To what extent are there "valid" Eastern Orthodox Sacramentals and Devotions?

[TheReturnofLive]

So, the Eastern Orthodox Church has plenty of liturgical objects which are unique from the West, as well as miraculous icons, prayer ropes, prayers, etc.

And the question to ask is how "valid" these are, because there seems to be clearly a spectrum between things that are undoubtedly valid to those which are exclusively Orthodox in their character.

For example, on the low end, we have the "Antidoron" ("Instead of a gift," literally), which is bread which was part of the Communion Loaves but is cut aside and is specifically not consecrated, but is blessed in a similar manner to Holy Water such that those who were not prepared to partake of Communion may be blessed by the Church. Those who partake of it treat it very carefully and try not to spill it.

We know that this is a very old liturgical practice that was likely practiced in the West. See the Catholic Encyclopedia's entry on "Antidoron," and it's still practiced in Byzantine Rite Catholicism.

Then you get to miraculous icons in of themselves; icons which have a story surrounding the icon themselves about its miraculous nature which is venerated. For example, we have the "Panagia Portaitissa" icon, which is a picture of the Theotokos that is bleeding. According to Tradition, during the Iconoclastic Heresy, a Byzantine soldier stabbed this icon, and it started miraculously bleeding.



And further on this, we have a miraculous icon of this miraculous icon of Hawaii, for in Hawaii, apparently, this particular version of this icon began miraculously streaming myrrh. I've seen this icon in person and there are stories around it about miraculous healings. For example, allegedly, there was a girl with painful blistering sores in England who was constantly in pain from the painful blistering sores, and apparently, the Virgin Mary visited her in her room afterwards, with her painful blistering sores completely cured.




And then you have icons about Orthodox miraculous events.

For example, you have this story where apparently, the Virgin Mary's own tears caused a plant to miraculously flower on the Earth, and one day, a Serbian monk was struggling praying, so the Virgin Mary appeared to him and gave him the seeds of these plants to make a prayer rope. This prayer rope is called the "Tears of the Theotokos."




You have the "Theotokos of Unexpected Joy," in which one day a young man was struggling with serious habitual sin, and the icon of the Theotokos he was praying to talked to him and said "Each time you sin, you crucify my Son anew!" with the infant Jesus bleeding and crucified. The infant Jesus said to him "You have been given opportunity after opportunity to repent, but you have not changed his ways." The Theotokos then begged the infant Jesus to forgive him and give him another chance, and Jesus, saying that the Rules of the Kingdom require the King to obey his Mother, He obeyed her and forgave him.




And you have this miraculous event where apparently the Virgin Mary appeared to Russian soldiers during World War I and pointed the way in the direction they should head to fight the Germans.





And finally, we have prayers and prayer ropes themselves.

In addition to the "Tears of the Theotokos" prayer rope,



we also have Saint Dimitri of Rostov's prayer rule.

http://www.liturgies.net/Prayers/Orthodox/taleoffiveprayers.htm




Considering it's a valid question for the Byzantine Catholic Rite, which of these devotions and Sacramentals would be valid?

[Gardener]

What does it mean for a sacramental to be "valid"?

[TheReturnofLive]

What does it mean for a sacramental to be "valid"?

Efficacious? Grace-Filled / Grace-Granting?

[St.Justin]

What does it mean for a sacramental to be "valid"?

Efficacious? Grace-Filled / Grace-Granting?

I don't see why not. Has someone told you they weren't?

[Gardener]

What does it mean for a sacramental to be "valid"?

Efficacious? Grace-Filled / Grace-Granting?

I'm not sure about Eastern Orthodox theology, but in Catholic theology sacramentals are none of those things anyway. A rosary or medal etc. has no power or ability to convey something of itself.

Sacraments are, though.

As such, I see no reason why Eastern sacramentals wouldn't enjoy the same reality as sacramentals in the West.

Here's the BC on sacramentals: http://www.baltimore-catechism.com/lesson27.htm

[TheReturnofLive]

-

[Daniel]

.