I’ll be curious as to your thoughts if you end up reading it.
You are fortunate to have had that influence growing up. I came to God and his Church only a couple of years ago and often feel that I struggle to know how to pray. I think that is why I have been so interested in looking into the different spiritual traditions of the Church.
Indeed. I could not agree more.
Are there statues in some ECC ?
Despite the ongoing reversal of trends that brought such into Eastern Catholic Churches to begin with, one can still find statues in some of our Churches.
There may still statues in some ECCs but as the page where that image came from states, that picture you’ve posted was taken in the early 1970s when the Wonder-working Icon of Kazan was in the church and venerated. I began in the parish long after Fr Karl reposed. I don’t know how long the statue was in the church but it hasn’t been in there for decades. It may have been there only during that veneration of the Kazan Icon or it may have been there longer, I’ll ask if our oldest members recall. But in any case that photo would not be an example of where one can still find statues in an ECC, unless by “still” you mean the early 1970s.
I realized that picture was dated, but the trend still continues. I’ve seen several videos even over the last few weeks of HDLs and new church consecrations in the Ukraine (Ruthenian and Ukrainian jurisdictions) where statues were prominently displayed in the nave. I could not find any still images. That said, here’s one such video (UCGG 2011), of a hierarchical Divine Liturgy at an established parish, with the first statues appearing just after the 2:30 mark (in front of the icons of Christ and the Theotokos).
As I said there may well be statues in some other ECCs. I do recall in a YouTube film of one of the large ECCs here in the US, maybe a cathedral, there was a huge Divine Mercy painting on the northern wall. I know from having heard their former abbot preach twice and from friends who have visited the monastery, that Holy Transfiguration Monastery AKA Mt Tabor Monastery here in CA seems to have an active devotion to many Latin traditions, tho I don’t know if those are physically present there in their temple. I think a friend who recently visited would have mentioned it if they were. He did mention other “Latinizations” at the Monastery.
It is - it’s just not in line with Byzantine tradition. It is really an “issue” only when statues (Western tradition) are used instead of icons (Eastern tradition), which may have been the case decades back but not today. Clearly not the case in the instances I’ve seen of late and mentioned, yet I did find it intriguing that statues were still being placed in new churches, considering the current mode of traditional thought and guidance from Rome.
When I visited Mt. Tabor a couple of years ago, I was very surprised to discover that they celebrate the Feast of St. Joseph on March 19. I don’t remember the exact reason, but I think it was in honor of the founder of the monastery.
I do the eastern profound bow, in a Latin Church. I genuflect at the pew; and still cross myself right to left. Other than that, I do everything else Latin-wise.
First, Latin Catholics should be bowing to the altar and genuflecting to the tabernacle.
Abide Latin tradition as respectfully as possible (yes, “when in Rome”).
I cross right-to-left (honestly, I don’t think anyone notices) and bow instead of genuflecting, although if it were not for my back problems, I would genuflect.
When I was not yet Catholic, I had attended a Latin Mass with a close friend who is Latin Catholic. During the Eucharistic Liturgy, I had closed my eyes so I could better listen to the words of the priest. At one point I opened my eyes, and to my embarrassment, I was the only one standing and everyone else was kneeling!
However, my friend did inform me that since the Mass is a communal celebration, you should do as the rest of the congregation does, especially in instances where the action is rather obvious. No one will really notice which sign of the cross you use, but standing in a sea of people who are kneeling? 