www.byzcath.org Forums Faith & Christian Life Faith & Theology SYRIAN ORTHODOX AND SYRIAN CATHOLIC BAPTISM

Dear Michael you said:

"How can you tell which direction is East in those pictures?"

I say:

What you said reminded me of something. I'm Orthodox and my grandmother always told me to face East when praying. Well I had always assumed facing East was part of the Orthodox faith... although personally, I pray any which way. Well, was I in for a surprise. One day I read about a crusader, who upon seeing a Muslim facing Mecca during prayers, lifted him bodily and faced him East.

You said:

"That said - the Syriac Orthodox in the West are also strangely adopting the western practice of "first communion." This is even without being attached to Rome. Traditionally baptism/chrismation is supposed to occur 40days after the birth of a male child and 80days after the birth of a female child, I don't know why the kids in these pictures are 10 or older."

I say:

In the Greek Church, children are sometimes quite old when baptized. Sometimes a parent will wait for a certain relative to come and baptize the child. Actually though, it is rare for a baby to be younger than six months.

If though you are referring to the children holding candles, I don't believe they are being baptized. It is traditional in my church for two children to be holding candles at a baptism. I might be wrong though. I really didn't look at the pictures that well.

Zenovia

What you describe Eric is just "uniatism" and it is just not on with those of use who are of one or other of the Eastern Churches. It's not been on with the Popes for nearly a century. It is not on in the one document among the documents of Vatican II that deals with the Eastern Catholic Churches.

This sort of thing is not supposed to be in the church. That there is such a contrast between the 2 branches of the Syrian Rite shows just how behind the Catholic Syrians are.

No one suggested that Latinisation was the reason the children in both ceremonies were so old.

It is certainly no reason to despair our leader move very slowly as we know.

I was just explaining what the picture was and how I thought it interesting that the devotion ends with a part of the Divine Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom. I'm not saying that it should be a part of an Eastern Church. It would seem that Our Lord composed this devotion and gave it to a Polish seer so that it and she could be a bridge between East and West.

That is if you believe that Our Lord really appeared to her.

I'd guess that the inclusion of the Trisagion in the Chaplet of Divine Mercy, a Passion-themed devotion, probably has more to do with the fact that the Trisagion is used in the Roman Rite at the Veneration of the Cross on Good Friday (a borrowing from the East, but from the Jerusalem/Syriac traditions rather than the Byzantine).

Dave

It's my understanding that it came directly from Our Lord Himself. St. Faustina was practically illiterate and had to spell everything out fo-en-etic-ally. Which is why the messages were supressed for decades because no one could figure out who said what in her diary. Only later after intense scrutiny were the apparitions judged to have nothing in them against the Faith and approved for use.

I'm seriously not trying to hijack the thread, just answering questions!

I have been to Sacred Heart Syriac parish in North Hollywood in the past for liturgy.
Yes, the priest celebrates the liturgy facing the people.

Oy vey!