Getting Started...
Having Your Home Blessed
It can be difficult to see our homes as Little Churches, yet the Fathers and Mothers speak of them this way. Truly, our homes should be focused on the same things as our parish church - sanctifying our life, focusing us all on Christ, prayer, honoring Christ, the Theotokos, and the saints, and acts of charity and fellowship. All of this is living education, teaching our hearts by our actions.
When we first move into a new dwelling we should always call the priest to schedule the first blessing. This blessing involves more than the blessing done at Theophany. In the Russian tradition this blessing mimicks the consecration of a church; involving marking the walls with oil, burning incense, and a reading from the Gospels. The Church takes the concept of the Domestic Church very seriously.
So, first things first, get in touch with your parish priest about blessing your home, being sure to make clear you're talking about the longer blessing done outside of Theophany. Be sure to ask him what you may need to have on hand, as traditions vary.
The Theophany Blessing is something else...
Theophany Blessings
After Theophany Orthodox homes are blessed again, every year. This blessing is part of the general consecration of the entire world and all of creation to Christ. The house will be blessed with some of the water blessed on Theophany. The Faithful should also keep some of this water on hand for use throughout the year. You can read more about Theophany water here.
What You Need For This Blessing:
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A Candle
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An Icon at least of the Family Patron Saint
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A list of those who reside in the house, legibly written out for the priest.
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A list of those who've died in the past year
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Silence all computers, TVs, radios, and phones.
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Open the door to all the rooms and perhaps turn on the lights if necessary.
Some like to give the priest a gift of some kind at the end of a house blessing. If you choose to do this, do not put the gift with the candle, icon, and lists.
You can watch one little boy's reaction to his house blessing here.
The Family Patron Saint
Just as the parish temple is devoted to a particular saint, so should our homes and families be. Many families report feeling that a particular saint watches out for their family, and it is entirely proper to celebrate their feast together with family and friends, and to give their icon a special prominence in the family icon corner.
In the Serbian tradition the Family Patron is called the Slava, and is passed down from Father to Son, and women take their husband's Slava after marriage. The Slava is the saint on whose feast day the first ancestor of the family converted to Orthodox Christianity, hundreds of years ago.
The Slava is a major celebration in Serbian families. Huge feasts are preared, along with a special bread called the Slava Cake, and sweetened boiled wheat called Koliva. On Slava a large candle is lit before the saint's icon. The candle should not be put out until the family celebration is over, and should not be blown out but snuffed out with wine, or some Slava Cake soaked in wine.
The priest comes (or sometimes the Cake and Koliva are brought to the parish) and says a special blessing over them, cutting the bread halfway through and then breaking it, pouring wine into the bread and Koliva. He kisses the bread, saying "Christ is in our midsts!" and the head of the house kisses it in return saying "He is and shall be!" They then spin the bread, singing "O Holy Martyrs," "Glory to Thee, O Christ" and "Rejoice, O Isaiah." These hymns are sung at weddings and ordinations as well, signifying times of family growth, spiritual and physical fertility, and a connection with the past.
The Service is found here. If your priest is unfamiliar with the service, get in touch with him two weeks or more before the date of your Slava’s feast. He might want to go over the service, or schedule a time for you to bring the cake to him. If he does Slavas regularly still get in touch with him well in advance to schedule the Slava.
Slavas are sometimes celebrated with a huge, all-comers welcome feast, or sometimes with just very specific people invited over for a meal. There are many resources available online talking about how to celebrate a Slava. Many Serbians who we have spoken to have said they would love to see this tradition spread among new American Orthodox, and we have even heard of some Greek and Russian families adopting the tradition here in America.
Choosing a Slava might be something you do when you convert, years after converting, at a family meeting or alone, as the only Orthodox member of your family or as a single Orthodox Christian. It is a celebration of the intercession and protection of the saints in our lives, the saints who shine with Christ’s love.
We have known those of Irish descent to choose St. Patrick, Enlightener of Ireland, St. Maria of Paris for her love for the poor, or St. Nicholas simply because they loved him. Some have taken the saint on whose feast they were received into The Church, which is certainly the most traditional method of choosing a Slava. Read through the lives of some saints and firmly commit to one. This saint will be passed down to your children: women usually adopt the Slava of their husband’s family after they marry, while sons inherit their family Slava and pass it on.
May your Slava bless you with health, many family and friends, and their prayers forever!
What you Need To Celebrate Your Slava
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Choose a family patron saint. This saint will be the protector of your family for all generations, so put some thought into it. Read the lives of the saints, if you need help finding someone who answers your prayers.
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Obtain an Icon of this saint. This icon should be displayed prominently in your icon corner, and will be the central focus of the Slava Celebration.
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A very tall candle. Candles are symbols of Christ: the Light Who Enlightens the World. It also is Trinitarian: the wick is the Father, the waxy ‘flesh’ the Son, and the fire the Spirit. Amazon.com sells some, beeswax is best. Slava candles are generally 15-18 inches tall.
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Slavski Kolach, or “Slava Cake.” Slava Cake is a sweet bread, decorated on top with symbols of the family or couple, or things they pray for in the coming year, but always with a braid (the three strands representing the Trinity) and a cross. Many have four ‘backward’ letter Cs on them: this is a reference to Serbian unity, so other symbols might be better for other families. Grapes and wheat represent prayers for prosperity, Communion chalices represent piety, a bird (a dove) represents the activity of the Holy Spirit. Many families come up with their own symbols.
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Koliva. Koliva is a sweetened wheatberry dish which Orthodox serve at funerals and memorials. It represents the sweetness of new life, wheat being the basic food of humans, as well as being something which dies to grow into new life. On a family’s Slava it is in honor of the saint, who is not dead, and so a candle should not be placed in the wheat as is done at funerals.
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Red Wine will be poured into the Slava Cake, so provide a little. It is also used to extinguish the Slava Candle at the end of the day.
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If your priest is coming to your home to bless the Slava Cake have some incense and a small hand censer ready. Here’s how to use a hand censer.