Reverence during the Eucharist

[CB_Catholic]

Surprisingly enough, I am going to another parish because in the summer my parish switches to one bilingual Divine Liturgy. The parish I now attend has an all-English Divine Liturgy. I’m the only one who stands and everyone kneels for consecration (in the East you should never kneel on a Sunday) and its about 80% post-retirement age crowd.

I have attended the Byzantine CC near me a couple of times and they most certainly do kneel during the Consecration, but they stand as soon as it is over. They also kneel after receiving Communion too, for their personal prayer. There are no kneelers in the pews, so it’s kneel on the floor. Why they do it this way, I don’t know, but I have a hunch they are not the only ones, from the complaints of Latinization in the Byzantine churches I have read on these forums. They also intinct, but the priest does not use a spoon, he dips the bread into the wine (the Body and Blood) and places it into your mouth with his hand.

I am just posting this lest someone get the impression that everything is uniform in the Eastern Churches and it’s only the Latin Church that has it’s variances, and if you go to a DL, you might be surprised as I was. Never say never.

 

[ConstantineTG]

I have attended the Byzantine CC near me a couple of times and they most certainly do kneel during the Consecration, but they stand as soon as it is over. They also kneel after receiving Communion too, for their personal prayer. There are no kneelers in the pews, so it’s kneel on the floor. Why they do it this way, I don’t know, but I have a hunch they are not the only ones, from the complaints of Latinization in the Byzantine churches I have read on these forums. They also intinct, but the priest does not use a spoon, he dips the bread into the wine (the Body and Blood) and places it into your mouth with his hand.

I am just posting this lest someone get the impression that everything is uniform in the Eastern Churches and it’s only the Latin Church that has it’s variances, and if you go to a DL, you might be surprised as I was. Never say never.

That is odd. We do kneel on the floor for other services that is not the Divine Liturgy and never on Sundays. I know that the Ukrainian Church has self imposed Latinizations because of their history (a long discussion for another thread). I’m just making a point here that reverences are different depending on the traditions of a particular Church. Perhaps that place you’ve been to has a lot of RCs who fell in love with the Divine Liturgy. But hopefully they can also learn and respect the tradition and spirituality which calls for no kneeling on Sundays in the Byzantine Rite.

Also, there is no such thing as “personal prayer time” in the Byzantine Rite for after receiving Communion.

 

[musicality]

As I said, in the East its a no-no to kneel on Sundays. In fact in my own parish the priest put in the weekly bulletin for all those who kneel on Sundays to stop kneeling for even only during the Easter season as the tradition of the Church calls for standing on Sundays. Some people still continued to kneel.

Thanks for the explanation.

 

[MissRose73]

Due to my bad knees, yes I do the half kneel/half sit for prolonged periods of kneeling especially at the EF Mass. I will give a pass to older people. the disabled, and those who have problems with knees that will aggravate knee issues by kneeling. I may bring a large bag with me with a pillow or soft item in it to alleviate knee pain.

Otherwise, churches should mention to those who are able bodied & healthy should be able to kneel without resorting to the 1/2 kneel and 1/2 sit. I am not saying ushers and others should become the kneeling police and harass others for their postures either. The only persons who know if it kneeling cannot be done by a person who appears to be able bodied is the person, God, and the person’s doctor.