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Dear Lady,

You should become a Benedictine Oblate!

Just my two cents worth . . .

Alex

At St. Demetrius UGCC parish in Toronto, the kiss of peace is done at every Divine Liturgy.

In addition, they cense the entire Church, the icons on the walls, all the way around.

There is a third practice they do that I don't remember.

They've taken this from the Finnish Orthodox Church under Archbishop Paul who put forward these as recommendations.

Alex

Thanks everyone for their response. As a very young altar boy serving a number of liturgies with multiple priests, in a two hour service it seemed like they were always embracing. The way the priest announced the kiss of peace on the youtube vid caught my attention.

How is it decided which prayers said at the liturgy are prayed aloud by the priest so the congregation can hear and which are silent? Does the priest have much latitude?

Fr. Taft always said that all prayers can be said aloud, although the priest's rubric books say "silently" or "low voice". His reasoning is that the prayers were originally all aloud, but became silent when things needed to be hurried up -- it's much easier to move it along when no one is listening to whether they are being said.. and the priest can simply look at the text and read them in mind, while the deacon/congregation is onto the next prayer.

How right that you are - sometimes circumstances demand that a liturgy or a service move ahead. One never knows. Sometimes priests have a need to go quicker.