30 May 2009

Visit by Bishop MARK

On May 16-17, His Grace Bishop MARK made his canonical visit to Holy Incarnation Orthodox Church. Here are photos from that visit.

For more visit, click here.


Blessing the Incense



At the Canon


Ready to Depart



Incensing the Faithful


Preaching the Homily



Bishop MARK with "bishop James."


2 comments:

Bryce P Wandrey said...

Greetings,
I am a priest in a tradition where if the Bishop is present in a church which is in his diocese, he always celebrates the Eucharist. It would appear from the photos that this is not the case for your communion. What is the logic behind this?

Fr John W Fenton said...

Fr Bryce,

Thanks for the comment.

While what you describe is of course preferable, in both the Roman Catholic and Orthodox traditions, the Bishop may "preside from the throne" (which is also known as "Mass is the presence of a prelate). For those who are unfamiliar with this term, this means that a priest celebrates while the Bishop gives his blessing during various points in the liturgy.

This option is always employed when Bishop MARK visits Holy Incarnation because, as an Eastern Rite bishop, His Grace is not familiar enough with the Western Rite to celebrate Mass. He has expressed a desire to learn the Western Rite and so may someday celebrate Mass when he visits.

Btw, you may wish to know that Holy Incarnation is the only Western Rite parish within the confines of the Diocese of Toledo.