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Bishara AND cross during praxis procession?
Abouna asked me to research this! At our church, we only use the cross during the procession three times around the altar (such as after the Absolution of the Servants, and during Taishori). Other churches, especially those in the North, and in Egypt, use bothe the Bishara and the Cross (sometimes even using 2 deacons to do the procession around the altar together). Which way is right? Our Deacon's committee is actually thinking about changing it, so we need some research done!
Pray for me!
Je Nai Nan
Pray for me!
Je Nai Nan
Comments
In my church, we used to use both the bishara (The Gospels) and the cross together for the Pauline and Acts processions and the raising of incense procession, then we changed it to just the cross for all three. I will not mention any written sources because I don't have any, but I will just iterate the tradition taught to us by a person who is an authority on the subject.
The reason is the following.
If we consider the meaning of the processions and the role of the deacon in those procession, it will make perfect sense. During the processions, the priest is saying the three long litanies. Where there are litanies, there are responses for the deacon. These are for the peace of the church, the patriarch, and the holy place and assemblies. So the role of the deacon is to say the responses in these processions. Whenever a deacon says a response, he always holds a cross. So the reason he holds the cross is because he is saying responses. As a side note, the fact that there are responses present tells us that these prayers for the processions were said audibly and not inaudibly. Also, there were congregation responses as well (Lord have mercy)
Now, for the Beshara:
The beshara contains the four gospels only. Therefore, it is has nothing to do with the Pauline epistles or the Acts. The Beshara is only used during the procession of the Gospel, and that's what makes sense. During the procession of the gospel, you hold the gospel. The Beshara used to be a real book (The EO, Aremenians, and Catholic churches use an actual book for the Beshara. Some coptic churches have this book now, but I don't think they are written in coptic or arabic. the one i saw was written in greek. We may have gotten it from the EO church). Any ways, This book used to be the same book that the Gospel was read from after the procession. After it proceeds around the Altar, the Deacon would hold it open for the priest or bishop to be read at the door of the sanctuary. After it was read, the deacon would take it and proceed with it in the entire church for the congregation to kiss. (This is where we get the part at the end of the raising of incense where the priest holds the beshara and the whole congregation goes up to him to kiss it. This part used to happen during the liturgy as well after the reading of the gospel). Therefore, the Beshara (The Gospels) had it's own use in the rights that was very specific to it.
So, the question still remains, where did the idea come from to hold the beshara during the pauline and acts processions?
Well, the fact is there used to be a separate "beshara" if you will, that only contained the pauline epistles (I don't know if there was one for just the acts or not, but I would imagine there would have been.) This Pauline "beshara" used to be held during the pauline procession, because, after all , it was a procession to cense the altar at the time of reading the pauline. (I wonder why there isn't a catholic procession. Was the catholic epistle a later addition?). These pauline besharas actually exist as manuscripts in the ancient churches which proves their existence. However, since we do not have this pauline beshara any longer, then it makes sense to only hold the cross, because again, the deacon is saying responses in the procession. It is insufficient just to hold the beshara of the gospels instead because this brings on confusion and the right loses it's meaning (this is the proof; many don't know the meaning of this part of the liturgy and many are making things up as they go.)
As a side note, have you ever wondered why after the first pauline procession the priest goes around the whole church and the second he stays close to the altar? The reason is St. Paul spread the word of God to very far places. He didn't just stay in one place, rather he traveled on long journeys going from city to city preaching. While most of the apostles, either stayed in jerusalem, or they stayed in the region they preached to without going from city to city.
Putting all of this into consideration tells us that the katamarus is a recent innovation. It was probably put together to reduce the number of books in use.
Anyways,
Sorry for the long response, but I felt it was necessary to put everything in prespective.
Some of what I said is mentioned in the book (El-gawhara el-nafisa). I just wanted to present the tradition from a practical and meaning point of view. But believe me, the sources out there exist.
Thanks,
Pray for me
Sifaing
Good question.
In my church, we used to use both the bishara (The Gospels) and the cross together for the Pauline and Acts processions and the raising of incense procession, then we changed it to just the cross for all three. I will not mention any written sources because I don't have any, but I will just iterate the tradition taught to us by a person who is an authority on the subject.
The reason is the following.
If we consider the meaning of the processions and the role of the deacon in those procession, it will make perfect sense. During the processions, the priest is saying the three long litanies. Where there are litanies, there are responses for the deacon. These are for the peace of the church, the patriarch, and the holy place and assemblies. So the role of the deacon is to say the responses in these processions. Whenever a deacon says a response, he always holds a cross. So the reason he holds the cross is because he is saying responses. As a side note, the fact that there are responses present tells us that these prayers for the processions were said audibly and not inaudibly. Also, there were congregation responses as well (Lord have mercy)
Now, for the Beshara:
The beshara contains the four gospels only. Therefore, it is has nothing to do with the Pauline epistles or the Acts. The Beshara is only used during the procession of the Gospel, and that's what makes sense. During the procession of the gospel, you hold the gospel. The Beshara used to be a real book (The EO, Aremenians, and Catholic churches use an actual book for the Beshara. Some coptic churches have this book now, but I don't think they are written in coptic or arabic. the one i saw was written in greek. We may have gotten it from the EO church). Any ways, This book used to be the same book that the Gospel was read from after the procession. After it proceeds around the Altar, the Deacon would hold it open for the priest or bishop to be read at the door of the sanctuary. After it was read, the deacon would take it and proceed with it in the entire church for the congregation to kiss. (This is where we get the part at the end of the raising of incense where the priest holds the beshara and the whole congregation goes up to him to kiss it. This part used to happen during the liturgy as well after the reading of the gospel). Therefore, the Beshara (The Gospels) had it's own use in the rights that was very specific to it.
So, the question still remains, where did the idea come from to hold the beshara during the pauline and acts processions?
Well, the fact is there used to be a separate "beshara" if you will, that only contained the pauline epistles (I don't know if there was one for just the acts or not, but I would imagine there would have been.) This Pauline "beshara" used to be held during the pauline procession, because, after all , it was a procession to cense the altar at the time of reading the pauline. (I wonder why there isn't a catholic procession. Was the catholic epistle a later addition?). These pauline besharas actually exist as manuscripts in the ancient churches which proves their existence. However, since we do not have this pauline beshara any longer, then it makes sense to only hold the cross, because again, the deacon is saying responses in the procession. It is insufficient just to hold the beshara of the gospels instead because this brings on confusion and the right loses it's meaning (this is the proof; many don't know the meaning of this part of the liturgy and many are making things up as they go.)
As a side note, have you ever wondered why after the first pauline procession the priest goes around the whole church and the second he stays close to the altar? The reason is St. Paul spread the word of God to very far places. He didn't just stay in one place, rather he traveled on long journeys going from city to city preaching. While most of the apostles, either stayed in jerusalem, or they stayed in the region they preached to without going from city to city.
Putting all of this into consideration tells us that the katamarus is a recent innovation. It was probably put together to reduce the number of books in use.
Anyways,
Sorry for the long response, but I felt it was necessary to put everything in prespective.
Some of what I said is mentioned in the book (El-gawhara el-nafisa). I just wanted to present the tradition from a practical and meaning point of view. But believe me, the sources out there exist.
Thanks,
Pray for me
Sifaing
lol! honestly, I think you solved my issue ;D Thanks!!
Ⲟⲩϫⲁⲓ ϧⲉⲛ Ⲡϭⲥ
You cannot simply stick to an interpretation and cancel out a rite based on a mere thought.