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Does anyone here have pictures of the Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament in an Eastern Catholic context?

It is done only within the context of the Divine Liturgy, not outside it, in most Byzantine traditions.

"Byzantine Daily Worship" by Raya and De Vinck has a liturgy written for it and it is in no way, the same as the Adoration in the Latin Rite.

It would not look any different than the blessing with the Holy Gifts after Communion, except the Chalice may have a crowned lid, rather than a veil.

What a distressing thought!

Fr. Serge

Up at Carpathian Village some years ago, a final liturgy was held at the end of one of the children's camps, and lacking a sufficient number of cantors, I was drafted to help. The service books were antique, and at the back of it was the Rite of Benediction, which was very strange to see. It had the text, but no picture. The Melkite Eparchy of Newton used to have a set of before-and-after pictures of one of their churches, showing what it was like before the liturgical reforms of Bishop Joseph Tawil. There is a monstrance very prominent on the altar, but from the angle, I could not see if anything was in it, or how it would work. What did they do, put a Lamb inside of it?

Yes, I'm referring to pictures of the Melkite rite of Benediction as found in the Byzantine Daily Worship book.

I also heard that there are still Corpus Christi ceremonies in Lebanon among the Melkites and among some Ukrainians. Is that true? I once asked that question in a thread that I could no longer find

I don't know... but it does happen in some parishes. These are not endorsed by the Eparchy officially or anything but it does happen. I'm not surprised that it does though.

There is a service of Adoration and Benediction in the Maronite Church, but I do not know the details.

Our Eparchial bishop sent out a reminder this year that Corpus Christi and associated borrowings from the Latins ("Suplikatsia", etc.) are completely suppressed within our UGCC Eparchy.

The text for "Suplikatsia" as has been mentioned can be found in BDW and also in older (60s or earlier) Ukrainian or Ruthenian prayer books. The schismatic Society of St. Josaphat are the only ones who continue to practice this latinization in Ukraine regularly to my knowledge. "Christ the Lover of Mankind" still shows up on some Greek Catholic wall calendars but I have not seen a specific reference to "Corpus Christi" as a Greek Catholic observance for many years.

StuartK: yes, a nice, big, healthy, leavened, and consecrated square Lamb!
The Melkite Church absorbed the feast into its calendar in the 18th Century, when it became popular. France had gained the right for a public procession on this feast, and this was an important sign of Christian solidarity under Muslim (Ottoman) oppression. Our Patriarch Maximos wrote some beautiful kathismata, etc., for the feast; the canon of the Metalipsi was used, etc. It was then celebrated as a Class 1 feast of the Lord.

The Holy Synod tried a while ago to expunge it as all Latinisations were being removed. Popular sentiment stopped this from completing. It is now celebrated as a Class 4 feast (i.e., minor feast)--where it is celebrated at all--and slated for eventual removal.

"Corpus Christi" or whatever euphemism one might care to use instead seems to be vanishing rapidly from Ukrainian Greek-Catholic use. I've never encountered it.

Fr. Serge

It might be of interest to note that the Festival of Corpus Christi while never really embraced by Lutheranism, was never explicitly condemned in the Lutheran confessional writings. This may be in part because the Festival had not yet gained universal acceptance in the early 16th century.

Martin Luther adapted a Corpus Christi processional hymn for use in his German Mass as a canticle following Communion:

"O Lord, We Praise Thee"
by Martin Luther, 1483-1546

1. O Lord, we praise Thee, bless Thee, and adore Thee,
In thanksgiving bow before Thee.
Thou with Thy body and Thy blood didst nourish
Our weak souls that they may flouish:
O Lord, have mercy!
May Thy body, Lord, born of Mary,
That our sins and sorrows did carry,
And Thy blood for us plead
In all trial, fear, and need:
O Lord, have mercy!

2. Thy holy body into death was given,
Life to win for us in heaven.
No greater love than this to Thee could bind us;
May this feast thereof remind us!
O Lord, have mercy!
Lord, Thy kindness did so constrain Thee
That Thy blood should bless and sustain me.
All our debt Thou hast paid;
Peace with God once more is made:
O Lord, have mercy.

3. May God bestow on us His grace and favor
To please Him with our behavior
And live as brethren here in love and union
Nor repent this blest Communion!
O Lord, have mercy!
Let not Thy good Spirit forsake us;
Grant that heavenly-minded He make us;
Give Thy Church, Lord, to see
Days of peace and unity:
O Lord, have mercy.

The priest at our local Maronite parish is trying to move towards perpetual adoration. He's starting with a few hours a week, but is *very* active in recruiting Catholics of any rite for this. (And for his choir. I told him that I was doing his choir a major favor by not joining

hawk

It apparently is still used in at least one parish of the BCCA Eparchy of Parma: http://www.stjoebyz.com/bulletin.php?id=102 The service schedule includes a "Supplication to the Blessed Sacrament" from just a couple of months ago.