www.byzcath.org Forums General Discussions Town Hall Icon instead of cross on Chotki?

I have a question about the appropriateness of a chotki I've made.

I found a wonderful icon of Our Lady of the Sign that perfectly matched the color of some beads I had. So I made a chotki, but I made a medallion of the icon and used that instead of a cross.

http://www.chotkis.com/images/t-50111.jpg

Do you think it is appropriate to substitute the traditional cross with an icon? Or should I avoid doing this in the future?

Or would it be ok to just put a cross on the back of the medallion? The chotki is the same front and back, so if the person wanted, they could consider the front to be the side with the cross.

Tammy

Just my opinion...but I don't see anything wrong with it Tammy. In Belarus, I've seen many Orthodox (even bishops) who use Latin Rosaries instead of the chotki...because right after the fall of Communism the chotki was much more difficult to come by. The young bishop of Turov & Mozir, His Grace, Piotr is a personal friend on mine and he always uses various colored rosaries on feastdays simply because they are/use easier to obtain...and offered a great variety of colors. I don't think there's any problem with using the icon as you have...it is tasteful and beautiful. Just my personal opinion.

In His Holy Name,
+Fr. Gregory

They are beautiful Tammy!

Oh Tammy,

Exquisite! Now I am going to have to order some more of your awesome Chotkis!


Michael

Tammy ,

I have a Rosary that does not have a crucifix - it has instead the medal of Our Lady, Queen of Hearts which shows Our Lady enthroned with the Infant Christ on her lap and St Louis de Montfort on his knees in prayer.

Anhelyna

Thank you all for your kind words! I just wanted to make sure that replacing the cross with an icon would not be offensive to some. But since nobody here seems to find it inappropriate, I will not be afraid to pursue this on other chotkis as well.

Tammy

Dear Tammy,

Actually, the original chotki had no cross and even the later "Lestovka" of Russia often had no Cross symbol on the "lapostka" or end triangles (the one I have has no cross emblem on it period).

The icon of the Sign is an icon of the Incarnation of OLGS Jesus Christ.

And it is a tradition in E. Slavic Orthodoxy to pray the Jesus Prayer before an icon of the Theotokos just like the one you have.

So there . . .



Alex

I have a 100-bead "Greek Catholic Rosary" that came from Canada about 20 years ago. It is for the Jesus prayer, of course. But it does have a metal icon cross instead of a crucifix. So my thinking is that if it's 20 years old, it's historical. And if you make some more like it, then it's a tradition. Now if you follow the same logic for using a medal instead of a cross...it works for me.

Alex, good to know that!

ByzanTN, thanks for the words of wisdom.

Tammy