Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

2. In the West, priests are ordinarily celibate or are unmarried when they have been ordained. And there are, of course, some exceptions (eg. Pastoral Provision, Anglican Ordinariate, & even widowers).

In the East, the discipline allows for married men to be priests.

This does not mean priests can become married.

Similarly, in both East & West, men can be married before becoming a deacon.

A deacon, therefore, cannot become married.

In all cases of married men, who then receive Holy Orders, they can only be married once.

The man’s wife, and by extension his marriage, is his primary vocation. He must serve his domestic church first, before attending his congregation and community.

And in all cases, men must be called by the Lord to any vocation and be able to discern His Providence & Will, through wise counsel or spiritual direction.

For further reading, please feel free to click here.

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Divine Liturgy

1. Our Mass times are listed under Divine Liturgy. Byzantine Catholics don’t generally use the term Mass to refer to our Eucharistic Liturgy as in the West. Instead, we call it Divine Liturgy.

Exactly as the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, our Divine Liturgy has two parts, two Liturgies:

Liturgy of the Catechumen (Liturgy of the Word)
Liturgy of the Faithful (Liturgy of the Eucharist)

2. We keep the ancient tradition of standing during Divine Liturgy. This hails back to First Ecumenical Council of Nicaea. Canon 20 states that on Sundays and during the Paschal season prayer should be said standing.

In the East, historically, kneeling was considered a penitential act rather than an act of reverence or adoration. Since Sundays are not penitential days, and Divine Liturgy is one chief act of adoration of Christ, we do not kneel during Divine Liturgy.

3. The Early Church Fathers expressed musical instruments could distract from the prayer that we say as we sing during our Liturgy.

During Divine Liturgy it is mystically revealed we are, in a true sense, taken up to Heaven joining in with the Saints & Angels in proper and just worship of our God.

See how Saint John writes in Revelation 1:10.

4. A standard church of the East will be filled with Icons, as statues exist in the West.

In Divine Liturgy, we experience the joining all time and space, of Heaven and Earth.

This means that all the Angels & Saints celebrate with us even though we don’t physically see them in their form of glory.

To make these “cloud of witnesses” (Hebrews 12:1-2) tangibly present to us, we have Icons of the Saints to show us this truth of the presence of angels and saints during the Divine Liturgy.

5. Some of our women parishioners wear a veil or headcovering during Divine Liturgy. We do not require women to cover their head, although this is an ancient practice.

We trace this back to Saint Paul, writing to Corinth (1 Corinthians 11). It’s part of his instruction to the Church to keep one’s self and the Liturgy Holy and unblemished.

Now, granted, appropriate, outward presentation of one’s self is important. Yet it certainly must be accompanied with a proper and just disposition of the heart.

The good news is when we dress our best, or we take the time to prepare our image, realizing we are an icon of the Most High, we will be encouraged to adorn the heart.

Likewise, having the heart fixed to Christ will allow for us to take better care of ourselves on the outside. Our soul and the body are intertwined and will be treated well, as we ought allow and are commanded as Saint Paul wrote to Corinth:

(Sic.) “glorify God in your body.”

1 Corinthians 6:20

For further reading, please feel free to click here.

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Repentance or Confession

1. Mystery of Repentance (Confession) is a structured way to reconcile with both God and the Church. When we sin, we affect the whole Body of Christ in many ways, even beyond the scope of our knowledge, time, and place. Yet, glory and thanks be to God, this is not the end. He provides Final Word, tangibly seen through His priests and bishops, traced back to His Apostles (John 20:22-23).

When we receive absolution in the Sacrament, we receive the grace of God; we receive a complete washing and remission of our sins.

The church fathers call confession the “Second Baptism.”

2. Frequency of this Sacrament should be something you discuss with your confessor or spiritual father. The Byzantine bishops generally hold to a minimum of once every fast season (Great Fast/Lent, Apostles’ Fast, Dormition Fast, & Philip’s Fast).

A healthy recommendation is once a month; sometimes people are called to go each week before partaking in the Eucharist.

For further reading, please feel free to click here.

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Eucharist

1. We believe and profess Christ’s Eucharist is truly His most precious body and, indeed, His life giving blood. Christ, Our Pascha, institutes His Eucharist on the night He, rather, surrendered Himself for the life of the world.

See the Anamnesis in the Anaphora of Saint John Chrysostom

See also Matthew 26:26-28; Mark 14:22-24; Luke 22:19-20

He proclaims and is gracefully adamant:

The Church Fathers held fast to this real and challenging truth. Saint John Chrysostom writes:

Likewise, we proclaim the prayer before Holy Communion:

The Divine Liturgies of Our Holy Fathers

John Chrysostom & Basil The Great

Refer to Pages 77-78

Reflect on this prayer, in light of 1 Corinthians 11:23-30.

Then, continue to read and reflect the Eucharist portion of our FAQ.

2. All in a clear, formed conscience shall partake in and receive the Eucharist, provided they:

are professed, practicing Catholics, in full union with the Holy, Catholic, Apostolic Church
in a State of Mercy or Grace, having been absolved of mortal, grave sin

If you are not Catholic, or are in need of Repentance, especially of mortal, grave sin,

we ask that you refrain from receiving the Eucharist.

We do not want you bearing false witness, receiving unworthily, profaning the Body and Blood. To not discern your whole being, means placing judgment of yourself (1 Corinthians 11:27-31)

That being said, you are encouraged to come up for a blessing during Holy Communion.

Simply go to the priest, cover your mouth, and keep yourself bowed.

He will raise over you, or touch your head with, the Chalice in blessing for strength to discern and to seek full communion with Christ and His Church.

3. At Communion, if you properly disposed to receive Christ, in the Eucharist:

go to the priest, give him your name (if you have not yet)
cross your arms over your chest or place hands in prayer,
tilt your head back, and simply open your mouth

The priest will use a spoon to serve you the Eucharist to eat.

Please keep your tongue and teeth away from the spoon, as a matter of health and sanctity.

4. Adults, entered into the Catholic Church, receive Mysteries of Initiation (Baptism, Chrismation/Confirmation, & Eucharist).

It is custom all Mysteries are received together, unless they have initially received Mysteries beforehand (eg. one was only Baptized, or one had not been Chrismated).

The Byzantine tradition has always kept these Three Mysteries together for infants.

5. In the East, we don’t have Eucharistic Adoration in the same way the West places the Body in a Monstrance for Exposition & Benediction.

Our Eucharistic Adoration is throughout the Liturgy of the Faithful. We bow as the gifts are brought through the Iconostasis. We continue to give proper, just worship during the Anaphora. And we receive the Eucharist, in humility, when able.

If you wish to, you may show reverence to the Eucharist with a bow after receiving.

You may in prudence kiss the Lention, the purifying linen which the altar servers hold.

For further reading, please feel free to click here.

“Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my bloodhas eternal life, and I will raise him on the last day.

For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me and I in him.”

John 6:54-56

“When the Word says, ‘This is My Body’, be convinced of it and believe it, and look at it with the eyes of the mind. . .

How many now say, ‘I wish I could see

His shape, His appearance, His garments, His sandals.’

Only look! You see Him! You touch Him! You eat Him!”

Homilies on the Gospel of Matthew [82,4] 370 A.D.

May the partaking of your holy mysteries O Lord be not for my judgement or condemnation, but for the healing of soul and body.

O Lord I also believe and profess that

this which I am about to receive is truly your

most precious body and your life giving blood

which, I pray, make me worthy to receive for the remission of all my sins and for life everlasting.

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Sign of the Cross

1. We know that Christians have made the Sign of the Cross since the Church’s earliest of days. Tertullian (220 AD) described the practice as being something that was already a very old practice. Saint Hippolytus of Rome documents the practice as virtuous habit and provides instruction for it such as in Baptism (see The Apostolic Tradition of Hippolytus).

And Saint Cyril of Jerusalem eloquently writes:

In Scripture, Ezekiel is given revelation from God that those marked with a tav (taw or tau) would be protected from condemnation on the day of reckoning (See Ezekiel 9:4).

This tav, in the ancient Hebrew, harkens to Moses, when he instructed all to anoint their doorways with the Blood of the Passover Lamb. All homes marked were passed over by the Angel of Death and they lived.

Fast forward to the unveiling, the Apocalypse (Greek: apokalupsis, ἀποκάλυψις) attested by Saint John, the Angel of God cried out to the others:

The letter and mark looks similar to the Cross of Christ, which redeems us, intends to overshadow and protect us from eternal death. It takes its closest resemblance when translated from the Hebrew into Greek (as tau Τ, τ).

It is in Greek, the letter stands for the name of God. Finally in our Roman Alphabet, which is adapted into English, we get our “ T ” or “ t ”.

The Sign of the Cross is a prayer, a creed, and a reminder of Salvation through active faith in Christ (Reflect on James 2:14-26).

2. The Sign of the Cross is a prayer all on its own which Christians should pray regularly even outside of Divine Liturgy.

It helps remind us that all that we do is done in our One, Thrice Holy God and the Three Persons in One Essence. We then ought realize we are a Temple of God and God dwells in our very being (1 Corinthians 3:16).

During Divine Liturgy we especially make the Sign of the Cross whenever the Trinity is invoked, with many opportunities abound.

3. Over the course millennia signing of the Cross has changed. This is most apparent over the Church’s earliest centuries (prior to 1000 AD). In the East, as well as the West, the form of signing one’s self, from right to left, was commonplace.

Two pious traditions hold signing right shoulder to left shoulder signified:

The Son is at the Right Hand of the Father, the Holy Spirit is on the Father’s Left.
The Sheep, judged worthy by Christ, go right; the goats, condemned, go left.
- See Matthew 25:33

It has been debated whether or not Pope Innocent III prohibited signing right to left. Whether or not that is the case, the West began, during his pontificate, signing the Cross left to right.

4. As Catholics in the Byzantine tradition, we hold our hand so that the thumb and first two fingers meet and the ring and pinky fingers touch together on our palm.

Thinking of the palm as the earth, this reminds us that God is triune in Heaven and Jesus condescended to earth in two natures joined together while never leaving heaven.

For further reading, please feel free to click here.

“Do not harm. . .until we have sealed the Servants of God on their foreheads!”

Revelation 7:3

“Be the Cross our seal made with boldness by our fingers on our brow, and on everything; over the bread we eat, and the cups we drink; in our comings in, and goings out; before our sleep, when we lie down and when we rise up; when we are in the way, and when we are still.”

Catechetical Lecture #13 (350 AD)

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Theology

1. Theosis is the path of deification, or through Divine Grace we will be made to be like God is in His Divine Nature. The term, divinization, is used commonly in the West and is in reference to this understanding. Saint Athanasius said:

“For the Son of God became man so that we might become God.”

On the Incarnation of the Word (§ 54, 3)

And Saint Irenaeus of Lyon gives a subtle, yet poignant word, beginning his fifth book after writing four full volumes:

(Sic.) “the Word of God, our Lord Jesus Christ, who did, through His transcendent love, become what we are, that He might bring us to be even what He is Himself.”

Against Heresies (Book V, Preface)

A final thought is provided by Saint Maximus the Confessor:

2. Mary the Mother of God is the Theotokos. Theotokos (Θεοτόκος) is a Greek word meaning God-Bearer or One who gave birth to God. Although it doesn’t explicitly mean the Mother of God, the connotation is similar and properly attuned.

Through Mary’s title & role, we proclaim Jesus Christ was, and is, God even before being born on earth, even before His Incarnation.

3. Veneration is how Christians show respect to those saints who have come before us in faith, which we know as “the great cloud of witnesses” (Hebrews 12:1-2).

The practice of veneration of icons refers to any way that Christians show respect to a saint through their icon and can take many forms; for the Byzantine Catholic this most commonly refers to bowing and kissing icons.

4. We believe that worship and adoration (Greek: latreia, λατρεία), is due to God alone. The Seventh Ecumenical Council of Nicaea teaches, because God became man, we could represent Christ in images; it is His humanity that is depicted. It is proper and just to honor and respect to Him through His image.

In a similar fashion, we are allowed to represent and honor holy moments and the holy ones, people and angels of which are saints, with icons.

Saint John of Damascus said:

“I venerate the icon of Christ the Incarnate God. . .

the honour that we render unto the image belongs to the Prototype.”

Catechism of the Ukrainian Catholic Church § 591

We do not offer any sacrifices to icons, so we cannot say that venerating icons is worship or adoration. It is not idolatry, a violation of God’s First Commandment.

For further reading, please feel free to click here.

“God made us so that we might become partakers of the divine nature (2 Peter 1:4) and sharers in His eternity, and so that we might come to be like him (1 John 3:2) through deification by grace.”

It is through deification that all things are reconstituted and achieve their permanence, and it is for its [deification’s] sake that what is not is brought into being and given existence.”

Texts on Theology, the Divine Economy, and Virtue and Vice ¶ 42

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Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

Catholic Faith

Divine Liturgy

Repentance or Confession

Eucharist

Sign of the Cross

Theology

Further Reading