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Canon Shock

~Anastasia~

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Andrei D

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At your service, do you have a lighted 12 branch candelabra and after each Gospel is read, a candle is extinguished?

I don't think we have that, but I might be wrong.

There is a very special moment as they take out the Holy Cross that usually sits on the Holy Table and is never seen except for Holy Thursday and Friday. But I honestly do not remember about candles being lit or put out.

On Holy Friday, however almost all lights are dimmed or off, I think even the "kandili" in front of icons. People say not to light candles at the entrance either (where you light for living and asleep). The priests are dressed in all black vestments. They take out the Holy Epitaph (?) which is also never seen outside the Altar. Then we crawl under the table bearing the Holy Epitaph and Cross so as to experience passage through the grave. And we go around the Church in a symbolic funeral procession. Is that common?
 
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~Anastasia~

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I don't think we have that, but I might be wrong.

There is a very special moment as they take out the Holy Cross that usually sits on the Holy Table and is never seen except for Holy Thursday and Friday. But I honestly do not remember about candles being lit or put out.
(I might get some terms wrong)

There is a just about life-size cross with a corpus affixed behind the altar table most of the year. It is clearly visible through the Royal Doors when they are open.

It is brought out on Holy Thursday, iirc. Christ hangs on the Cross until the "unnailing" ceremony on Holy Friday afternoon. We usually have girls representing the Myrrh-bearers. In a very solemn ceremony, the Christ is removed from the Cross and wrapped in a winding sheet and placed in the Epitathios. (Just for this service). The empty Cross is then adorned with a wreath of red flowers and remains on the solea, I think until ... oh, I forget. Maybe the Ascension or Pentecost?

After that service, the corpus is removed from the epitaphios and instead we have a cloth icon of Christ being removed from the Cross and prepared for burial. It usually hangs in a box frame at the back of the sanctuary on the choir loft front, but it remains down until the end of the Paschal season.

On Holy Friday, however almost all lights are dimmed or off, I think even the "kandili" in front of icons. People say not to light candles at the entrance either (where you light for living and asleep). The priests are dressed in all black vestments. They take out the Holy Epitaph (?) which is also never seen outside the Altar. Then we crawl under the table bearing the Holy Epitaph and Cross so as to experience passage through the grave. And we go around the Church in a symbolic funeral procession. Is that common?

I don't remember turning off the lights on Holy Friday. We all have candles, in fact, in red cups for the crucifixion. The epitaphios, beautifully decorated, containing the cloth icon of Christ being prepared for burial, is processed around the city block with all the faithful following and singing the Thrice-Holy, with readings at each of the four corners of our path and in front of the Church doors after we return. Then we all pass under the epitaphios on our way back into the Church.

(Ours is quite large and stored at the side of the solea in the sanctuary normally, with a wooden icon of Christ being taken down inside of it through the year.)

Now, everything is made dark on Pascha! Everything. There is only the tiniest glow coming from inside the altar ... I think they use that one candle that always burns to light the priest's Pascha candle. It's amazing, seeing that glow rise slowly from inside the altar, thinking about how Christ rose from the dead! And then the doors open, the priest comes up, lights the servers' candles with his, and they pass the light and the faithful all pass it along, lighting each other's candles, and they sing "Come Receive the Light". It's beautiful and amazing! I'm getting excited, thinking of it coming up once again so soon. :)
 
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Paidiske

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Now I'm wondering which is more "Traditional" or if it varies, and why? Hmmmmm ....

I think - just from what little I know of western traditions - that you might find the extinguishing of candles to be related to tenebrae.
 
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Andrei D

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In a very solemn ceremony, the Christ is removed from the Cross and wrapped in a winding sheet and placed in the Epitathios.

Wow, that's BEAUTIFUL. I'm sure we don't have that.
 
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~Anastasia~

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Wow, that's BEAUTIFUL. I'm sure we don't have that.
I absolutely LOVE Holy Week services. I didn't realize at first that it is actually the Church's intent, but my first year I felt so exactly like I had accompanied Christ right by His side through His last week before the Crucifixion, through the Resurrection.

It is emotionally difficult too though. But the joy of Pascha is amazing.
 
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~Anastasia~

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I think - just from what little I know of western traditions - that you might find the extinguishing of candles to be related to tenebrae.
Thank you for the info. I'll look into that. :)
 
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Mary of Bethany

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At your service, do you have a lighted 12 branch candelabra and after each Gospel is read, a candle is extinguished?

Not in my OCA parish, which is in the Slavic tradition. Everyone holds a candle and each time a Gospel is read, we light them.
 
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Andrei D

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I guess we are Slavonic as well. I just looked in the the Romanian Triodion Book, and it only says about candles having to be distributed to all before the beginning of the Gospel readings, but nothing about extinguishing 12 candles.
 
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prodromos

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It is brought out on Holy Thursday, iirc. Christ hangs on the Cross until the "unnailing" ceremony on Holy Friday afternoon. We usually have girls representing the Myrrh-bearers. In a very solemn ceremony, the Christ is removed from the Cross and wrapped in a winding sheet and placed in the Epitathios. (Just for this service). The empty Cross is then adorned with a wreath of red flowers and remains on the solea, I think until ... oh, I forget. Maybe the Ascension or Pentecost?

After that service, the corpus is removed from the epitaphios and instead we have a cloth icon of Christ being removed from the Cross and prepared for burial. It usually hangs in a box frame at the back of the sanctuary on the choir loft front, but it remains down until the end of the Paschal season
Just a small correction. The decorated table with the ornate arch is called the kouvouklion, which represents the tomb, and the woven icon which is carried upon it is called the epitaphios.
I thought the table was called the epitaphios for years.
 
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Dave-W

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Does "canon" have a punitive connotation in English at all? Just wondering.
Canon - no.
Cannon - yes. ^_^
51ec6-untitled.png
 
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~Anastasia~

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Just a small correction. The decorated table with the ornate arch is called the kouvouklion, which represents the tomb, and the woven icon which is carried upon it is called the epitaphios.
I thought the table was called the epitaphios for years.
Oh thank you!

I WAS a bit confused. I might have misunderstood but I gathered that it was called a kouvouklion when it was not decorated, and an epitaphios when it was. (Actually, someone told me exactly that.) But they also called the woven cloth icon an epitaphios. Thank you so much for the clarification.

It's funny, when I came into the Church, I felt I would NEVER learn to distinguish all the words tossed about, from names of things in the Church to even all the foods. I still don't know all the things/locations, but I've learned a lot of them. And probably I know about 30 foods as well as how to make them. ;) (Not always how to spell them though!)

(And all the details of the Liturgical cycle and services, which I'm also slowly getting.)

It sure takes time though. :)

Thank you again!
 
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