www.byzcath.org Forums Faith & Christian Life Faith & Theology More Paschal Liturgical Changes: Colours

On--perhaps!--a somewhat less controverted topic pertaining to liturgical changes in Paschaltide, I have two questions.

1) How many priests do you know who wear a white cassock/pidriasnik during Paschaltide? Is this common to all Byzantine Churches or only to the (northern) Slavic ones?

2) Recognizing that Byzantine tradition seems generally to differentiate between 'bright' and 'dark' vestments, I ask: What is the colour scheme for vestments in the Paschal season? I know some places wear red, arguing that red is the colour of joy in many Eastern countries. However, many Galician Catholics use red during the Great Fast(a colour I find entirely unsuitable: it's not a dark colour at all. Why not go with purple or black?), so which is it?

I didn't know a cassock was a liturgical vestment.

Dear Adam:

It's probably the same answer one gets with just about anything - it varies from parish to parish. At my humble parish, the liturgical vestments for the pashal season are white on white on white on white. I have never seen a white riassa or piriasnyk in any of our Galician churches.

Yours,

hal

Adam,

1. A few do this. Although I am unsure of the origins of this practice. Weren't white cassocks traditionally the sign of married clergy and had nothing to do with Pascha?

2.I think the whole dark vs bright is open to interpretation. The Pittsburgh Metropolia tends toward Red in varying shades for weekdays in the Great Fast, although burgundy and purple are not unheard of. Metropolitan Judson required white or gold to be worn on Sundays, whereas it used to be red the whole Great Fast. Everybody else (Orthodox and Catholic) seems to favor purple. Black is really an import from the Latin Church both on our part and the Russian Orthodox who adopted it for the funeral of a czar in the late 1880's and kept using it.

As for Pascah, definately white, white/gold, white/silver for the entire Pascha season. Some wear white every Sunday of the year, others will change to gold for Sundays outside of the Pashca season.

Fr. Deacon Lance