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Noticed that the ROC and the Ukr. Orth. Church wear white for funerals.

Is this universal in Orthodoxy? Does the Greek Church and Melkite church wear white too? (and the reason?)

Is there a uniformity in Orthodoxy re the use of liturgical colours for vestments in the various seasons and for various services?

thanks

Herb,

Nice to see a post from you - it's been a while.

Many years,

Neil

dear Neil,

thank you for your kindness.

Yeah, I was watching the funeral of Patriarch Alexei and was surprised that they were in white vestments.

Usually for such as Panakhydas, I've seen Orthodox clergy in black vestments.

So I wonder, why white? And it is just the Russians who vest in white or do the Greeks and Melkites also vest in white?

Greco-Catholics wear red - don't really know why our clergy do that either....

Herb

While there is no hard-and-fast rule, white does tend to be the preferred color at funerals and services for those fallen asleep. That applies both to Greek-Catholics and Eastern Orthodox. I am unaware of any rules about anything that apply exclusively to "Greco-Catholics", whoever or whatever they may be.

Some Ukrainians, however, prefer red vestments at funerals and services for those fallen asleep. This seems to reflect a custom found far back in Ukrainian history: the Cossacks used to carry a special red cloth with which to cover the face of a deceased Cossack.

To add to the confusion, some Russians like to serve at least the first half of the midnight Paschal service in red vestments (and then change to white for the Divine Liturgy - I saw this done in Saint Petersburg in 1988; the main celebrant was Metropolitan Alexis, who became Patriarch of Moscow a little later and whose funeral has given rise to the present discussion). If one asks why this should be, the usual response is a fable about some vestments which Tsar Nicholas II gave the Dormition Cathedral in the Moscow Kremlin and which were opened later than they should have been.

One can also find the bizarre custom of changing vestments after each of the 12 Gospels on Holy Thursday night, as if this was some sort of liturgical fashion show. I have no idea how that got started, and no wish to find out.

And so it goes.

Fr. Serge

The Orthodox, especially in the diaspora, seem to be in a state of flux over colours for funerals. It's moving to white.

It was actually explained by Moscow that white is the colour for patriarchal funerals (I confess I never knew that) - there had been many questions from the Russian clergy about it and it raised many questions on Russian Church e-lists.

I definitely expect to be buried with priests in black vestments and have never conducted a funeral in anything but black.
None at all. If you look at a concelebration of Greek clergy or Serbian clergy there can be all colours of the rainbow.

Only the Russians have a colour scheme for vestments and seasons. It's complicated and only an affluent congregation could actually have such a large array of vestments.

Here is the Russian "colour scheme." Apologies if it is *too* much information. :-)

The most important Feasts of the Orthodox Church and the sacred events for which specific colours of vestments have been established, canbe united into six basic groups.

1. The group of Feasts and days commemorating Our Lord Jesus Christ, the Prophets, the Apostles and the Holy Hierarchs. Vestment colour: Gold (yellow)of all shades.

2. The group of Feasts and days commemorating the Most Holy Mother of God, the Bodiless Powers and Virgins. Vestment colour: Light Blue and White.

3. The group of Feasts and days commemorating the Cross of Our Lord.Vestment colour: Purple or Dark Red.

4. The group of Feasts and days commemorating Martyrs. Vestment colour:Red. [On Great and Holy Thursday, Dark Red vestments are worn, even though the church is still covered with black and the Holy (Altar) Table is covered with a white cloth.]

5. The group of Feasts and days commemorating Monastic Saints,
Ascetics and Fools for Christ. Vestment colour: Green. The Entrance of Our Lord into Jerusalem (Palm Sunday), Holy Trinity
Day(Pentecost) and Holy Spirit Day (Monday after Pentecost) are, as a rule,celebrated in Green vestments of all shades.

6. During the Lenten periods, the vestment colours are: Dark Blue, Purple, Dark Green, Dark Red and Black. This last colour is used essentially for the days of Great Lent. During the first week of that Lent and on the weekdays of the following weeks, the vestment colour is Black. On Sundays and Feastdays of this period, the vestments are of a dark colour with Gold or coloured ornaments.

Funerals, as a rule, are done in White vestments.

In earlier times, there were no Black vestments in the Orthodox Church, although the everyday clothing of the clergy, especially the Monastics, was Black. In ancient times, both in the Greek and in the Russian Churches, the clergy wore, according to the Typikon, "Crimson Vestments": Dark (Blood) Red vestments. In Russia, it was first proposed to the clergy of Saint Petersburg to wear Black Vestments, if possible, to participate in the Funeral of Emperor Peter II [ 1821 ]. From that time on, Black Vestments became customary for Funerals and the Services of Great Lent.

White is worn for the feasts and post-feasts of Epiphany,Transfiguration, and Pascha. In antiquity, Christmas and Epiphany were celebrated as one feast, Theophany of the Lord, so, in some places, White is worn on Christmas day, but Gold is worn from the second day of Christmas until Epiphany.

In Russia, at Liturgy on Holy Thursday, a white altar cover is used to represent the linen tablecloth of the Last Supper [the priest wears dark red, and the church remains in black until after Liturgy, when the priest's vestments return to black]. The Church and the vestments of the priest are changed to white at the prokeimenon of Holy Saturday Liturgy. In Muscovite custom, white is worn for Paschal Matins, bright red is worn at Pascha Liturgy. In some places white is worn from Ascension to Pentecost. In Carpatho-Russian style, white, exclusively, is worn in the Paschal season.White, the colour of Resurrection, is worn at funerals and memorial services.

Green is worn for Pentecost and its post-feast, feasts of prophets, and angels. In some places, green is worn for the Elevation of the Cross in September. In Carpatho-Russian practice, green is worn from Pentecost until Saints Peter and Paul Lent. Green is often worn for Palm Sunday.

Gold is worn from Christmas to Epiphany, and in some places, during Advent. Gold is worn when no other colour is specified. In one tradition, gold is worn on all Sundays (except when white is worn), including even the Sundays in all the fasting periods.

Red is worn for SS Peter and Paul lent, SS Peter and Paul feast, for Advent, for the Angels, Elevation of the Cross (Sept 15), and for feasts of Martyrs. In Moscow style, and on Mount Athos and at Jerusalem, bright red is worn on Pascha [after Matins] and on the Nativity.

Blue is worn for all feasts of the Virgin, Presentation of the Lord, Annunciation, and sometimes on the fifth Friday of Lent (Akathist). In Carpatho-Russian parishes, blue is worn for Dormition fast and feast, and is worn until Cross Elevation, sometimes even until Advent.

Purple is worn on weekends of Lent (black is worn weekdays). In some places, purple is worn on weekdays of Lent (gold on weekends).

Black is worn for weekdays in Lent, especially the first week of Lent and in Holy Week. In Carpatho-Russian, formerly Uniat parishes, black is worn on weekdays for funerals and memorial services and liturgies, as is done in the Roman Church, though this is not universally true any more.

Orange or rust is worn in some places for SS Peter and Paul fast, and in other places for SS Peter and Paul feast through Transfiguration.

Please note that when we say 'feast', we include the period from the vigil of the feast until it's apodosis, or 'putting away,' usually called the 'post-feast'. The length of these post-feasts vary, and are given in the Liturgical Calendar and Rubrics. Generally speaking, there is a post- feast of about a week for each of the twelve major feasts.

See: Nastol'naya Kniga Sviashchenno-sluzhitelia, Volume 4, Moscow,1983, Translated in "The Messenger" of St. Andrew's Russian Orthodox Cathedral,Philadelphia, June, July-August, September, 1990.

The terms "Greco-Catholic" and "Greco-Catholics" are hardly new or innovative. These are the preferred titles by several eminent scholars such as Fr. Andriy Chirovsky.

As a deacon for UGCC funerals I have so far been asked by presbyters to wear red, purple, and white so far (the purple occasion was a weekday funeral during the Great Fast).

As used by Father Andriy Chirovsky and a few others, "Greco-Catholic" (a recent neologism) has precisely the same meaning as "Greek-Catholic" and includes any and all Christians who follow the Constantinopolitan liturgical, theological, spiritual, and disciplinary tradition while abiding in Communion with the first among the Bishops.

The motive behind this neologism is a desire to avoid the word "Greek", which seems a bit strange. Greeks are nice people, with good food (one of my conditions!) and nobody claims that one must be an ethnic Hellene to be a Greek-Catholic.

Fr. Serge

I would disagree as to "recent" - the Romanians have used the variant "Greco-Catolic" for quite a number of years.

There is a very attractively done website in Ireland which uses the term "Greko-Katolits'ka Parafiya v Irlandii" in its header and its footer.

http://ugcc.ie/en/photo-galleries/index.php

Thank you all for the terrific information.

Let me check to see if I have it right,

There is no tradition of liturgical colour usage amongst the Greek Orthodox and those that follow that tradition (like the Antiochians)? Not even for occasions such as funerals? Or seasons such as Pascha or Great Week?

And there seems to be some variance even within the Russian Tradition and those who follow it regarding whether white or black is worn at funerals?

I wouldn't necessarily say the Greeks have "no tradition of liturgical color usage".

It might be better to say the Greeks perhaps better keep the ancient simple distinction of "bright" or "dark" rather than the detailed Russian development indicated above from the Nastol'naya Kniga Svyascheno-sluzhitelya.

Greeks keep things simple and divide vestments into light and dark. Russians are like Roman Catholics and legislate everything down to the needle used to make the vestments.

ROFL

Many years,

Neil, who, himself, can never decide between Grieco- and Graeco-, but is certain that he can garner an opinion or two from the Hieromonk and/or the Archimandrite

I used to maintain that Greeks did not have any set scheme for liturgical colors, just "bright" and "dark". Once, I even told that to my former boss (a GOA priest) who was puzzled by my assertion. He pulled out his notes from Fr. Calivas' class at Holy Cross in Brookline and showed me a chart outlining vestment colors according to "Athonite" usage and the practice of the monastery on Patmos, I believe. As many priests in the US today studied under Fr. Calivas, his chart is fairly well distributed. Thus, you will find many GOA priests wearing blue for feasts of the Panagia, purple during Lent, green on Pentecost, and so forth.

There are variations, of course, but the concept of a set color scheme is known among the Greek Orthodox.

Dave