Also consumed at the end of the distribution; all of it.
Splendid! That’s what I like to hear, or in this case, read. By the way, I should have clarified: the Ablutions in our case consist of both, consuming all of the remaining consecrated Body and Blood of our Lord, and then cleaning the Sacred Vessels (the Chalice and Paten or Diskos.*). This has to be done by priests and bishops (and I believe deacons are allowed to assist, since they are also allowed to handle the Sacred Vessels). No one below the rank of a subdeacon is allowed to touch the Holy Table, although anyone with a blessing from the bishop, such as altar servers, can enter the altar through the deacons’ doors (the altar being the area on the other side of the Iconostasis).
Our Holy Tables are not ornately decorated like Western altars, although they do have paraments which are usually changed to reflect the appropriate liturgical color. It is now routine to place a glass table-cover atop the paraments so that they do not have to be burned in the event any of the Blood of our Lord is spilled on them. Rather, in our churches the equivalent decoration is done in the center of the nave, an area which corresponds to the location of the Bema in synagogues and also historically, in churches of the Assyrian Church of the East (unfortunately, they no longer have this layout, where the Bema was connected to the Altar via an elevated walkway). It is at this position in the center of the nave where the icons relevant to the liturgical occasion, or, on Great and Holy Friday, the iconographic representation of the tomb in which Christ our True God reposed, are placed, and I have also seen relics placed there for veneration.
The equivalent of an altar guild will decorate this area, with beautiful displays of flowers, and additional flowers will be placed elsewhere in the nave and also frequently the iconostasis will be decorated with flowers, or, on Pentecost, with greenery (the green leaves symbolize the tongues of fire; also, curiously, this may be a prophetic tradition that was held over from Judaism, because Jewish synagogues are also decorated with greenery when they celebrate Pentecost, but it could also be that they are copying our style, rather than vice versa, but I don’t know, although I will say, if their use of greenery to decorate the synagogue predated the incarnation of Christ our God and the development of the Orthodox liturgical practice, that would be remarkable, and I intend to research this in the near future). By greenery, I mean garlands of green leaves and cuttings of green leaves.
I saw one Old Calendarist church without a regular priest leave the greenery from Pentecost up until they next had a priest come out, two months later, meaning that for two of the hottest months of the year, there were leaves drying out and becoming progressively dryer in the church, which was still being actively used for liturgical worship (for Vespers, Matins and the Typika, which has the Epistle and Gospel lesson from the Divine Liturgy and related prayers, and which exists in a form which can be celebrated by the laity when no priest is available), during which time people were lighting candles, and incense was being offered, and vigil lamps in front of the iconostasis were either being lit, or kept burning. I warned them repeatedly of the risk of fire, but they didn’t care, which shocked me. Fortunately, the church did not burn down - this church was built by ROCOR, but some Old Calendarists managed to acquire it by suing ROCOR, and ROCOR’s incompetent counsel failed to respond to a deadline during the lawsuit on time, resulting in a default judgement. I hope the lawyer in question was disbarred, since such a miscarriage of justice on the basis of inept counsel is horrible, and it violates one of the Maxims of Equity (which used to be conducted in separate Courts of Chancery, and still is in Delaware, which is perhaps why so many American businesses are incorporated there), namely, that Equity abhors a forfeiture. And historically, when courts of common law rendered decisions contrary to those of Equity, Equity always prevailed. The negligence of ROCOR’s attorney was very nearly compounded by the negligence of the new owners of that parish, because had it caught fire, the priceless icons and relics contained within would have been damaged or destroyed, and it is also a particularly beautiful church.
*The Diskos, which Orthodox churches tend to use instead of the Western Paten, is basically a Paten with a stem and a base, which makes it easier to handle, during the Elevation, and also the Offertory, which we call the Great Entrance*, when it is carried from the Table of Preparation, out of the Altar, and to the Holy Table (in many Orthodox churches, this procession goes around the entire congregation, which I quite like; in my church however and others of Slavonic heritage, it is much shorter and simply consists of going out the deacon’s door on the liturgical North side of the Iconostasis (the left-hand door, from the perspective of the laity), and then back in through the central Holy Doors, so its a procession of about 15 feet instead of 150-200 feet.
*In the Little Entrance, the Gospel Book, or Evangelion, which consists of the four Gospels arranged according to their use in the lectionary, for each day of the church year, and other liturgical occasions which may arise), and which is held together with a gold or silver binding decorated with icons of our Lord and the four Evangelists, is carried in procession on the same route, while the hymn known as the Trisagion is sung (Holy God, Holy Mighty, Holy Immortal One, Have Mercy on Us).
