Deacons, Dervishes, Devadasis Trivia Quiz

Answer: Preside over a marriage

Eastern Orthodox deacons are ordained, but they nevertheless cannot administer the Sacred Mysteries, sacraments like marriage or ordination. (An exception is made for baptism when the person to be baptized is in imminent danger of death, but in those circumstances any Eastern Orthodox believer is allowed to perform the rite.) During a service, a deacon may read the Gospel or cense the congregation and religious icons. He has a special role, as well: leading the litany, a series of pious petitions. After the deacon reads each petition, the believers add their voices to the prayer with a set response (often something like "Lord, have mercy"). During this, the priest is supposed to be saying a private and quiet prayer; the priest may only lead the litany if there is no deacon.

The specific duties of deacons in any Christian denomination have evolved over time. The New Testament of the Bible does not say specifically what a deacon should do in the Church, but does lay out requirements of what kind of person can be a deacon: "...deacons are to be worthy of respect, sincere, not indulging in much wine, and not pursuing dishonest gain. They must keep hold of the deep truths of the faith with a clear conscience" (1 Timothy 3:8-9).

Answer: Venerable spiritual leader

A "lama" was originally like a Hindu "guru": a great and holy man, a teacher or a head of a monastery. Some lamas are believed to be reincarnated after their deaths; the present Dalai Lama, for example, is regarded as having the same soul as all the previous Dalai Lamas, back into the fourteenth century.

In modern times, and partly due to Western misunderstandings of Tibetan Buddhism, the word "lama" has come to refer not just to the religion's most extraordinary leaders but also, more generally, to all of its respected priests, monks and nuns. It is an honorific that must be earned, however; not every monk develops into a lama.

Answer: Sufism

Sufism spans a wide range of Islamic beliefs and practices, and the many orders of dervishes reflect this diversity. Dervishes from different orders wear different clothes, perform different rituals, and observe different rules. Some may work humbly; others collect alms, which they then pass along to others of the poor. At the core is a deep mystical strain. As the famous poet Rumi, himself a dervish, wrote in Book One of his great work, the Masnavi (translation by Jawid Mojaddedi), "That sealed jar in the stormy sea out there / Floats on the waves because it's full of air / When you've the air of dervishood inside / You'll float above the world and there abide."

The famous "whirling dervishes" are members of particular orders; the Mevlevi, based in Turkey, are the best known. In the Sema ritual, Mevlevi dervishes recreate their spiritual journeys in a characteristic spinning dance to four musical movements.

Answer: A pleasing voice

During a service, the hazzan leads the congregation in singing the prayers. Over the history of Judaism, the position has become more and more important as public worship became more common. Hazzans were always supposed to lead respectable and pious lives - but much could be forgiven if a hazzan had a particularly wonderful voice. (Complaints about mispronunciation, or about using inappropriate melodies, were much more serious in many congregations.)

A modern hazzan often has a degree in music or in music education, in addition to experience with the prayerbook. Women serve as hazzans in every non-Orthodox branch of Judaism.

Answer: Girls

There has been significant variation in time and place, but generally a girl might be dedicated as a devadasi by her family in a ceremony at a local temple. In this ceremony, she symbolically marries the god of that temple, and thus need never fear being widowed.

Originally, her primary duties would then revolve around classical dance performances, both in public for holidays and some rituals, and in private for the god alone. In some regions, her duties expanded over time to include prostitution, often for a specific patron who supported her training at the temple.

It's this aspect that led the government of India to ban the dedication of devadasis starting in 1988, but the tradition continues illegally, especially in southern India.

Answer: Reading of the Gospel during Mass

The sacristy is the room of a church where vestments and other liturgical items are stored, and where priests and attendants prepare for the Mass. The sacristan has responsibility for this room and its contents, as well as for the general maintenance and preparation of the church building. Reading the Gospel during Mass, however, is the duty of a priest or deacon.

Ideally, a sacristan is an ordained priest, but in practice the office is often held by lay members of the congregation. A sacristan's duties can also be divided among members of an Altar Society or other church committees.

Answer: Family life

Family life is, after all, an attachment to this world, and is thus an obstacle to achieving enlightenment. (It isn't always an insurmountable obstacle, though: the Anguttara Nikaya tells of nineteen householders who have reached that happy state.) A layperson, still naturally attached to his or her family, must follow a spiritual path different from that of a monk or a nun.

In Mahayana Buddhism, the middle path is that of an upasaka (for a man) or an upasika (for a woman), who finds refuge in the Three Gems and upholds eight precepts for moral living. Such a person is essentially an ordained lay disciple of the Buddha.

The ordination ceremony usually involves paying one's respects to six directions that represent the six basic types of human relationships: parent-child (east), teacher-student (south), matrimony (west), friendship (north), religious teacher-disciple (up), and employer-employee (down).

Answer: Calls the neighborhood to prayer

Sunni Muslims are supposed to pray at five specific times each day, and the adhan -- call to prayer -- reminds them at those times. (For other Islamic sects, the number of prayers may be different, but the principle is the same.) In the time of the Prophet Muhammad, the earliest muezzins would travel the streets, calling out the adhan; nowadays it's more typical for the muezzin to call from the top of a minaret, sometimes with the aid of loudspeakers. Then as now, the call begins with the Shahadah -- the Muslim declaration of faith -- and continues with exhortations to pray. "Prayer is better than sleeping" is a favorite line for the dawn call to prayer!

A muezzin is a lay member of the congregation chosen for his voice. While he is not a clergyman, he is expected to lead an upright and blameless life.

Answer: Circumcises male Jewish infants

Circumcision is a minor surgery in which the foreskin of the penis is removed. Although many non-Jewish parents circumcise their sons for secular reasons, it is traditionally a religious requirement for Jews: in Genesis 17:10-14, Abraham swore to God that he and his sons and the other male members of his household would be circumcised. The procedure is done on the eighth day of an infant's life in a joyful ceremony called a bris.

In modern times, a mohel receives both religious and medical training. Only men fill this role among Orthodox Jews, but women often serve as mohels in other denominations.

Answer: Renunciation of family ties

A man who becomes a sadhu, or a woman who becomes a sadhvi, renounces all worldly ties and obligations in order to pursue moksha, or liberation. Sadhus are dead to their former lives, including friends and families, and have often attended their own funerals as a final renunciation ritual. After that, there's usually an apprenticeship to a more senior sadhu, and a wandering life of asceticism and prayer.

Sadhus may follow Shiva, or they may devote themselves to Vishnu or another god. They often cover their bodies with ashes and adorn their faces with religious symbols, leaving their hair matted. Sadhus live on donations from ordinary Hindu believers, who call them "Baba" or "Babaji" in a sign of respect.