Prayer Orthodoxy ® Instagram 3 days ago

Have you noticed the priest waving a veil over the Holy Gifts during the Creed?

Have you noticed the priest gently waving a veil over the Holy Gifts during the Creed?

This is the aer, the large veil that covers the chalice and diskos. Its movement expresses honor toward Christ our King and carries symbolism connected with His Resurrection and the activity of the Holy Spirit.

Have you observed the priest moving a veil gently above the Holy Gifts while the Creed is recited?

It is the aer, the great covering of the Holy Chalice and the diskos. Its motion shows reverence to Christ, our King, and is linked symbolically to His Resurrection and the working of the Holy Spirit.

5 opinions in the discussion 5 participants, 3 replies to each other The opinion with the most support Keep in mind, you also have to picture them doing this in a dusty candle-lit room with 100 people who haven't bathed in a month and no AC and so on. So there were TONS of bugs flying around. That's why the servers hold those "fans" while father reads the… Read the discussion

10 comments at the source Original on Instagram

Discussion · 5

Opinions are anonymous retellings of real comments from the original discussion. The same colour marks the same participant.

opinion#3379 6 likes at the source
Keep in mind, you also have to picture them doing this in a dusty candle-lit room with 100 people who haven't bathed in a month and no AC and so on. So there were TONS of bugs flying around. That's why the servers hold those "fans" while father reads the gospel, they'd be waving flies away from him and from the body and blood during the service.
- opinion#3380 4 likes at the source
  
  Well said. Keeping flies and other insects away from the Holy Gifts was one of the early purposes of the liturgical fans, called ripidia (ῥιπίδια). Fourth century instructions explicitly tell deacons to use fans to stop insects from getting near the cups.
- opinion#3381
  
  Oh and that reminds me! When I was looking into incense, the smell of the room was a practical reason for its use, on top of the biblical history of it in the temple! Since most people smelled really bad by today's standards, there'd basically be a wall of incense between them. And before censers existed there was just some metal dish or brazier type thing for burning piles of incense
- opinion#3382 1 likes at the source
  
  Really great point! It just shows how real Christianity was back in those early days.
opinion#3378

Also, the aër was originally meant to cover the chalice so dust, insects, and similar things wouldn't get into it before the consecration. Flies are a reasonable example, though I can't say early sources specifically name flies. The later symbolism of Christ's burial cloths grew up alongside that practical function