How to act properly in Latin rite Churches as an Eastern Catholic

[angelic06]

I make the Sign of the Cross in the Eastern way (because I would switch if I could!) and for the 15+ years I’ve been doing that, only a couple of people have said anything to me about it, and one was Orthodox.

And I too receive on the tongue, but that is because I was taught to do so long ago in the Latin rite.

So I would not worry about either of these.

Welcome to the Church

At Mass, I regularly make the Byzantine sign of the cross out of habit, not to put myself on display, except when I am visiting family, as they do not know much (anything?) about the Eastern Catholics. I have not been bothered about it.

Some visitors to the Byzantine Divine Liturgy make the Latin sign of the cross. We don’t harass anyone on account of that.

I am more concerned about those (former) Catholics who do not attend the Eucharist at all, that God may be merciful to them and not take judgment, and that secondly, if it pleases His Divine Majesty, they may return swiftly to attending divine services.

 

[Iconodule]

I’ve rarely had a question about my “Eastern” ways in our Latin parish. In fact, when I came to the RCC from the Holy Orthodox Church, our bishop specifically told me that I should keep my Orthodox daily prayer rule, as well as the other common Eastern practices of personal piety. I cross myself right-to-left, bow and touch the floor instead of genuflecting, and even do a prostration when venerating the Holy Cross. Once, when I was overhead praying, “It is truly meet…” before the image of our Lady of Guadalupe, the only reaction was requests to teach that prayer to those who heard.

 

[babochka]

And I went forward to receive in a Latin church with my arms crossed over my chest, crossed at the wrists, and the priest asked my twice if I wanted to receive. It seems to be a signal for a blessing only.

This incident is a good argument for “when in Rome…”.

Clearly, the priest was unfamiliar with the traditional posture in the Byzantine Rite and it would have been an act of kindness to him if you had approached for communion in a manner which would not have caused such confusion.

 

[5Loaves]

I cross myself right-to-left, bow and touch the floor instead of genuflecting, and even do a prostration when venerating the Holy Cross.

Ditto. There are just times when it feels like a prostration is the posture, and venerating the Cross when we have that in a Latin Church, is one of those times. One of the things I love about being in a very diverse engaged Latin parish is that people don’t really fuss about such things. There’s a respect for personal piety. The many variations of the way people make the Sign of the Cross is one of those.

 

[Miserissima]

Ditto. There are just times when it feels like a prostration is the posture, and venerating the Cross when we have that in a Latin Church, is one of those times. One of the things I love about being in a very diverse engaged Latin parish is that people don’t really fuss about such things. There’s a respect for personal piety. The many variations of the way people make the Sign of the Cross is one of those.

Our fourth grade teacher would chide us for looking like we were"chasing flies" when we crossed ourselves. LOL

 

[Vico]

This incident is a good argument for “when in Rome…”.

Clearly, the priest was unfamiliar with the traditional posture in the Byzantine Rite and it would have been an act of kindness to him if you had approached for communion in a manner which would not have caused such confusion.

I didn’t know what it meant. Now I avoid it if I am in a Latin church.

 

[Brian_Kerzetski]

This incident is a good argument for “when in Rome…”.

Clearly, the priest was unfamiliar with the traditional posture in the Byzantine Rite and it would have been an act of kindness to him if you had approached for communion in a manner which would not have caused such confusion.

This might be a good argument if it was indeed a Latin tradition. My understanding is (please correct me if I am mistaken) it is not and is a recent invention possibly adopted from the Anglicans. Thinking deeper about it, we fold our arms across our chest as it is through the cross we are saved. With this understanding, it seems silly to approach this way and not receive our Lord. Not to mention, in searching through the forums, it appears approaching the priest for a blessing during communion in the Latin rite is not in the rubrics and shouldn’t be done in the first place.

That being said, if approaching for a blessing is seen as acceptable, it is a shame that this posture was chosen to represent someone not worthy when the same posture is used in other churches to signify someone who is prepared to receive. I understand it may have been an innocent and ignorant choice, but to use it as an argument for “when in Rome…” makes it sound very degrading and lacking in ecumenism. Both the East and West need to be somewhat familiar with each others customs so that such confusion can be avoided.