Orthodox Crosses

[James the chief]

I am scheduled to be baptised next month, and my sponsers have indicated a desire to present me with a baptismal cross. But I have severe ezcema, and cannot tolerate most, if not all, metals against my skin. They and I have looked for non-metallic crosses and "chains" to no avail. Do any of you know where I can find a wooden or other cross that will not eat away my skin?
I have tried Froogle, and was not satisfied.

[OrthodoxyOrDeath]

I have several ones made out of black woven cloth (fairly common) for my children; I don't trust them yet to wear their Baptismal crosses. I also have a few wooden ones made out of cyprus wood from Jerusalem and a few really nice ones from one of our monasteries, St. Marinas in Greece - they are made of tiny black beads fitted over fishing line.

The trouble with all of these is that it doesn't seem they will withstand the wear and tear of everyday life. I would not expect any of them to last more than a few years if they are worn every day. Hardly candidates for Baptismal crosses.

I would recommend you still get a metal one and perhaps you can figure out a way to put a non-destructive coating on it? A larger style silver cross could be used with a cloth "chain", and perhaps you can coat the cross with a clear plastic of some sort (look at McMaster-Carr.com for weird stuff like that).In the mean time, you can wear a cloth one for every day.

??

Just throwing some ideas out there for you.

[Sean]

There are several places where you can obtain wooden carved "Athonite
Style" crosses. There are many links to Orthodox supply services in the Portal section of this page, where you might find them. Some of these have very small holes at the top, and you may need to drill a larger one if you were to string a leather chord through it. Speaking of leather chords, ther is a former Hermanite parish which is now either with the Serbian Church or the OCA, in Eugene, Oregon, and they make crosses that are a leather chord, elaborately woven over a wooden cross, like a Celtic weave. I don't know the name of the parish, but a friend of mine gave me one of their crosses.

--Sean