Hello,
When I was really young, this priest once told me that I had to do the sign of the cross on my mouth whenever I yawned in Church.
Why is that?
Has that got to do with Islam? They believe the devil enters your mouth when you yawn. They also believe that the devil sleeps in your nose, so when you sneeze, you have to say "yer7amakom allah".
THanks for your explanation
Comments
pray for me
Good points.
Just don't yawn during the sermon!
INXC
Anglian
I don't think the crossing your mouth when you yawn is either a requirement or necessary. I do it only because I always like to remind myself about of the Cross even when I'm bored in class or something (er, I mean, when my brain indicates a lack of oxygen and thus compensates, :D).
Who amongst you has reached the spiritual heights of the great Saints and ascetics, who were able to perceive the hidden yet very real demonic activities that plague mankind by the second, so as to be counted amongst their ranks? Who amongst you has been so immersed in the life of prayer and the exercise of virtue so as to claim the divine illumination necessary to speak so boldly on these hidden mysteries? Who amongst you has overcome all the common obstacles of man so as to be forced to wrestle face to face with the demons and visibly confront their snares and traps so as to be able to claim to have the experience necessary to speak with any credibility on these matters?
St Shenoute the Prophet teaches us that since the Incarnation of our God, satan and his minions have been stripped of any direct power over the human soul. In the Life of St Antony, St Athanasius demonstrates how the devil, in his desparation, resorts to attacks on the body in his pursuit to disturb the soul indirectly. Sometimes these attacks are manifest in illness, disease, pain, or fatigue. At other times these attacks are carried out more subtly. St Evagrius of Pontus teaches us how the devil is capable of instigating our yawns and prolonging them for the sake of inducing tiredness or sleep as a way to inhibit us from carrying out a spiritual activity or an act of goodness or virtue. St Makarios the Alexandrian similarly taught that the devil can provoke our yawns.
Professor of Eastern Christian Studies, Dr. Sinkewicz notes that it is here that the tradition of signing your mouth with the cross when you yawn originates--in Eastern Monastic spirituality, not Islam. The teachings of Islam on the matter have no relationship whatsoever to Orthodox demonology. The issue is not about satan entering your mouth for a holiday, but about how satan uses every desparate means he can, no matter how trivial it may seem, to inhibit one from the path of perfection unto which we are all called.
Sorry, but "the Coptic Church" does not encourage one to "cover" one's mouth as a course of spiritual practice. If you believe such to be the case, then please cite me an authority who is representative of "the Coptic Church" who demands such a thing on account of Coptic spirituality.
What I addressed in my above post is the consistent ridicule concerning signing your mouth with the cross upon yawning; a tradition that predates Islam, and is grounded in authentic ascetic spirituality.
In any event, if you can, out of precaution, maintain a consistent conscious awareness that tiredness inhibiting you from doing that which is good and spiritual is potentially satanically induced, and choose to manifest that conscious awareness by doing the sign of the cross, then I would think that to be a good thing.
God Bless and Pray for me and weakness