Flower girls during Holy Saturday Matins

[Barbara]

I never asked why ; I assumed it was a venerable tradition.

Visually, these young Pathfinders, or Russian Scouts, add a lot to the LIturgy by their presence.
They would guard Christ's sepulchre in shifts of I think 2 or 4 at a time. I have forgotten exactly.
Then each shift would be relieved by new Scouts.

The children add to the ceremony, whether standing guard or
changing the shift, for there is ritual and dignity emanating from these apparently well-disciplined Scout children.
No one giggles or looks inappropriately cheerful. They look strong [for their age] and determined to
perform their guard duties with aplomb.

[Jean-Serge]

It looks like a military practice indeed when a coffin is guarded by persons in uniform while being exposed... It can be seen at some state funerals. By the way, the epitaphion dates back to the 14th century.

[jgress]

At this church and at St Markella's, young girls dressed like this do not bear candles; they carry baskets of flower petals and strew the path before the epitaphion, and on the epitaphion. They are not "altar girls"; they don't enter the altar or wear vestments. There is absolutely nothing anti-canonical or anti-traditional about them. It's just ignorant paranoia to call this "feminism". Please do a little more research before you start throwing such accusations at us.

[Jean-Serge]

At this church and at St Markella's, young girls dressed like this do not bear candles; they carry baskets of flower petals and strew the path before the epitaphion, and on the epitaphion. They are not "altar girls"; they don't enter the altar or wear vestments. There is absolutely nothing anti-canonical or anti-traditional about them. It's just ignorant paranoia to call this "feminism". Please do a little more research before you start throwing such accusations at us.

It is not because it occurs at Saint Markella that it is necessarily traditional. As far as I know, there are pews at Saint Markella, and, as you said previously, complines followed by presanctified during great lent, which is entirely incorrect. So if this is traditional and you have some data or research about this, maybe you could tell us more about this tradition : its origins geographically and historically, its meaning, what was said about this etc... because this is the question... instead of calling me paranoid... I've just written to the parish to know more about this custom, so I hope we'll have details soon.

Anyway, there is a video showing this here in a Greek church :

[jgress]

I do not know how old this particular custom is. As you pointed out, the use of the epitaphios itself only dates back to the 14th century. I only know that all the Greek churches appear to do it, and traditionally girls are the ones who decorate the epitaphios with flowers (in reality, at St Markella's the men do this).

If you are merely curious about this custom, please ask. But if you go around accusing people of "feminism" simply because you see girls participating in some aspect of the service, then you should expect some harsh replies. Don't make that accusation unless you are sure that something anti-traditional is taking place. As you can clearly see from the picture, the girls are not vested, so there is no question of them being "altar girls", and so there is no reason to talk about "feminism".

[Jean-Serge]

It seemed to me that ladies and girls could do nothing in a service, excepted for singing and reading. That's why I talked about feminism.

[jgress]

The point is that women should not enter the altar (except for nuns). Otherwise, they are welcome to participate, but the important aspects of the services require being able to enter the altar.