Question about antidoron

[JJM]

I was wondering how highly antidoron is treated in the orthodox tradition? By that I mean: is it the sort of thing that ought to be safeguarded less crumbs end up in a vacuum cleaner, etc.? Hopefully y'all understand what I'm trying to get at.

 

[Protoevangel]

I can't give you an authoritative answer, but I can tell you how it is handled at my parish.

Oftentimes the children and the careless drop pieces and copious amounts of crumbs. We have people who try to pick up what they can. But in the end, once the cleaning crew comes in, whatever hasn't been picked up is vacuumed up.

A reasonable effort is made, and the remains are reverently disposed of. But this us not the Body and the Blood, and is not treated with the same fear and trembling.

 

[-Kyriaki-]

Usually in Churches the vacuum cleaner/broom/whatever used in Church is only used for Church, so crumbs would be vacuumed up separately from garbage, and treated with respect.

If it goes stale or mouldy we give it to the birds or garden, or add it to the collection of 'holy trash' most Orthodox families keep and then burn reverently periodically.

 

[Etsi]

I was taught to give any moldy or stale bits to the birds and garden. I can't imagine keeping "holy trash"...that would just be an issue since we are a large family, not in a big space, and "burning" is not permissible.

I've seen mothers pick crumbs up off the floor to eat and most do attempt to guard it while eating it. However, the carpet in church is always crumb speckled as it's difficult to be perfect about it

 

[-Kyriaki-]

I was taught to give any moldy or stale bits to the birds and garden. I can't imagine keeping "holy trash"...that would just be an issue since we are a large family, not in a big space, and "burning" is not permissible.

What do you do with all the bits of blessed stuff that you can't just throw out then? Candle stubs, stuff with icons on it, bits and pieces from church events... I have a bag of the stuff and I can't burn stuff easily either but if all else fails I take it to Church or a friend who can and they deal with it.

 

[Etsi]

What do you do with all the bits of blessed stuff that you can't just throw out then? Candle stubs, stuff with icons on it, bits and pieces from church events... I have a bag of the stuff and I can't burn stuff easily either but if all else fails I take it to Church or a friend who can and they deal with it.

I don't have any of that...Not even sure what all you are speaking of. What candle stubs? What stuff with icons on it? Any icons I have are on the wall. Bulletins from church aren't sacred and don't get saved, they get round filed.

 

[-Kyriaki-]

If you light candles at home, you get candle stubs. And we get stuff handed out at Church a lot at feast days and things like that, maybe it's a country thing? We get a lot of printed stickers and things that you have to do *something* with...ditto the tissues from getting holy oil and paper bags that have had blessed food in them and stuff like that.

 

[Etsi]

Ah. We don't burn those kinds of candles at home. We don't get stickers or anything (my understanding is that it has to be blessed in order to not be able to dispose of it in a normal manner), we don't get tissues or paper bags.

Correction. One the paper bags...there are wax bags that the granola type stuff for the memory of a deceased person is passed out in. If that is not all eaten, I give the granola to the birds/squirrels and throw away the bag. The bag isn't holy.

 

[-Kyriaki-]

Fair enough We get that sort of stuff, so we have to do something with it. Different cultures I suppose.

 

[Etsi]

Fair enough We get that sort of stuff, so we have to do something with it. Different cultures I suppose.

Not even that, it may just be different families as well. I know there are people that burn oil and incense here. I don't. I was chrismated last Christmas. Our home is not set up for such and such could be dangerous given the sheer number of us in our home. It's just not doable. The only candles I have are either the scented ones that come in protective glass containers (not the beeswax sticks from the monastery) and our candles from our chrismation that we use for Pascha and special occasions (and we've not been faced with any stubs yet...nor did I think about the disposal of before now as I did not know they were blessed or anything...they were store bought, so I did not consider them holy, just special).

 

[RobNJ]

Just in case, since I buy my candles from my church (same ones I light there), I return the stubs & any dripped wax. Besides, some US candle makers give the church credit for returned stubs.

 

[katherine2001]

What do you do with all the bits of blessed stuff that you can't just throw out then? Candle stubs, stuff with icons on it, bits and pieces from church events... I have a bag of the stuff and I can't burn stuff easily either but if all else fails I take it to Church or a friend who can and they deal with it.

In my parish, we bring them back to church and put them in a particular place and periodically either our priest or one of the parishioners who lives out in the country and can burn, will burn them. Personally, I don't usually bring palm leaves and that type of thing home because I can't dispose of them. I do periodically bring my old bulletins in to put in the designated spot or give them to Matushka, who will check with the Church School teachers to see if they can use any of them.