Versus Populum in Eastern Iconography

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Interesting to see this.

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With the first image, it looks like that could be a depiction of Isaac and Abraham…
 
Negative.

It’s of Christ - you can tell by Christ’s Cruciform Greek letters in his halo.

In Eastern Iconography only Christ has that specific halo with Gk letters in it.

Omega Omicron Nu - o’on - meaning “He who Is” the name of the Father as revealed and translated in the Gk Septuagint.
 
Ahh. Iconography is not my area of expertise. Thanks for the info, and I stand corrected.
 
Something else I just noticed - in 3 out of 5 pictures, Christ stands under a baldachin - the sort of canopy like enclosure over his head. I wish baldachinno were more widely used in the Western Church.

Imagine a versus populum Mass celebrated at one of these altars:

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Just like the one at St. Peter’s:

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My church does! It was built in the early '60s, so it has a table altar, but also altar rails, etc. I like its kind of mashup of Pre and postconsiliar architecture…

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That is the PERFECT set up for celebrating Mass versus populum - glorious baldachin, nice tall altar, 6 large candlesticks, and a crucifix - the only thing which would improve it would be to replace that small crucifix with a larger more ornate one.

I think if every Roman Catholic Church had that architecture, the number of people who oppose versus populum celebration would be drastically decreased.
 
I think Ad Orientem is always more appropriate because the priest does not take Christ’s place. Christ (as in the icons) and God are facing the people (Virgin Mary and other altar saints facing them) while the priest or bishop is facing the altar and facing Christ like a shepherd or leader of the people behind him. Because he shepherds the people towards God it makes he should face the altar.
The icons all face the people because whether they represent God or the Angels or the Saints these are all spirits in Heaven who look down upon us welcoming our prayers. I don’t think icons are a good example of encouraging versus populum.
 
It’s amazing. The parish is a perfect example of reverent, beautiful, orthodox OF Masses.
 
Mary888 said:
because the priest does not take Christ’s place. Christ (as in the icons) and God are facing the people (Virgin Mary and other altar saints facing them) while
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But the priest acts in persona Christi during celebration of the Divine Liturgy.

I personally don’t mind either orientation as I can see pros and cons, arguments both for and against both as valid.
 
Maximilian75 said:
The parish is a perfect example of reverent, beautiful, orthodox OF Masses.
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Both myself and my Pastor are convinced that people who hate the “Novus Ordo” do not hate the Rite itself, for the most part.

They hate the way it’s been implemented and celebrated in many places.

Luckily, more and more parishes are becoming like yours and like my Cathedral where the Pauline Mass is celebrated in a highly reverent, orthodox, traditional manner.
 
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Definitley.
The EF is amazing, and should be more widely celebrated.

However, the OF should be respected and celebrated as the Council intended.
 
Little known fact, Pope Francis loves the EF. It is, after all, the Mass he grew up with and learned in his seminary formation and first celebrated as a Priest.

When Summorum Pontificum came out, Cardinal Bergoglio’s Diocese was one of the first in the world to start offering a regular EF Mass - and it was directly ordered to do so by Cardinal Bergoglio himself.
 
Did he himself ever offer it? I’d love to see him celebrate one, especially as a kind of olive branch to more conservative Catholics…
 
In persona Christi through the gift of the Holy Spirit received when ordained by the grace of God. While Christ is one with the Holy Spirit. The priest is not. So the priest and Christ participate differently no matter the extent of grace the priest may have since Christ is also First Bishop of the Church above all others. Something no priest or bishop can ever do.
 
He would have celebrated it many times (mock celebration anyways) in seminary, and the first year or so of his priesthood he would have celebrated it.
 
That’s not really the Catholic understanding of in persona Christi.

We believe the priest is literally functioning as the person of Christ in a mystical way during the Liturgy.

In other words, it’s not the Priest offering the Liturgy - it’s Christ who is working through the Priest.
 
You win! But not finally because I am not giving this up just postponing my reply until I get myself more clear.

I invoke Cardinal Sarah to my help!! 🙏🙏🙏
 
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