Meat products in church

[LizaSymonenko]

My church has always forbidden bringing meat products into the sanctuary.  This is most notable at Pascha, when folks who bring baskets to be blessed (filled with kovbasa, ham, etc.) inadvertently bring them into the church.  It's okay to leave them in the Narthex, however, one cannot bring them inside the church proper.

As a rule, our baskets get blessed either outside, or in the church hall.

Perusing the Web, I have noticed many photos of Paschal baskets being lined up inside the churches, awaiting to get blessed (see below).

So, is this just a local custom or is there an actual "rule" forbidding bringing meat into the church?

[Quinault]

We aren't allowed to bring any food into the church outside of the red eggs, the eucharist and blessed bread.

[Fr. George]

We aren't allowed to bring any food into the church outside of the red eggs, the eucharist and blessed bread.

And the kolyva/boiled wheat, and wine and oil, I'm sure.

So, is this just a local custom or is there an actual "rule" forbidding bringing meat into the church? 

Rule? Not that I'm aware of.  Then again, coming from the Greek tradition, we don't bless food baskets in Church typically.  Kolyva, Bread, Wheat, Wine, Oil, Eggs, and Grapes - that list essentially covers all the foods we bless in our Churches.

[HandmaidenofGod]

Father didn't mention anything about such a rule when he told us to bring the baskets in to be blessed, so I'm not sure.

[Quinault]

I haven't seen anyone take any boiled wheat, oil or wine outside the Eucharist into the church. That doesn't mean it isn't allowed, just that no one does it. I know that when it comes to blessing baskets of food we do it downstairs in the fellowship area.

[HandmaidenofGod]

I haven't seen anyone take any boiled wheat, oil or wine outside the Eucharist into the church. That doesn't mean it isn't allowed, just that no one does it. I know that when it comes to blessing baskets of food we do it downstairs in the fellowship area.

Father does two basket blessings: one on Holy Saturday at the Church Hall and one on Pascha immediately following Divine Liturgy in the temple. (This is to accommodate all the C&E's who only show up on Pascha. )

[katherineofdixie]

Must be a local custom. I know that there was sausage in this particular basket and I've seen baskets with Happy Meals (kids, of course) and McDonald's hamburgers.

All I did was shrink the picture. - Fr. George, Global Moderator

[podkarpatska]

It seems to me it is a local custom. My churches over the years held blessings in the Church hall or outside, depending on weather. In the 1960's there were literally 1500 baskets brought for blessing in Binghamton, NY, by a lot of C and E folks, so there were multiple blessings. In the coal towns of Northeast PA, the priest would spend much of Holy Saturday being taken by the cantor to various neighborhoods in the 'patch' as they called it since people were remote from the church and bringing baskets without a car was tough. This was true with the Metropolia, Ukrainian and ACROD parishes in that region. I wonder if that was the case in other regions?

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