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Any chance of getting you good folks to share your favorite meal prayers with me? Do the Eastern Catholics have an equivalent to the well known "Bless us, O Lord, and these thy gifts which we are about to receive from thy bounty, through Christ Our Lord." of the Latins? How about prayers after meals? Alex???
Don

I use: "May the Lord bless the food of His servant(s), in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit."

Simple and straightforward. One can, of course, in typical Byzantine method, add prostrations, incense and a short procession around the table. But then the food gets cold. And the people at Denny's or IHOP cast suspicious glances. (You can, however, get away with the short procession in a Chinese restaurant. Somehow, our Oriental Asian friends are very accommodating!)

Blessings!

Dear Don,

You'll never guess where I am right now . . .

The traditional Byzantine style for meal blessings is:

+At the prayer of our Holy Fathers, Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on us. Amen.

Our Father . . .

Glory be . . .

Lord have mercy (3X) Lord, bless:

Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, at the prayers of Thy Most Pure Mother and all Thy Saints, have mercy and save us (or: bless this food and drink for Thy servants) for You are holy indeed and a Lover of Mankind. Amen.

After meals:

Everything is the same (minus the words in brackets above) except that "It is truly meet" is said or sung to the Mother of God instead of "Our Father."

The Old Rite Prayerbook that is online has fuller Offices, but time doesn't always allow for them.

Dr. John's prayer is O.K. and can be used to bless anything by anyone.

Except, however, that the proper form would be:

"This (whatever it is) is being blessed with the Sign of the Precious and Venerable Cross, in the Name + of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen."

One may use three fingers to bless food or any object as a layman. The Old Rite, of course, uses the two fingers, with middle finger bent, and thumb and last two fingers joined.

God bless, see you after the New Easter,

Alex

The most common form I have seen, as used in many places and eparchies, Catholic or Orthodox and also, as it was done in the seminary in our day is as follows:

Before Meals:

In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. (or: "Through the prayers of our holy fathers . . . ")

Our Father . . .
For thine is the kingdom . . . Amen.

Lord, have mercy. Lord, have mercy. Lord, have mercy. (if a priest is present) Give the blessing!

O Christ God, bless the food and drink of your servants, for you are holy always now and ever and forever. Amen.

Then, either:

Slava Isusu Christu! Slava na viki!
or
Glory to Jesus Christ! Glory Forever!

After Meals:

We give thanks to you, O Christ our God, for having satisfied us with your earthly good things. Do not deprive us of your heavenly kingdom, but just as you appeared in the midst of your disciples, O Savior and granted them peace, come also to us and save us.

Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit, now and ever and forever. Amen. Lord, have mercy, Lord, have mercy, Lord, have mercy. (if a priest is present) Give the blessing!

Blessed is our God, for dealing mercifully with us and nourishing us with the abundance of his gifts, by his grace and loving-kindness, always now and ever and forever. Amen.

In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. (or: "Through the prayers of our holy fathers . . . ")

Fr. Joe

[ 03-21-2002: Message edited by: Joe ]

Let me add how we sometimes do it at home(it's almost the same):

Before Meals:

+In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Our Father (We do it in Galician Chant)
OR
"Ochi vsikh na tya Hospodi upovayut, i Ty dayeshe iim pyshu vo blahovremenii. Otverzayeshi iim shchedru ruku tvoyu i ispolnyayeshy vsiakoye jivotnoye blahovolenie." (Tone 8, Kievan)
(Translation can be found in the Jordanville Prayer Book)
Then: Glory...both now...Lord, have mercy (Thrice). Give the blessing.
If my father is home, then he blesses (usually he says something appropriate for the situation -- i.e. praying for victims of this or that, and then adds on the normal blessing at the end). If not, then my mother usually says the "Through the prayers of our Holy Fathers..." unless she wants to get creative too.

By the way, it seems that the prayer after meals is also in Tone 8, for anyone that wants to sing it.

Daniil

Yes, I think that it is always good to add prayers and intentions appropriate to the occasion. We sometimes forget to do this in our attempt to follow received liturgical practice. Fr. Joe

I find it interesting how the monastic graces provide a model for the home graces. (I remember the old "Roman Breviary" graces from when I was in seminary: it took DAYS!!! Psalms out the ears.)

My grandfather, resolute Greek Orthodox, shepherd by childhood tradition, baker in the U.S., did the real simple: "Bless, O Lord the food and drink of your servants, now and forever." And we said "Amen". And then we ate. If he had ever considered anything longer, my grandmother (Yiaya in Greek; Baba in Slavonic) would have given a scowl about the food being ready and the paint would have come off the walls in terror. (Patristic society in the East?; yeah, sure, and I'm Queen Marie of Rumania!!!)

Blessings!

Slava Isusu Christu!

I was taught by my wonderful Greek Catholic Godmother:

+In the Name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit!. Amen.

Our Father...

Christ our God bless the food and drink of your servants for you are gracious and you love mankind.

+In the Name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit Amen.

And I have used it every day since.

God Bless.

In the Theotokos:


Robert