.

In ICXC,

Fr. Deacon Daniel

Yes, we (Carpatho-Russian Diocese) do.

There is certainly such a tradition - but I strongly suspect that it is post-Byzantine.

Fr. Serge

Dear Father Deacon,

In the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of Canada, people generally kneel during the entire Anaphora (and also at the Great Entrance).

This tradition is an amended one taken from the Greek-Catholics who entered the Church en masse (90% of all members of the UOCC are descended from the GC converts).

Alex

At the UGCC I attended, the ethnic Ukrainian people did. The non-Ukrainians mostly stood. At the BCA I attended, since everyone spoke English I couldn't tell who had Ruthenian heritage, but I would guess it was about 50/50.

At the Greek parish in my college town, the laity all kneel for the Anaphora. I can't say I remember for sure what the clergy do; I'm pretty sure they kneel.

Alexis

I have seen this in other Greek Churches. I have never seen this in an Antiochian or Russian Church. I do recall also seeing it in a Ruthenian Church, but I don't recall whether I've ever seen it in a Melkite Church.

Joe

At the Melkite church in Atlanta right down the street from yours, Joe, they definitely don't kneel.

Alexis

I do not see why the celebrant would kneel before the epiclesis, but it is normal the celebrant to make prostration after the completion of the epliclesis, unless it is a day when prostrations are forbidden. In the Russian Church this would be absolutely normative except on Sundays and the Fifty Days between Pascha and Pentecost inclusive, when a bow from the waist (small poklon) would be substituted.

Some years back when I served with Bishop Basil (Essey) of the Antiochian Archdiocese of North America, Sayidna made this prostration after the consecration though it was a Sunday. When I asked him about it, he said this was normative and that a prostration at this time did not violate the canon against kneeling on Sunday because that canon forbade penitential kneeling on Sundays, not the adoration of Christ in the Sacrament.

Fr David Straut