www.byzcath.org Forums Faith & Christian Life Faith & Theology Prostration in the Divine Liturgy

The Ordo Celebrationis (as declared obligatory by the UGCC Synod) and the 1988 Synodal Liturgikon.

Does anyone make a simple bow (Sign of the Cross and inclination of the head) when entering the temple? Or do folks tend to make metanies (Sign of the Cross, bend to the waist and touch the floor with the right hand)?

We've been having the Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts during the week (I went this morning) and we had 12 prostrations during it. A friend I took last Friday, can't wait to go again this Friday, so she can do prostrations in the aisles.

Yes, when I enter a Roman Catholic church, while I'm blessing myself with the Holy water.



Yes, when I enter an Eastern Church.

-- John

This is exactly as it is done in my OCA parish, and was done in my "home" Antiochian parish before moving here.

Some things at our (OCA) parish are uniform, like prostrations during Presanctified Liturgies, or the Canon of St Andrew, but most are not. There is Slavic custom, and Greek custom, and variations within each, and it's a pan-ethnic parish, so you see people crossing themselves while others do nothing and others perform metanias, etc. I do what I was taught, and don't much worry about it.

I know that this is now an accepted practice and most Filipino Catholics who enter church do the same. However, the tradition from prior to Vatican II is to genuflect (right knee) in the direction of the tabernacle. If the Blessed Sacrament is exposed, then a double genuflection (both knees on the floor) is done.

In the Philippines, it is the custom to remove one's footwear and touch one's forehead to the floor (or kiss the floor) when entering a Eucharistic adoration chapel.

I was recently watching the excerpts (available on Youtube) from the November 30, 2006 Divine Liturgy in Constantinople during the Pope's visit to Patriarch Bartholomew. I was surprised to see Patriarch Bartholomew kneeling for a long time after the Epiclesis.

I believe that the Greek practise is for the celebrant is make a prostration mmediately after completing the Epiclesis and then say the prayers of the Anaphora kneeling upright until "Especially for our Most Holy, Most Pure, most blessed and glorious Lady, the Theotokos and Ever-Virgin Mary." This is what I do on weekdays outside the Paschal Season and Great Feasts of the Saviour. I remember this being described in Archbishop Paul of Finland's Book Feast of Faith.

Fr David Straut

For us, Today is the Sunday of the Veneration of the Cross. We did prostrations.

So did we.

Fr. Serge

Well, prostrations before the Holy Cross on the Feasts of the Cross that happen to fall on the Lord's Day (14 / 27 September, the 3rd Sunday of the Great Fast, and 1 / 14 August) are, of course, exceptions to the rule of no kneeling or prostrations on Sunday. It is of no use to apply logic to questions such as this. Nearly every rule has exceptions. They say, "Exceptions prove the rule," though I'm not sure that's particularly logical either. All I can tell you is that it is definitely Russian practise to not make prostrations on Sunday, except before the Holy Cross on the Feasts of the Cross.

Fr David Straut

P.S. Lest someone bring up Kneeling Vespers on Pentecost, that service (even when served immediately after the Sunday Liturgy) is a service for Spirit Monday (not the Sunday of Pentecost) and that the kneeling does not take place in the service when the liturgical day has changed to Monday.

This discussion has raised a question, and forgive me if this is not the best place for it, or if a new thread should be created, but there is a substantial amount of discussion about when certain reverences (I'm not including prostrations here) are or are not appropriate at what times. As someone above said, there are customs and they vary. There are, at the broadest, Slavic v. Greek customs, and variations within each. When someone, particularly a Roman Catholic, tells me he is going to attend an Orthodox service and wants to know what he needs to know, I tell him not to worry about whether he is doing the right thing at the right time, because more often than not, some are crossing themselves while others metania and others do nothing. I have always assumed (and this has been partially borne out by observing who is doing what when and what jurisdiction they are from) that this is at least partially due to the preponderence of Heinz 57 Orthodox parishes here in America (and I do NOT mean that as a slight, by the way). Anyway, my question is this:

Do Eastern Rite parishes tend to be more mono-ethnic than Orthodox parishes?

In our Carpatho-Rusyn Byzantine Catholic Parish, the laity make the sign of the cross whenever the priest blesses them (whether with the hand-cross or not). They also make the sign of the cross in two sets of three during the communion prayer. Sometimes folks accompany these gestures with either a poklony or a metany. Not sure what Greek or Russian practice is for these reverences. I've never seen this done in the AOC or the OCA. As a Church of the Kievan-Constantinoplitan tradition, I wonder what is proper for us?

Is this the same in the UGCC?