www.byzcath.org Forums Faith & Christian Life Faith & Theology Lampada Help?

Dear Friends In Christ,

I have always used candles for the lampada or vigil light. Recently I purchased an Old Believer Float with standard cotton wicking. I put some water in the bottom of the lampada and filled the rest with olive oil. When I first light the wick there is a nice flame, but after 5 to 10 minutes you can barely see it. Am I doing something wrong? Do you have to pull up the wick every 10 minutes? Any help would be appreciated!

Michael

I use an "Old Believers" float in one of my lamps and have never had this problem. However, I have noticed that you need to do two things to keep the flame at maximum brightness: the first is trim the wick fairly regularly (but don`t cut it down all the way to the unburnt wick or it will take longer to light the next time), and the second is to keep the lamp topped up with oil. If you let the oil get any more than about a third of the way down, it affects the brightness of the flame in my experience. (I don`t know why this is since in other lamps I use the cork-based floating wick holder�which I prefer for aesthetic reasons--and never have this problem.)

Dear Adam,

Dear Adam,
(Sorry I pressed the wrong button)
How much wick should be above the metal opening?
Does your wick go to the bottom of the Lampada?
How do the cork floats work with the little pink wicks? Thank you for your help!

Michael

The height of the wick depends on how fast you want to burn the oil�the higher the wick, the faster the oil burns (and, of course, the wick). If you have olive trees in your backyard, then set the wick as high as you want and burn away! Generally, however, I think one should have the wick only about 1/3 of a centimetre (I don`t know how that translates into Imperial�1/4 of an inch?) at the most. The wick needn`t go all the way to the bottom, but if it does get short then you need, as I noted before for other reasons, to keep the oil topped up. Finally, I use regular cotton wicking in the cork floats�I think those pink things are ghastly to behold! You just feed it in like with the OB one.

Dear Adam,
Thank you for your help!
May God bless You!

Michael

1/4 inch works with my Old Believer float. I have also tried the free-floating Greek cork type but having used both I prefer the Old Believer style floats.

Slava Jesu Kristu,

I know that olive oil is the traditional oil used. However, has anyone had any experience with other oils? I keep olive oil in mine and use the floating cork with the pink wicks. I find the waxed wicks easier to use than just the plain cotton. My understanding is that olive oil is used because it has a low smoking point and therefor safer. Any ideas?

Dmitri

Soak the wick in vinegar and then dry it out, before use.

Spasi Khristos -
Mark, monk and sinner.

A priest whom I know has been mixing the olive oil with a bit of parafin to get a cleaner, slower burn, together with using fiberglass wicks. I must say, having lit such lamps, they light very easily and burn quite steadily and clearly, with a minimum of maintenance. Where he got the fiberglass I know not.

It helps if you use lower grade olive oil. The impurities help the wick burn. Being a traditionalist stickler, the thought of paraffin and fibre-glass makes me shudder - more so the fibre glass. I rather like the way the Greeks use a special sort of flower inverted on the float as a wick.

Spasi Khristos -
Mark, monk and sinner.

In India, we're not big on olives, so we don't use olive oil much. For oil lamps, I am not sure, but I think we use coconut oil -- if not coconut oil, then it's probably some other vegetable oil. I do know that, instead of those neat charcoal discs that we use with censers in this country, they use burning pieces of coconut shell. It works at least as well as the charcoal, although the charcoal is less fussy (you have to be a pro with the coconut...I know many people from America who are spoiled by the charcoal having quite a difficult time with coconuts).

Do the coconut shells affect the smell of the incense at all? And whilst on this topic, two questions come to mind: how many people use small incense burners during their prayers at home, and what are your favourite types of incense?

No, Subdeacon Adam, I didn't notice any difference in smell when the coconut shards were used.

As far as incense goes, it is not an Indian custom to use incense in prayer, since it is for the priest (and in some cases, a deacon of the seventh order) to burn incense. But in my private prayer, I make use of incense sticks for Sundays and feasts. Usually, I will use sandalwood incense, but for feasts of the Virgin Mary I'll switch to a jasmine incense.

Dear Friends,

Olive oil is used because it is the ancient symbol for the "Oil" of God's Mercy and Grace, the Presence of the Holy Spirit.

The Old Testament understood the flowing of God's Grace to be like olive oil, as we read in Psalm 133 - "It is like the precious ointment (or oil) upon the head, that ran down upon the veard, even Aaron's beard, that went down to the skirts of his garments."

Tassels and fringes were worn to signify the flowing streams of God's Holy Oil etc.

"Eleison" and "Pomiluj" in Greek and Slavonic respectively, meaning "mercy," have, as their root word, "oil."

Our Lord Himself prayed on the Mount of Olives, signifying the Mount of Grace - and we know that at its foot there was an olive oil press.

Olive wood also figured in the construction of our Lord's Cross, in addition to pine, cedar and cypress, as Origen and others testified that the Title written by Pilate above our Lord's Head was written on olive wood (and he used red crayon, FYI).

The olive trees in the Garden where our Lord prayed before His Passion were all burned down by order of the Roman Emperor once it was discovered that Christians were going on pilgrimage there.

But the olive trees grew back and olive wood has always been a favourite for devotional Crosses, prayer beads etc.

It is also traditional in some areas to bind palm fronds with olive branches for the Feast of the Entrance into Jerusalem or Palm Sunday.

Olive oil is a symbol of gladness which is why its use in cooking is forbidden during strict fasts.

It was and is used to anoint Church and monarchical leaders, for purposes of restoring physical health, for beautification of the body etc.

But its main symbolism is that of the Grace of God and the Presence of the Messiah and unction of the Holy Spirit.

Reason enough to use it?

Alex