The Mystery of Crowning is a ritual component of the sacrament of marriage in Eastern Christianity. Variations of the crowning ceremony exist in multiple liturgical rites, including the Byzantine, Coptic, West Syriac, and East Syriac Rites of the Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox, and Eastern Catholic Churches. The crowning ceremony typically features a crown being placed upon the head of both the bride and bridegroom, crowning them as the queen and king of a new family. [1]
Among early Christians, the pagan origins of crowning during marriage resulted in opposition, including from Tertullian. However, the practice gained acceptance as it was associated with Biblical and Christianized conceptions of victory; Paul the Apostle had in his Second Epistle to Timothy referred to a "Crown of Righteousness" as the eternal reward for righteous persons and John Chrysostom viewed the crown as a symbol of victory over "unregulated sexuality." [2] : 19
The Mystery of Crowning according to the Byzantine Rite is a lengthy ceremony, the second rite of marriage after a betrothal ceremony. The celebrating priest places the crowns upon first the bridegroom then the bride. [3] After this, it is traditional for the couple to sip from a glass of previously blessed wine and exchange a single kiss. [4] The glass can then be broken in what has been described as a symbol of indissoluble union and compared to a similar Jewish wedding ritual. [2] : 18 The Byzantine crowning is considered the basis of crowning rituals in the Coptic Rite and other liturgical families. In the Eastern Orthodox Church, it has been traditionally prohibited from occurring during Lent. [4]
Within the Byzantine Rite, the crowns are considered symbols of authority for the new "domestic church" formed by the creation of a new family. The Byzantine Rite Eastern Catholic Churches, such as the Ruthenian Greek Catholic Church, continue the practice with translations of the ceremony authorized in Church Slavonic and English. [5]
The Maronite Church, a West Syriac Rite Eastern Catholic church, celebrates the two marriage services of betrothal and crowning. In Maronite practice, the Mystery of Crowning is also called "The Rite of Legal Crowning". The liturgy of the crowning is accompanied by multiple prayers, Psalms, and hymns that intend to emphasize the solemnity of the service; Ephrem the Syrian's "Christ the Heavenly Bridegroom" is recited. Authorized translations of the liturgy exist in Syriac, Arabic, and English. [6]
In the Syriac Orthodox Church, a West Syriac Oriental Orthodox Church, the two typical matrimonial services are celebrated. At the crowning liturgy, the crown is held over the head of the bridegroom by the celebrant, who waves the crown in the shape of a cross. After reciting a prayer, the same is done over the bride. In the United States and Canada, the phrase "and pronounce you husband and wife" is added to the ceremony. [1]
Within traditional East Syriac Rite practice, the crowning ceremony is celebrated separately from the Holy Qurbana and not considered a sacrament. The ceremony is preceded by the sharing of a cup of mixed water, hanānā (dust from the tomb of a martyr), and wine, which mirrors the presence of Jesus Christ in Communion and is symbolic of the couple becoming one body. [7] This practice is retained by the Assyrian Church of the East in its marriage liturgies. [2] : 18 The crowning (kulala) is also practiced within the Chaldean Catholic Church and other members of the Chaldean Iraqi diaspora in the United States. [8] [9]
Crowning was formally a standard practice of the Saint Thomas Christians, and served as a publicly-celebrated foil to the betrothal, which was typically held among the family. The local variations of the service sometimes originate from pre-Christian ritual and emphasize the permanence of marriage. [10]
Eastern Christianity comprises Christian traditions and church families that originally developed during classical and late antiquity in Western Asia, Asia Minor, Eastern Europe, Southeastern Europe, the Caucasus, Northeast Africa, the Fertile Crescent and the Malabar coast of South Asia, and ephemerally parts of Persia, Central Asia and the Far East. The term does not describe a single communion or religious denomination.
The Eastern Catholic Churches or Oriental Catholic Churches, also called the Eastern-Rite Catholic Churches, Eastern Rite Catholicism, or simply the Eastern Churches, are 23 Eastern Christian autonomous particular churches of the Catholic Church, in full communion with the Pope in Rome. Although they are distinct theologically, liturgically, and historically from the Latin Church, they are all in full communion with it and with each other. Eastern Catholics are a distinct minority within the Catholic Church; of the 1.3 billion Catholics in communion with the Pope, approximately 18 million are members of the eastern churches.
The Saint Thomas Christians, also called Syrian Christians of India, Marthoma Suriyani Nasrani, Malankara Nasrani, or Nasrani Mappila, are an ethno-religious community of Indian Christians in the state of Kerala, who, for the most part, employ the Eastern and Western liturgical rites of Syriac Christianity. They trace their origins to the evangelistic activity of Thomas the Apostle in the 1st century. The Saint Thomas Christians had been historically a part of the hierarchy of the Church of the East but are now divided into several different Eastern Catholic, Oriental Orthodox, Protestant, and independent bodies, each with their own liturgies and traditions. They are Keralites and speak Malayalam. Nasrani or Nazarene is a Syriac term for Christians, who were among the first converts to Christianity in the Near East.
A sacred language, holy language or liturgical language is a language that is cultivated and used primarily for religious reasons by people who speak another, primary language in their daily lives.
Syriac Christianity is a branch of Eastern Christianity of which formative theological writings and traditional liturgies are expressed in the Classical Syriac language, a variation of the old Aramaic language. In a wider sense, the term can also refer to Aramaic Christianity in general, thus encompassing all Christian traditions that are based on liturgical uses of Aramaic language and its variations, both historical and modern.
The Liturgy of Saint James is a form of Christian liturgy used by some Eastern Christians of the Byzantine rite and West Syriac Rite. It is developed from an ancient Egyptian form of the Basilean anaphoric family, and is influenced by the traditions of the rite of the Church of Jerusalem, as the Mystagogic Catecheses of Cyril of Jerusalem imply. It became widespread in Church of Antioch from the fourth or fifth century onwards, replacing the older Basilean Liturgy of Antioch. It is still the principal liturgy of the Syriac Orthodox Church, the Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church, the Maronite Church, the Syriac Catholic Church, Syro-Malankara Catholic Church and other churches employing the West Syriac Rite. It is also occasionally used in the Eastern Orthodox Church and Melkite Catholic Church. The Malankara Mar Thoma Syrian Church uses a reformed variant of this liturgy, omitting intercession of saints and prayer for the dead.
Christian liturgy is a pattern for worship used by a Christian congregation or denomination on a regular basis. The term liturgy comes from Greek and means "public work". Within Christianity, liturgies descending from the same region, denomination, or culture are described as ritual families.
The Holy Qurbana, refers to the Eucharistic liturgy as celebrated in East Syriac Christianity and the liturgical books containing the rubrics for its celebration. Churches that celebrate this liturgy include various descendants of the Church of the East. East Syriac Christianity consists of an Edessan liturgical rite called the East Syriac Rite. The major anaphora of the East Syriac tradition is the Holy Qurbana of Saints Addai and Mari; Addai being a disciple of Thomas the Apostle and Mari being Addai's disciple. These churches are primarily based in the Middle East and India, with diasporic communities settled in the western world.
The Memorial Acclamation is an acclamation sung or recited by the people after the institution narrative of the Eucharist. They were common in ancient eastern liturgies and have more recently been introduced into Roman Catholic, Anglican, Lutheran, and Methodist liturgies.
Alphabetical list of Eastern Christianity-related articles on English Wikipedia
Marriage in the Eastern Orthodox Church is a holy mystery (sacrament) in the Eastern Orthodox Church in which a priest marries a man and a woman. The typical Byzantine Rite liturgy for marriage is called the Mystery of Crowning, where the couple is crowned.
The West Syriac Rite, also called the Syro-Antiochian Rite and the West Syrian Rite, is an Eastern Christian liturgical rite that employs the Divine Liturgy of Saint James in the West Syriac dialect. It is practised in the Maronite Church, the Syriac Orthodox Church, the Syriac Catholic Church and various Malankara Churches of India. It is one of two main liturgical rites of Syriac Christianity, the other being the East Syriac Rite. It originated in the ancient Patriarchate of Antioch. It has more anaphoras than any other rite.
The East Syriac Rite, or East Syrian Rite, is an Eastern Christian liturgical rite that employs the Divine Liturgy of Saints Addai and Mari and utilizes the East Syriac dialect as its liturgical language. It is one of the two main liturgical rites of Syriac Christianity, along with the West Syriac Rite.
The Euchologion is one of the chief liturgical books of the Eastern Orthodox and Byzantine Catholic churches, containing the portions of the services which are said by the bishop, priest, or deacon. The Euchologion roughly corresponds to a combination of the missal, ritual, and pontifical as they are used in Latin liturgical rites. There are several different volumes of the book in use.
A chorbishop is a rank of Christian clergy below bishop. The name chorepiscope or chorepiscopus is taken from the Greek χωρεπίσκοπος and means "rural bishop".
A liturgical book, or service book, is a book published by the authority of a church body that contains the text and directions for the liturgy of its official religious services.
The Malankara Rite is the form of the West Syriac liturgical rite practiced by several churches of the Saint Thomas Christian community in Kerala, India. West Syriac liturgy was brought to India by the Syriac Orthodox Bishop of Jerusalem, Gregorios Abdal Jaleel, in 1665; in the following decades the Malankara Rite emerged as the liturgy of the Malankara Church, one of the two churches that evolved from the split in the Saint Thomas Christian community in the 17th century. Today it is practiced by the various churches that descend from the Malankara Church, namely the Malankara Mar Thoma Syrian Church, Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church, the Jacobite Syrian Christian Church, the Syro-Malankara Catholic Church and the Malabar Independent Syrian Church.
The Holy Qurobo or Holy Qurbono refers to the Eucharist as celebrated in Syro-Antiochene Rite and the liturgical books containing rubrics for its celebration. West Syriac Rite includes various descendants of the Oriental Orthodox and Eastern Catholic churches. It consists of two distinct liturgical traditions: the Maronite Rite, and the Jacobite Rite. The major Anaphora of both the traditions is the Divine Liturgy of Saint James in Syriac language. The Churches are primarily based in the Middle East, Africa, and India.
The Eastern Catholic Churches of the Catholic Church utilize liturgies originating in Eastern Christianity, distinguishing them from the majority of Catholic liturgies which are celebrated according to the Latin liturgical rites of the Latin Church. While some of these sui iuris churches use the same liturgical ritual families as other Eastern Catholic churches and Eastern churches not in full communion with Rome, each church retains the right to institute its own canonical norms, liturgical books, and practices for the ritual celebration of the Eucharist, other sacraments, and canonical hours.
Hanānā or khnana is dust collected from the burial site of a Christian saint or martyr for veneration or consumption. In the East Syriac Rite liturgies of Nestorian Christianity and successor denominations such as the Assyrian Church of the East, hanānā is used in both the anointing of the sick and Mystery of Crowning. Among Assyrian, Ethiopian, and early Latin Christians, the dust of holy persons was associated with healing powers.
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