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Can you throw away Orban / Baraka?

servant33servant33
edited December 1969 in Random Issues
I always end up with too big a piece and can't give it away. So, I save it in my tonia bag for later and it just gets hard. Are we allowed to dispose of it and is there a special way to do so?

Comments

  • SilentOneSilentOne
    I was told it is wrong to get rid of it as it has been blessed, but I cannot offer an official way to dispose of it. What I can offer is my mothers way of disposal: she dips it in her tea which softens it enough to consume (and actually enjoy).
  • TITLTITL
    My priest used to bury the orban if it started to grow mold. I guess burning it wouldn't be a bad idea either.
  • geomike
    Ya, when that happens we wrap in paper towel and then burn it.
  • ilovesaintmarkilovesaintmark
    If it's not moldy, you can dab it with some water wrap it lightly in a paper towel and nuke it in the microwave.  It softens up and is as good as Sunday.
  • PaulSamirPaulSamir
    why does every egyptian want to burn everything? a certain person always gives me saint pictures, dont you think that burning the picture of a saint is more extreme than throwing it away? if i cant find anyone to give it too either give it to ur priest or someone who wants it but if not just throw it away. its not like the saint is gonna hold a grudge against you. and when i clean up the church i find chunks of orban all over the place i just throw it away no one wants to eat it or spend an hour burying and burning stuff.
  • peterfarringtonpeterfarrington
    Burning or burying is the correct way to dispose of any holy object that has passed its usefulness for whatever reason.

    This is not an Egyptian custom, but an Orthodox practice.

    It is not fitting that anything which has been blessed in the name of God, or is as sanctified as an icon, or bible, should be thrown away with all the unmentionable waste of human life.

    It would be better to have someone in the congregation who made it their ministry to dispose of such materials in a prayerful and reverent manner. It would be better for the congregation to be taught not to leave blessed bread all over the place.

    The hour you spend in disposing of all of these things properly will be rewarded by God.

    Father Peter
  • TITLTITL
    lol I usually use the saint pictures as bookmarks when I can't find a place to put them ;) just a suggestion rather than disposing it
  • minatasgeelminatasgeel
    if it's just dry you can always dip it into something hot (like tea or coffee).
  • ilovesaintmarkilovesaintmark
    Microwave. 

    I eat frozen bread that way, and stale bread.  I don't like throwing any bread away.

  • Cyril97Cyril97
    This is just my opinion but...
    I COMPLETLY disagree with anyone who dips orban in anything weather hard or soft.
    It is NOT a cookie that you can dip in milk...
    It is holy bread and is supposed to be burned according to what I have been taught.
    I also like the idea of buring it...
    Pray for me and God bless,

    Cyril
  • TITLTITL
    Moldy cheesecake, stale bread... tasbeha should send half of it's donations to feed you.

    Cyril, orban isn't Holy, unless it's Hamal.
  • minatasgeelminatasgeel
    [quote author=Cyril97 link=topic=10109.msg123639#msg123639 date=1291668074]
    This is just my opinion but...
    I COMPLETLY disagree with anyone who dips orban in anything weather hard or soft.
    It is NOT a cookie that you can dip in milk...
    It is holy bread and is supposed to be burned according to what I have been taught.
    I also like the idea of buring it...

    if you can eat it dry....DO IT!!
  • Abounasarecool
    Orban is so good with cobayat shay!! lol!
  • Cyril97Cyril97
    [quote author=TITL link=topic=10109.msg123641#msg123641 date=1291668476]
    Moldy cheesecake, stale bread... tasbeha should send half of it's donations to feed you.

    Cyril, orban isn't Holy, unless it's Hamal.

    Is that an insult? I don't get it... It is Holy because it is baked with prayers and abouna give it to you right after he touched the Holy body of our Lord. Do you think "Baraka" means something else?
    [quote author=minagir link=topic=10109.msg123642#msg123642 date=1291669178]
    if you can eat it dry....DO IT!!

    Believe it or not, I do.
  • TITLTITL
    I was insulting ilovesaintmark, not you.

    We should always respect food, baraka or not. If dunking it in shay is the only way a person can eat stale bread, then wouldn't you think that's wiser than throwing it away?
  • minatasgeelminatasgeel
    Baraka is DIFFERENT than the rest of the orban and it is different than the Lamb that goes into the Sanctuary.

    [quote author=Cyril97 link=topic=10109.msg123663#msg123663 date=1291672159]
    Is that an insult? I don't get it... It is Holy because it is baked with prayers and abouna give it to you right after he touched the Holy body of our Lord.

    not exactly.....the Lamb that abouna chooses doesn't become the Body and Blood of Christ except till the Descent of the Holy Spirit.


    Do you think "Baraka" means something else?

    Baraka LITERALLY mean "a blessing"; it is a blessing for those who do come to liturgy and also a sign of the "aghapy" that the believers must participate in after communion.
  • minatasgeelminatasgeel
    [quote author=Cyril97 link=topic=10109.msg123639#msg123639 date=1291668074]
    It is holy bread and is supposed to be burned according to what I have been taught.

    also "Qorban" is not really holy bread....the word means oblation/sacrifice/gifts. it is our sacrifice to GOD...it is blessed yes, but only one is sanctified to become the BOdy and Blood every liturgy.
  • peterfarringtonpeterfarrington
    Anything blessed is holy. Or does the blessing of the priest mean little? Is it just the same as 'have a nice day'.  :)

    When I bless something I believe that a change takes place. The breads in the basket are set apart for a holy purpose and are made holy. Holiness means to be set apart for God. Therefore, in a sense they belong to God. So we treat them as belonging to God, and being touched by grace.

    As an Evangelical I would not put anything on top of a Bible. How much more would I now treat as holy those things which are sanctified by the service of the Church and the words of blessing uttered by a priest.

    I do not find a variety of attitudes to the blessed bread completely appalling or shocking, I know what real life is like, but it seems to me to reflect a lax attitude in general among us all. A friend of mine sent me a leather cross blessed by His Holiness Pope Shenouda about 15 years ago. I wore it until it fell apart. Was it just a bit of leather? Or did it matter that a bishop had blessed it? I think it did. I was sad when I could not wear it any more. I know a man who visited a monk in Egypt who had no icons, only some tawdry religious pictures, but he could not describe the experience he had there with that monk. The religious pictures were more than just paper and ink.

    I would encourage us to be more careful with everything which is blessed and which is connected with our spiritual life. Not saying this as if criticising anyone, much less condemning, but speaking to myself.

    Father Peter
  • minatasgeelminatasgeel
    how would this holiness of the bread in the basket be different from the holiness of the Lamb chosen to be sanctified during the Descent of the Holy Spirit?
  • peterfarringtonpeterfarrington
    Anything that is blessed is holy.

    The lamb which becomes the Body of our Lord is supremely holy, not because it is holy as set apart to the Lord, but because it IS the Lord Himself.

    If I bless something I expect it to be treated reverently as being holy. Otherwise why bless it? What do you think it means when something is blessed? I am not saying that to test you, but to find out what you think.

    Father Peter
  • minatasgeelminatasgeel
    [quote author=Father Peter link=topic=10109.msg123680#msg123680 date=1291674355]
    Anything that is blessed is holy.

    The lamb which becomes the Body of our Lord is supremely holy, not because it is holy as set apart to the Lord, but because it IS the Lord Himself.

    If I bless something I expect it to be treated reverently as being holy. Otherwise why bless it? What do you think it means when something is blessed? I am not saying that to test you, but to find out what you think.

    Father Peter

    I think it is holy--it becomes holy in a way but as odsak said the Lamb on the Altar the supremely holy.
    Not to far from the point i was trying to make; if it can be eaten (to be in us as a living organism) then there is no need to "bury" it or burn it....it doesn't matter what you eat it with...as long as it becomes part of you.
  • TITLTITL
    odsak = your holiness.

    It's a respectful way to address priests in arabic, in case Fr. Peter was curious lol
  • minatasgeelminatasgeel
    [quote author=TITL link=topic=10109.msg123709#msg123709 date=1291679456]
    odsak = your holiness.

    It's a respectful way to address priests in arabic, in case Fr. Peter was curious lol

    odsoh knows that  :)
  • ilovesaintmarkilovesaintmark
    Crazy4Christ1,

    The blessings I have are relative to being diligent about every speck that I took care of in the House of God.  When I mean speck, I mean down to that exact detail.  Everything in the House of God is holy, because He is Holy.  His Saints are Holy.  The word Saint means Holy.  Anything that apertains to holiness is holy--even the image.  It is not just by fate or whim that the aspect of burning is used to take care of the matters set forth in the above posts.  The precepts are set forth in the Old Testament.  I believe there should be a reverence and respect for every speck in the House of God.

    Even U.S. currency has to burned when it is put out of circulation.  Any damaged US flags are disposed of in a dignified burning, not the Bill Clinton protest burnings.

  • ilovesaintmarkilovesaintmark
    TITL,

    In order to prove my point, I just took bread rolls that were in the freezer from August, dabbed them with water, wrapped in paper towel and nuked in the microwave, and I had them with my fish sticks.

    I have difficulty throwing out bread or milk.  Bread I can freeze, sometimes though, when the fast is approaching I have to consume milk by the glasses to finish it.

    It could be that I am cheap (which I am--very cheap) or that I have a deep reverence for these products because they point to the very essence materials for sustenance.

    Eating the three week old cheese cake had nothing to do with reverence.  It was purely being cheap.
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