Akathistos

On September 14, we celebrate the Elevation of the Holy Cross, commemorating the founding of the Church of the Resurrection (Holy Sepulchre) in Jerusalem. The feast on this day commemorates two events: the finding of the cross by Helen on Golgotha, the place where Christ was crucified, and the recovery of the cross from the Persians who had captured it during war in Jerusalem

This evening we celebrated the forefeast of the elevation. As soon as I walked into our church, I noticed something different: there was a large cross standing in the middle of the nave. There were few people there (I was earlier than I had thought), but the few that were present were prostrating before the cross. I had only ever seen Father David, our priest, make a prostration; so this was new to me. I wasn’t about to try it on my own, but I did watch those around me. I do not like to do anything in church unless I understand why I am doing it and exactly how to do it. So when I got home, I decided to look it up at OrthodoxWiki. This is what I found:

Full prostration, also simply called prostration, is an act of distributing one’s weight on the knees, feet, and hands, touching the forehead to the floor, staying in the position as long as desired or necessary, then standing up. One usually makes the Sign of the Cross before or after the movement. This physical motion is similar to the Chinese kowtow (”bump head”). Interestingly, the use of the word prostration in this way is different than common English usage, where prostration means to pronate oneself or lay completely flat. The full prostration is sometimes called kneeling. Again, this word usage is different than the English usage of kneel, which means to distribute one’s weight on the knees and feet only.

From First Visit to an Orthodox Church- Twelve Thins I Wish I’d Known by Frederica Mathewes-Green:
“Generally, we don’t kneel. We do sometimes prostrate. This is not like prostation in the Roman Catholic tradition, lying out flat on the floor. To make a prostration, we kneel, place our hands on the floor and touch our foreheads down between our hands. It’s just like those photos of middle-eastern worship, which look to Westerners like a sea of behinds. At first, prostration feel embarrassing, but no one else is embarrassed, so after a while it feels ok.”

So know that we know what prostration is, my question is: why do we do it?

If we look back to Ezra 10:1, it says “when Ezra had prayed, and when he had confessed, weeping and casting himself down before the house of God..” Even Ezra prostrated, and so did Joshua: “And Joshua rent his clothes and fell to the earth upon his face before the Ark of the Lord until the eventide, he and the elders of Israel, and put dust upon their heads.” Many other references can be found throughout the Bible as well. The word prostrate is even used in Chronicles when talking about the king and assembly prostrating themselves before the Altar.

In Eastern cultures, it is common for people to bow to one another as a sign of humility and respect. If we bow to one another, shouldn’t we then bow to things that are holy? I know in my mind that I am not worshipping something if I bow before it, but sometimes it feels confusing. Prostrating isn’t about worshipping an icon or the cross; it is much deeper than that. But I think I need to experience it before I can say anymore.

Maybe next time I’ll join in….