St Euphrosynos the Cook:
The kitchen as focal point of communion

The icon of St Euphrosynos the Cook of Alexandria has always hung in our kitchen.  The patron saint of all things culinary has served to remind us of the spiritual, as well as physical, importance of the act of preparing and consuming food.  In addition to the utilitarian nature of the enterprise of cooking, baking and what not, there is a deeply religious aspect involved that should not be neglected either.  One could call the following lines, "reflections of a dishwasher."

St Euphrosynos lived at a Coptic monastery in Egypt, when he came across a very demanding clerical visitor.  The visitor seemed to have no time for the humble monk and was unhappy with almost everything Euphrosynos happened to prepare for him in the monastic trapeza or refectory.

Having retired to his guest cell for the night, the visitor was roused for some strange reason and was compelled to go out into the monastery's courtyard.

It was there that he saw the holy monk Euphrosynos conversing with Angels in the air as he held onto a branch with beautiful, aromatic apples.

The hierarch realized that the person he had just given a hard time to was a holy saint and so he begged Euphrosynos' forgiveness.  He also asked him for one of the mystic apples the Saint was holding.

The saint told the man to calm down and asked him not to say anything about his vision as he gave him the whole branch.

The next morning, the visitor awoke thinking the whole thing was a wonderful dream.  But then there were those apples next to him . . . He ran to the Archimandrite to tell him of his vision, but St Euphrosynos had left the monastery by then knowing he would be discovered and that was the last anyone ever heard from him.

The icon of St Euphrosynos depicts him holding those apples, a dangerous fruit after all, as we read in the Book of Genesis. . .

The Slavic tradition also places icons of the Unburning Bush in kitchens as protection against fires.  The kitchen is truly one of the most religiously significant places in our homes.

With the emphasis on greater participation by one and all in meal preparation, including one's guests, the kitchen is no longer simply the place where food is cooked before it is taken out into another "more elegant" room.

I, for one, have forgotten what our dining room looks like . . .

Gone forever, it seems, are the days when all the food was more or less ready when the guests arrived.  Nowadays, one begins the meal preparation AFTER they've come and they chip in and help with the chores.  

Alas, nothing, including technology, has really impacted my role as the champion dishwasher.  But as long as everyone has a smile on their faces at the end of the evening . . .

Today's kitchen is where food is shared over conversation and laughter.  It is where real communion between our hearts and minds occurs, where friendship is affirmed and where love seasons every plate.

This makes the kitchen one of the most spiritual rooms in the home and where icons of St Euphrosynos and others become more of an opportunity to reflect and pray for the gifts of God's bounty in the food we consume, the friends and relatives we embrace and the thoughts that inspire us.

In the Kyivan tradition, there is an entire body of ritual associated with social manners that surround food and eating in common.  They have lost nothing with the onslaught of cosmopolitanism, to be sure!

Certain foods remind us of the Mysteries of the Church and are so honoured.  A loaf of round bread is always the preferred shape since it reflects the sun and this, in turn, reflects Christ who is our Sun.

A Cross is always made on the top and the bottom of the loaf.  The entire loaf is cut into four corners, cross-wise.  A blessing is always said over it.  We may bless anything by saying:  "This (object) is being blessed by the Sign of the Holy Cross in the Name + of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen."

Should a piece of bread fall on the floor, we are to pick it up and reverence it with a kiss since it is through the medium of bread that Christ comes to us in Holy Communion. 

When drinking water, we too Cross ourselves in memory of the water of our Baptism.  

Prayers before and after meals sanctify our communal action.  She (or he) who prepared the meal is to be honoured with a hearty "Thank you for the Bread and the Salt" and a three-fold kiss!

Consumers today are also more aware and discriminating when it comes to shopping for food.  

We have come to realize that we are what we eat and so our shopping choices reflect our more informed concerns.

There is no reason why we cannot unite this secular and worthwhile endeavour with the Church's rules governing fasting and abstinence.

There was a Greek doctor who wanted his country's government to pass legislation to force the monks of Mt. Athos to eat a more "sensible" diet.  After spending time with them, he realized that their diet was more sensible than anything his medical training could come up with.

Those of us who suffer with diabetes, obesity and the like have a responsibility to exercise a kind of personal "ascesis" in disciplining ourselves to eat in order to live, rather than living in order to eat . . .

Healthy food choices are surely part of God's will for us and I can personally attest to the fact that there is no better diet available than those in Orthodox cookbooks for the Great Fast.

We are often told that we eat too quickly, that we "down" food that was meant to be savoured.  How often do people suffer from obesity because of the rapidity with which food falls to their stomach before the rest of their body realizes it is on its way.

A meal was formerly, and should be today, a spiritual enterprise where we calm ourselves down in silent reflection and inner peace.  To this end, monasteries have a reader who reads from the Scriptures or the Fathers during their repast.  

Conversation with guests should never be centred on our work life, as if we don't have enough of that during working hours!

Why not talk about other things?  As one writer once said mockingly, "The problem is that everyone wants to just talk about the weather, but no one wants to do anything about it!"

Indeed, what can be done about it?  Or about the myriad problems that affect our lives on a daily basis?

Many decisions and even business deals are done within the context of personal communion that is the dinner table, whether at home or at a restaurant.

It is where we allow ourselves to be most vulnerable with others.  It is therefore an opportunity for us to grow in love and mutual appreciation.

Ultimately, what goes on in a kitchen and at table is a reflection of our Communion with God.  

One of the greatest Icons is that of St Andrei Rubleev's "Holy Trinity."  In it, the Persons of the Trinity are arranged sitting around a dinner table.  In the centre is a Chalice that alludes to Holy Communion and our participation in the Divine Nature through the Communion of the Body and Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ.

The act of eating as a whole is an expression of our state of radical dependence on God's love and bounty, both for our spiritual needs as well as our physical needs.

There is a mystery associated with the kitchen and the dinner table these days.  Perhaps it becomes all the more so because of our deepening desire to find our inner calm there which could also explain for the great popularity of "home and garden" television shows.

We are all searching for our real home.  We know where the houses in which we live are.  But we must create the necessary conditions inside in order to experience the feeling of being at home.

Communion with the Holy Trinity and the Saints helps us to enter into this mystery in a deeper way.

It is the Divine Grace that feeds our souls that brings us into harmony with those around us and with nature.

A kitchen can truly be a wonderful place.