Mystical Greg:

From a Latin perspective, I think the "top dog" throughout the Eastern Catholic firmament would be His Eminence, Cardinal Daoud, the Prefect of the Congregation for the Oriental Churches.

I am pretty certain that the "processes" involved in the selection and appointment of Metropolitan Basil went through Cardinal Daoud's Congregation, which is manned by Eastern Catholics.

Patriarch Daoud resigned/gave up his his office as such when he was made the Cardinal Prefect of the Congregation and a new Partriarch of his particular Church was thus elected in his stead.

AmdG

Dear Amado,

Yes, but ultimately the situation in many Eastern Catholic Churches, including the largest Ukrainian one, comes down to:

Take the train which says "Particular, Self-governing Church," but get off where it says "Rome."

Alex

Alex,

this blessing pre-dates the venerable Father Francis and is known as the priestly blessing, since the Lord gave it to Aaron to bless the people:

The LORD said to Moses, "Say to Aaron and his sons, 'Thus shall you bless the people of Israel; you shall say to them,
The LORD bless you and keep you:
The LORD make his face to shine upon you, and be gracious to you:
The LORD lift up his countenance upon you, and give you peace.'
So shall they put my name upon the people of Israel, and I will bless them." (Num. 6:22-27)

See we Catholics know the Scriptures and put them to use!

[ 05-06-2002: Message edited by: bisantino ]

Dear Bisantino,

Yes, I knew that, but wanted to wow you all with my knowledge of the Franciscan heritage . . .

And St Francis added an extra line following the scriptural blessing God gave to Moses, I believe.

But that's fine.

I also understand that on the Franciscan Cross of St Damiano, there are two icons of blessing using the Eastern style of holding the fingers, one at the top representing the Hand of God the Father, and the other with the Centurion on Christ's Left.

I read one Franciscan interpretation of the Hand of God the Father that said He was holding out "one finger" which is nonsense, of course, as He is depicted holding the index finger out, with the bent middle finger representing Christ's "bending the heavens" and coming down to earth.

Could you say something to the Franciscan writer on the Order's pages concerning this important matter?

The writer also says that Christ's Right Arm is higher than His Left suggesting the slanted foot-rest on Orthodox Crosses.

If he is right, then the Franciscans have more in common with the East than we knew . . .

God bless,

Alex