www.byzcath.org

This reminds me of a story, and I am certainly not intending to make light of this which is certainly a problem.

Several [now approaching many] years ago during the Great Fast, the Pre-sanctified gifts disappeared off of the Diskos on the Proskomedia at the parish I was attending [this particular priest did not like to use an artophorion]. I was serving for him and when I went to the church to prepare for Pre-Sanctified, he looked white as a sheet. "The Lamb is gone" he said. [this is what we call the large portion of the Holy Body which is later fractioned and added to the Chalice].

He and I looked around and around. No signs of forced entry, and even stranger, there was still a small piece of Holy Bread in the tabernacle.

He changed the locks and called the police. They came, a report was made. A week later, at the next Wed. of the Great Fast, it happened again. This time I thought I was going to have to carry him out as he looked incredibly faint. And again the portion in the tabernacle was intact.

At the end of the Liturgy, I had an idea. I put a live sticky mouse trap on the Proskomedia, and while the priest thought I was crazy and Satanists were entering our temple, he let me try it. The next week, there he was, the little ....guy. My son, then quite a bit younger, when he saw me taking the mouse away, said, "That's one holy mouse."

What a wonderful story - thank you Diak - and I can see that it is perfectly possible

However - I have a problem - and I'll probably kick myself over this - you said Please - what is an Artophorion ?

the very undeducated Anhelyna

That's hilarious!

Dear Anhelyna, the artophorion is a small, ornate box which is used for reserving the Mysteries on the Proskomidia table.

This practice is symbolic of our Lord resting in the tomb [in the artophorion] away from the eyes of the faithful as He did for three days, an appropriate reminder during the Great Fast. Some priests use these to reserve the Presanctified Lamb from Sunday [when it is consecrated at the Liturgy] until the celebration of the Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts.

In many places with larger tabernacles, the priest just takes the Presanctified Lamb out of the tabernacle during the Psalms of the Presanctified Liturgy and places the Lamb on the diskos on the Proskomidia table.

Artophorions are sometimes also used for relics, etc.

If I might suggest that we all join together to love the Catholic Church? We will probably never fully agree as to how the Holy Eucharist should be properly reverenced and received. I fully respect the Sacred Traditions of each Church represented on this Forum. All this bitching and fighting is NOT of God and needs to stop. We complain about the desecration of the Blessed Sacrament and rightfully so. We should fast and seriously pray to the Mother of God for the strength to pray against this outrage. I myself, as a youngster, witnessed sacrilege of the Blessed Sacrament by a man who would nail the Sacred Species to a wall and invite people to come in to see if this "God of the Catholics" bleeds. I went to this place, acting as if I was interested in his project and asked for a glass of cold water. While he was gone I quickly took all the Hosts from the wall, put them in my pocket and brought them to the nearby Catholic rectory and the pastor. This was at a time when Communion was received only in the mouth.
We must all pray against sacrilege. I remember being on an airplane and the fellow next to me told me that he was a Satanist. His sole mission was to pray and fast for the destruction of Christian marriages. Each of us has our own tradition and way of approaching the Lord in prayer. Please, instead of arguing here let's pray and fast that Satan's defeat happen quickly. How do WE approach the Divine Mysteries? Are we all so very reverent and understand that we are consuming Fire? Pray the rosary, the Chaplet of Divine Mercy, the Jesus Prayer. Let us all pray to the Immaculate Virgin Mary to give us the strength to fight the enemies of God. We HAVE that strength through our Baptism, Chrismation, Eucharist and prayer-life. Maybe we could add the name of Blessed Bartolo Longo, a former priest of Satan who was converted to the Church through the rosary, to intercede at the Throne of Grace and Mercy. In the city near me there are presently 13 witch covens. I spend much time in prayer before the Reserved Gifts with my rosary in prayer for the defeat of evil (in my own life too) and for the conversion of all sinners. This is the message of Our Lady at Lourdes. "Penance! Penance for sinners"! We need to take the words of the Mother of God seriously.
"O Mary conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to you; for all those who do not have recourse to you, especially the enemies of the Church and those who are recommended to you". -Saint Maximilian Kolbe's paraphrase of the prayer on the Miraculous Medal.
monk Silouan, M.I. "Totus Tuus Fiat Magnificat"

Monk Silouan,

Dear Brother in Christ. Thank you so much for making this statement. This is also my hope and prayer. I am still fairly new to this forum(4 months) and have found myself especially disappointed and downhearted not so much about what has been said on this thread, but mainly about how it has been said.

Thank you for saying this also. It seems that several this last month have wanted to make their points and defend their positions so strongly that heated debates and conflicts have arisen perhaps causing some of the more active posters on this website to no longer be posting.

Friends in Christ, I think it is also noteworthy that more discussion is spent on a topic regarding Satanism than on a topic regarding Prayer. Satan wants constant conflicts, to bring division, and discouragement, and ultimately to get the Glory for himself. So, knowing none of us is perfect and trying as best we can, let us pray and pray and pray and try to be more charitable with one another and in so doing give the Glory to God.

God have mercy on all of us.


Mary Jo

They had trouble up home some 20+ of years ago, with them getting into St. Peters, the Cathedral for the Steubenville Diocese. Msgr. Mike had always kept the doors unlocked with no problems until then. So he replaced everything and had cameras placed on the Tabernacle and altar, so it could be monitored. It happened one more time, after that he locked the doors and built a chapel in the basement. He didn't keep a tablernacle there. It was a satanic group from WV that was getting it, they were taking the chalaces and pattens too.

Pani Rose

Mary Jo, AMEN!

And don't give up on us. We really aren't a bad bunch just some, including myslef, get a little hot headed sometimes.

I agree with you whole heartedly, the prayer part of over looked quite a bit. I know people are praying, but it really makes people feel good when the prayers are posted.

Pani Rose

Hey, some forums really get nasty. This one is pretty mild. I haven't seen any disagreements here that amounted to all that much.

Holy Monk Silouan, bless!

To your post, I would only add:

Let us all avail ourselves FREQUENTLY of the Most Neglected Mystery. Dump the trash and go back into battle CLEAN. The benefit is threefold - reconciiiation with the Lord and the Church, a lighter load to tote around, and the simple fact that the Evil One can bear neither humility nor obedience.

Cheers,


Sharon
(sorely in need of it as usual....)

Holy Monk Silouan, bless!

Very very well put. Thank you for your inspiring words.

Spdundas,

I would suggest that your strong words to our Latin brothers and sisters aren't appropriate. As Non Nomen has suggested, we of the East do not expect of our Latin brethren that they will tell us what is wrong with our Churches or traditions or how we should proceed spiritually or liturgically. Neither is it our place to do so in regard to them.

Many years,

Neil

If my post to Mr Dundas has caused consternation, please be aware that it was not a case of Latin vs Byzantine; I am a Byzantine Catholic, but one who does not like the West to be unfairly maligned. There are plenty of justified complaints about the moderen Roman Church, but criticizing its tradition of devotion to the reserved sacrament is certainly not among them!

Ditto on Iconphile's post, with the change that I'm a Roman peering East and liking what she sees - but still a Roman. I know I tend to state things too strongly/bluntly to always come across well on an Internet forum; sorry if this was another instance thereof.

Peggy

Dear Friends,

Just a note to say that devotion to the Reserved Sacrament is very strong in many Eastern Catholic Churches.

All our EC New Martyrs beatified by the Pope had great devotion to the Reserved Sacrament/Mystery.

I know that Patriarch Josef Slipyj spent an hour in Eucharist Adoration daily at the Church of St Neil in Rome. So did the Russian Catholic Bl. Leonid Fyodorov.

There is no reason not to suppose that the Latin Church cannot teach the East anything - that is certainly not what Leonid Fyodorov said, by the way.

In addition, the Orthodox Church in Eastern Europe doesn't seem to mind Eucharistic Adoration, Monstrance et alia, together with devotion to the Sacred Heart when converts are at stake . . .

It is just simply nonsense to want to be always creating false distinctions between Western and Eastern Catholics where none exist.

Rome's urging of EC's to return to their authentic traditions to the contrary, there was NEVER a case when a pope interrupted an EC bishop during Eucharistic Adoration to say, "Now stop that now, you are EC and you shouldn't be doing that, what's the matter with you?"

Alex