Do you kiss your Priests hand when he blesses you?

[OnTheWay]

I do.
The folks on STR acted like I was crazy.
Is there another way to ask for a blessing?

Of course, if you don't he whacks with the cross.

 

[OnTheWay]

That's good, but also, he shoudln't feel like he -has- to kiss the priest's hand if he's not comfortable with it. It's a custom, but if he's not ready for that, it's not a big deal. These things come in time, and certainly we don't expect someone to go around kissing the icons and priests hands on their first visit to an Orthodox church. So if he wants to do it, wonderful, but he shouldn't feel like he's pressured to do something he's no comfortable with. It took me almost a year to start kissing anything. =)

That's fine for those investigating the Church. However, if you are Orthodox refusal to do so would demonstrate a problem with Iconography, the priest is an Icon of Christ just as much as any other. The 7th Council is clear on the matter, and we are not free to disagree with it.

 

[Akathist]

I ask for a blessing when leaving the church typically. I also kiss his hand at that time and also when I kiss the cross.

We kiss the chalace after receiving in our parish. But we are not supposed to try to kiss his hand then as it might make him spill the chalace.

I had trouble kissing anything when I first started into Orthodoxy. For several weeks I would bow my head in front of icons and I did not ask for blessings. Then one day I was thinking about converting and I decided that the best way for me was to just do everything that everyone else does even if I was uncomfortable.

As soon as I started to kiss icons and ask for blessings I immediately became more and more comfortable so that now it seems perfectly normal and I can't imaging never doing it again.

 

[Dust and Ashes]

Just make sure that if you are leaving a restaurant when you ask for Father's blessing, you remove the toothpick from your mouth before attempting to kiss his hand.

Ah, the perils of being a priest in the South. It's tough on your hands.

 

[Theophorus]

When I am Greek, my young ones will aproach the mysterious bearded man for the Antidoron, if they do not kiss his hand, he taps their lips with his hand. They are starving at that point and will endure almost anything for food.

 

[SumTinWong]

I do.
The folks on STR acted like I was crazy.
Is there another way to ask for a blessing?

When i went to Transfiguration I did, no problem, but this priest here at St Paul's . . . no, not a chance. I don't think he would understand. As far as asking for blessings i just ask God.

 

[Silent Bob]

I do kiss his hand when I recieve a blessing but only then. I have met with priests out on the street who offered their hands to kiss but I just shake them. I get a wierd look afterwards but I don't care. When the priest blesses he is the icon of Christ but when he is doing groceries or drinking coffee he is Papa-whatever nothing more nothing less. Besides I have an issue with authority so kissing a man's hand is not exactly easy for me.

 

[icxn]

If you think that when you kiss a priest's hand you are kissing a man then better not to kiss him at all. It is Christ we honor and ask for His blessing through His priests.

 

[choirfiend]

The priest is the priest all the time, no matter what he is doing, just as you are a Christian all the time--not only when you are in church. Any priest that offers his hand to be reverenced should definitely have just blessed you with the sign of the cross with it.

 

[Silent Bob]

I think we should agree to disagree. A priest to me is a man. He may be the representative of Christ when he blesses but not in other instances of his life. To place the priest in such a pedestal I believe is completely wrong.

A priest is surely is a priest, but he is not the icon of Christ when he steals, cheats, watches porn, or even molests children (all four I have witnessed). To me a priest is a man and as a man he is not to be completely trusted. I know of so many sins that priests blatantly commit that I refuse to accept any special status (for most) at any time outside the church (for some inside the church too).


If we are to accept any special status we should also adopt stricter punishments in that case there would be no more than 100 clergymen left worldwide. Until all priests start acting as the icon of Christ they are supposed to be I cannot bring myself to kiss their hand outside the church. To put it bluntly and overexaggerated: I am not kissing a hand that might have been up an altar boy’s garment!

 

[Monica child of God 1]

Silent Bob, you should do what ever you feel comfortable with. Do not feel you have to justify your actions (or lack thereof) to anyone. Each of us is at a different place in our spiritual journey and we must be true to that. No one here knows your experiences but Christ does and He is the prototype to whom you are paying honor.

M.