52. The week after Easter is called Bright Week.
53. Royal Doors remain open all through Bright Week.
54. King Cosmos shown beneath the Apostles on the Pentecost icon
55. Eyes on the icons.
I've been shown that all righteous people portrayed in the icons have both eyes visible. Eyes are the window to the soul and only Satan, Judas, and demons are portrayed with only one eye visible.
56. Icon of the guardian angel. I really like that an icon was specifically put on the wall for guardian angels. Why don't more parishes have depictions of guardian angels?
57. Its where I'm going to be crowned (married) in October.
58. Our new priest! Ok, so he's been around since August but that's still less than a year. I love that he adds humor into every sermon. He always starts his preaching with this greeting :"Good morning, Saints!".
And as strange as it sounds, I've never met a priest who said God bless you except at confession or if I sneezed. He always makes sure to say it when we're done talking.
59. I love the parish community as a sign of unity. The parish is a motley crew. It was started by Ruthenian Catholics (no one in the parish is Arab or originally Melkite) and taken care of and established as a parish by the Melkite eparchy. The first priest was an Anglican convert who was ordained a Latin Rite who was bi-ritual with the Byzantine Rite. The second priest was an Anglican convert to the Antiochian Orthodox Church who was ordained as a priest in the Orthodox Church and who then reconciled with the Catholic Church to become a Melkite priest. We had a Ukrainian Catholic priest in residence who would celebrate the Divine Liturgy with us from time to time until he was called back to his monastery. Our current priest is a former Orthodox priest who used to be pastor for a Western Rite Orthodox parish.
As Catholic of the various Byzantine Catholic Churches move into the area they start coming to the parish. We have Ukrainian, Ruthenian, and Melkite Catholics. There are also of course Latin Rite Catholics who remain in our parish on a continuing basis. And then there are others like me who came as a Latin Catholic, fell in love, and chose to become Melkite.
60. Its a growing parish and I'm looking to seeing what it will become some day. I enjoy the small intimate size, bu I realize that we must not close off the parish to people who also discover the joy of the East.
May God bless all who read my ramblings,
Adopt A Catholic Blog
2 comments:
I am not sure about the no Arabs. Certainly no foreign ones. My sister was married to an Egyptian whose sister had green eyes so you can't always go by stuff like that. I think I know what you're talking and WHERE you're talking about (I go there once in a while). I sit in the back of the Church, and there was an Arab that sat next to me, but I think he was visiting. (Speak Arabic on the phone after Divine Liturgy). No, with regards to there being no Melkites there that are cradle Melkites. Technically, not true. I remember, there was someone there, I think he was from the Eparchy, and he asked who were lifelong Melkites, and two woman affirmed they indeed were (even the sisters were originally Latins)!
Anyway, God bless you, and with regards to the correction, I hope you do not take it as being malicious. I am happy, by the way to find this blog, and thank God that you belong to the Church Our Lord founded!
Here is a great sample of Melkite Chant in English. May God bless you. http://www.steliasmelkite.org/music/
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