Father Orthoduck wonders what the liturgical rules are for a fire. Well, I guess that Father Orthoduck had better explain.
Yesterday, Father Orthoduck was assistant priest at a Divine Liturgy in which he had been asked to help because the deacon was out of town. In Orthodox worship the deacon (or junior priest) cleans up the chalice, just like in the Roman Catholic Church. However, the cleaning is done off to the side. rather than at the altar, like in a Roman parish. Since we have an iconostasis, the cleaning is often mostly out of sight of the people. So, at the end of the service and as the junior priest, Father Orthoduck goes to the side to clean up the chalices after the service.
Everything went well, and Father Orthoduck flipped the chalice napkin over the chalice to cover it (which is the Orthodox procedure) after he finished his cleaning. It is too bad that he did not notice that he flipped it over a lit “tea” candle. Father Orthoduck walked back to the altar area, while the regular priest was doing the final prayers and preparing to give the final blessing. Then, he noticed that there was an acrid smell.
When Father Orthoduck looked over towards the acrid smell, he noticed that the chalice napkin was catching on fire. Realizing that he could not cause a panic, he walked quietly over to the side area, blocked what view there was, picked up the now flaming napkin and folded it over so that the fire was put out. He ended up with a hole a bit smaller than the old silver dollar in the napkin. The congregation did not notice and the regular priest did not notice. Father Orthoduck does admit that the eyes of a couple of the altar boys were rather large.
Unfortunately, one of Father Orthoduck’s daughters was at the service. Would you believe that she later claimed that Father Orthoduck had embarrassed her? No, she had not noticed the fire, nor that Father Orthoduck had gone over, but when he told her the story, she was embarrassed. But, this brings up the interesting question. What are the rules of liturgical procedure for putting out a fire on the prothesis table? Are there any special rules which cover such an event? And, how does one keep from embarrassing an adult daughter (or a teenage daughter, for that matter).
Hmm, Father Orthoduck is not aware of any rules for such an event. But, he has made sure to order two replacement cloths, which will arrive here by priority mail on Wednesday.
Rule #1 : Unless it’s a flaming bush, put it out.
Rule #2 : Never keep a bush behind the iconostasis.
Rule #3 : Whatever else you do, don’t weep or gnash your teeth as you near the fire… the alter boys might abandon you.
Oh… and you can never avoid embarrassing a daughter, grown or not.
Speaking of fires, I remember an RC first communion service where the young priest who apparently did not have any young nieces of nephews decided that all of the children should stand in front of the altar with lit candles in their hands in three rows. Of course, a young lady in the first row had one of those gauzy first communion veils that puffed out behind her right in the way of the lit candle of the young gentleman behind her with the inevitable result. Said young priest noticed the inevitable result right away and calmly walked over putting his a small napkin in his hand on the young lady’s head (and gauzy veil) with the “unholy” fire putting out said fire and then acted as if he had PLANNED to bless each child with his hand on their head–without a smile on his face and probably terror in his heart!! I must say that no one but the altar servers and the choir were any the wiser!!
By the way, when my girls were young teens, I once almost fatally embarrassed them in the mall one day by breathing in some odd way or another that they were never able to explain and I was never able to replicate by way of attempting to identify it.
After a couple of similar experience, one involving live charcoal from the censer on a carpeted floor (stamped out by a barefoot deacon : “holy ground” and all that), I have come to have a great appreciation for the ikonostasis.
It is my understanding that is it incumbent upon each parent to embarrass said children / teenagers. That is the parents’ responsibility and right. We, of course, took said responsibility quite seriously when our children were teens and at home…much to their consternation. LOL! They got over it!
Father Orthoduck may be inserting his own thoughts in there as his daughter’s sentiments, his daughter may actually have found the incident quite amusing and then joked about it with the main priest later. =)