Sort of. On the Feast of Nayrouz we do commemorate all martyrs, so it would be a feast for a subset of Saints, if you will. However, we do not have a feast for All Saints the way the EO and Catholics do on November 1.
I don't think there's anything wrong with observing it though, In my church (and I'm sure in many others) we have an All Saints' Day celebration in place of Halloween, and the kids dress up as saints and learn their stories, and still get their candy.
I do not believe it is in Christian fellowship to celebrate Halloween. I do NOT encourage our children to dress in costumes. Costumes on this night are symbolic of celebrating Halloween. The same holds true for the acceptance of candy. Please think about the following points…Why do we not greet one another during the Holy Passion Week from Wednesday until Saturday morning? It is because we do not want to do anything symbolic of Judas kiss. Another thought to coincide with this thought is, on Holy Thursday we must complete the Divine Liturgy, according to Church Canons, before sunset. There is a reason for this. The Coptic Church does not want to have fellowship with the Jews eating during the Passover. Therefore, any day not set aside for Halloween; any day in which these practices are not symbolic of Satanic practices is alright for eating candy and wearing appropriate costumes. There exists 364 days in which one can eat candy and wear costumes. Only one day in which one cannot.
I have to agree with Jimmy. The reason we go do the All Saints' Day (we go to the same chuch) is so that kids don't go out trick or treating and dressing as demons. Let's not forget. These are kids, and we can't expect them to not conform to the world at all.
[quote author=peter_saad link=topic=12522.msg146968#msg146968 date=1320258560] I have to agree with Jimmy. The reason we go do the All Saints' Day (we go to the same chuch) is so that kids don't go out trick or treating and dressing as demons. Let's not forget. These are kids, and we can't expect them to not conform to the world at all.
Even I don't agree with that. lol. But I think HGBY made it into something bigger than it really is.
Actually, I think that's the opposite of how we should look at it. We're not doing it because we feel bad that they're being left out, and so we're letting them conform a little bit. That would be spoiling them. Any celebration of Halloween is wrong. But turning it into a celebration for the saints giving the day to the Lord (as opposed to treating it as a normal day) is enough to make the devil gag a little bit. That's where I draw the line between celebrating Halloween vs. not participating in it HGBY's take on it is very insightful, but that part I think is just a little bit over the line.
To the OP, Halloween stuff aside, there's nothing wrong with observing All Saints' Day at all.
Comments
Sort of. On the Feast of Nayrouz we do commemorate all martyrs, so it would be a feast for a subset of Saints, if you will. However, we do not have a feast for All Saints the way the EO and Catholics do on November 1.
Have you read this by HGBY: emphasis mine
I don't want to turn this thread into the Halloween and Thanksgiving thread (I'm sure we've all had enough of that), but I think people should take the time to read this article: http://suscopts.org/literature/literature.php?subaction=showfull&id=1076781490&archive=&start_from=&ucat=3&;
It's absolutely perfect in every way, despite what Cephas thinks :P
Now back to the saints.
I won't say anything.
I have to agree with Jimmy. The reason we go do the All Saints' Day (we go to the same chuch) is so that kids don't go out trick or treating and dressing as demons. Let's not forget. These are kids, and we can't expect them to not conform to the world at all.
Even I don't agree with that. lol. But I think HGBY made it into something bigger than it really is.
To the OP, Halloween stuff aside, there's nothing wrong with observing All Saints' Day at all.
:-X