May I cover my head at a Byzantine Rite Divine Liturgy?

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lizaanne

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Hello All -

My DH and I will soon be visiting a Byzantine Rite Church for Divine Liturgy. He is doing some website work for the priest there, and so we would like to experience the Church and the Liturgy.

I cover my head at Mass and at Adoration - would it be appropriate to do so at this Church/Liturgy? I know what it means to me in the context of the NO or TLM, and the Western Church - but I don’t want to offend anyone or be inappropriate in any way.

Thanks in advance! We will probably be going in a couple weeks.

~Liza
 
You may.

If you wear a mantilla, it will be obvious that you are a visiting Latin. If you are OK with that, go ahead. If not, you can wear a scarf.

The response of the people will depend on the parish and the Church. You said the Church uses the Byzantine rite, but that narrows it to 14 different Catholic Churches spanning the Eastern world. Which Church is it you plan to attend? Their histories create different responses to headcoverings.

Those in close proximity to other religions which require headcoverings are more likely to refuse to wear them. In Romania it is Protestants who cover and in the Middle East Muslims do. Wearing a headcovering there can be a political and religious statement of solidarity with another faith’s teachings. On the other hand, the Russian Orthodox cover so that isn’t a problem there. The Ukrainians are in close proximity to the Polish Catholics who cover and it isn’t uncommon to see mantillas in Ukrainian parishes.

What I’m trying to say is that you should talk it over with your husband and God and do what you are called to. If you are going to a church with a high number of immigrants it would be nice to take their cultural considerations into account in choosing a type of headcovering.
 
Thank you so much! This is most helpful.

We will be visiting this Church: shbyzantine.com/

I will be calling them on some other topics unrelated to this discussion, but when I do I’ll just ask what would be appropriate.

Thanks again - we are very much looking forward to this.

~Liza
 
Based on the parish’s name and information on their website, I would venture a guess that your mantilla will not be out of the ordinary there.

Unless your husband is the one who composed the text on the front page. Is he? If so, the people here could suggest some more precise terms.
 
I’m somewhat familiar with the parish and especially with their now retired Pastor. It is a fine parish that from the looks of the building and the name of the Church was greatly repressed by the Roman rite during its history. Nevertheless, it is reclaiming much of its patrimony. It is a very loving parish with a fairly new pastor.

Carson Lauffer
 
Woodstock said:
Based on the parish’s name and information on their website, I would venture a guess that your mantilla will not be out of the ordinary there.
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Thank you - that is good to know, I’ll still plan to give them a call anyway just to be comfortable with my decision.
Unless your husband is the one who composed the text on the front page. Is he? If so, the people here could suggest some more precise terms.
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Thank you for your offer to suggest terminology, I’ll be sure to let him know!

~Liza
 
GregoryPalamas said:
…from the looks of the building and the name of the Church was greatly repressed by the Roman rite during its history.
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Could you explain this a bit? I’m not sure what you mean as I am not very familliar with the history of the Orthodox Church.

~Liza
 
From the late nineteenth century until 1995 with the publication of “Orientale Luman” Roman Catholic leaders in America have tried to force Eastern Catholics to conform to Western ways. They eliminated our married priests in 1929 and more than half of our members left to form an Orthodox Church. To try to make Roman Catholics understand that we are truely Catholics buildings like Sacred Heart were built to look like Roman Cahtolic Churches when by nature and patrimony our temples look something like this www.byzantinecatholic.com We have no “Sacred Heart” traditions. We acquiessed to them to make us more palatible to the Romans.

Sacred Heart parish is slowly reclaiming Eastern patrimony but it has been a long journey.

CDL
 
GregoryPalamas said:
…They eliminated our married priests in 1929…

CDL
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Carson,

Interesting sidenote about this particular parish, especially in light of your comment quoted above - the current pastor, Fr. Joseph Marquis, is indeed himself a married man! He was ordained to the priesthood on February 12, 2006 by Bishop John of Parma. His was the first ordination of a married man to take place in America within our Byzantine Catholic Church in recent years… let us pray for many, many more!

Mnohaja i blahaja l’ita, Fr. Joseph!

Mnohaja i blahaja l’ita, Vladyka John!
 
What do the Ruthenians call the priest’s wife? Panimatka?

A better way to word it might be, what does Fr. John’s wife prefer to be called? She will set the modern precedent! 😛
 
It is a Ruthenian parish. No requirement to do so, no prohibition for women to do so. Veil if it makes you comfy. A lace, knit or gauze scarf tied over the head and under the chin is Traditional… the so called “Babushka” look.

At St. Nicholas, we have a couple who scarf, a couple in chapel veils*, a few in mantillas, and one or more in hats. And of course, sister has her veil, too. One wears a bandanna tied at the back of the neck.
  • by chapel veil, I’m referring to a (8"-12") round or oval lace veil that doesn’t quite cover the whole of the hair, but does frame the face a bit.
I saw much the same mix a decade ago at St. Stevens in Detroit, and 7 years ago in Orlando. With great irony, I’ll point out that I’ve sen mantillas on some RO women, too.
 
I have a dark burgundy-brown lace triangular veil that blends right in with my dark auburn hair - I think I’ll go with that one. It is less noticible than some others I own which are longer and more formal.

Thanks to all - this is been wonderfully informative!!

~Liza
 
lizaanne said:
I have a dark burgundy-brown lace triangular veil that blends right in with my dark auburn hair - I think I’ll go with that one. It is less noticible than some others I own which are longer and more formal.

Thanks to all - this is been wonderfully informative!!

~Liza
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Who knows. If you fall in love with the parish we may meet someday. We get up to Plymouth 2 or 3 times per year, sometimes more often, and we sometimes go to liturgy there.

CDL
 
If you really believe that wearing a head cover is the spiritually correct thing to do, then wear it regardless of what anyone else thinks. That’s one of those things I wouldn’t compromise on if it meant that much to me. If it’s just a cultural custom, then just go with the flow of the church you’ll be attending.

I understand the cultural reasons of ethnic churches eschewing headcovering , but then, what did women do who truly believed that it was spiritually correct to cover their heads? Did they allow cultural concerns to override their beliefs?

Triana
 
Woodstock said:
What do the Ruthenians call the priest’s wife? Panimatka?

A better way to word it might be, what does Fr. John’s wife prefer to be called? She will set the modern precedent! 😛
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Paňi=priest’s wife in the Rusyn Community in the USA.
 
lizaanne said:
Hello All -

My DH and I will soon be visiting a Byzantine Rite Church for Divine Liturgy. He is doing some website work for the priest there, and so we would like to experience the Church and the Liturgy.

I cover my head at Mass and at Adoration - would it be appropriate to do so at this Church/Liturgy? I know what it means to me in the context of the NO or TLM, and the Western Church - but I don’t want to offend anyone or be inappropriate in any way.

Thanks in advance! We will probably be going in a couple weeks.

~Liza
Click to expand...
Mantillas are not the Ruthenian Byzantine Catholic Church custom. I live in Rusyn Central and the young women in the Catholic and Orthdox Churches either;
A) wear no headcovering
B) wear hats
C) wear scarves. With most of the younger generation that cover their heads follow this custom.

They say “When in Rome…” Well, “When in the Trans-Carpathia diaspora.”
I’ve seen videos of services in the “old country.” Most women seem to wear scarves in Trans-Carpathia* in these church services videos.

*Trans-Carpathia= East Slovakia, South Eastern Poland, Western Ukraine, parts of Romania and Hungry. Essentially the Austrian Empire province of Galacia.
 
There is a custom in some places that only married women and widows cover their heads. Unmarried girls do not.

Then thre’s the story of one largely convert Orthodox parish where all the women got convinced at about the same time they should cover their heads, and they all started doing it. One of the ladies hand-knitted caps for them all for this purpose.
 
Our Ukrainian Greek Catholic parishes also are mixed; often the very old and the very young ladies are the ones with coverings. Usually these are always babushkas, no hats or mantillas.

Regarding the question of architecture, you can also take a look at saintelias.com/ca/index.php to see a church with traditional exterior and interior architecture.
FDRLB
 
bpbasilphx said:
There is a custom in some places that only married women and widows cover their heads. Unmarried girls do not.
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Actually the custom was for all of the females to wear some sort of headcovering. This denoted their standing and position within the village community.

Very young girls wore ribbons or rings of flowers or simple cloths tied under the chin.

The headcovering became more elaborate as the girl got older. Those girls who were ready to be married wore headpieces that were covered with ribbons, flowers, mirrors, coins, and anything that reflected light. This was to protect them from the evil eye; the evil eye would see it’s own reflection and would be chased away.

On her wedding day, the bride would be surround by her female relatives and perhaps the most important part of the ceremony would take place. They would remove her elaborate headpiece, braid her hair into single plait and wind it into a bun at the back of head. Then they would cover the bun with an embroidered cap. This symbolized that the bride was no longer a girl but an adult and functioning member of the village community.

After this ceremony, she never left her home without her marriage cap on her head.

In many regions, the marriage cap was often covered with another scarf for special occasions and for church services on Sunday. The kind of scarf, the color and the manner in which the scarf was tied or worn depended on the woman’s station in the village, the number of children she had, the number of grandchildren she had and whether or not she was a widow.

hope this helps…
 
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