TASHKENT (UCAN) -- Local Catholics mark the Feast of the Epiphany by commemorating the Three Wise Men and having their homes blessed. But in Muslim-majority Uzbekistan, some of them are not comfortable marking their door with white chalk, the most public element of the tradition.

On Jan. 6, about 70 Catholics gathered in Tashkent's Sacred Heart Church to celebrate the Feast of the Epiphany, the "12th day of Christmas," commemorating the biblical visit of the Three Magi to honor the Infant Jesus.

"We cannot give God what those Three Wise Men gave him, but we can give our faith as gold, our prayer as frankincense and our work as myrrh," Father Stanislav Kava told his parishioners at Mass.

At the end of the liturgy, Bishop Jerzy Maculewicz, apostolic administrator of Uzbekistan and the main celebrant, blessed water, incense and chalk. "This chalk implies that Catholics live in the house, this water sanctifies the walls and this incense, symbolizing prayer, means protection from evil," he said.

Then one by one the Massgoers were given a piece of chalk and a piece of frankincense in separate envelopes. Many Catholics bless their own homes. Lacking a censer, they burn incense on the stove. Most, however, save the incense and invite a priest to conduct a formal blessing.

The chalk is used to mark doors with "C+M+B" and the year ("C+M+B 2007" this year). The practice, which is common in Central Asia and Russia, is "desirable but not obligatory," according to Sacred Heart Parish priest Father Andrzej Brzerzinski.

The letters stand for Christus Mansionem Benedicat (Christ bless this house), explained Father Wojciech Kordas, parish priest in Bukhara, 520 kilometers southwest of Tashkent. "They are also the first letters in the names of the Three Wise Men (Casper, Melchior and Balthazar)," he told UCA News. He feels that even without a deep theological understanding, the second "meaning" is a popular way of summarizing the significance of the practice.

Although Uzbekistan is a secular state, its population is predominantly Muslim (88 percent). Russian Orthodox Church members form 9 percent of the country's 27 million people. Catholics number only 500 in five parishes nationwide, with registration for two more underway.

Not all of the Catholics are willing to identify their houses.

At the Epiphany Mass, Larisa took the piece of chalk. "But I think I will not write the symbols," she told UCA News.

Larisa, who prefers not to use her surname and is in her 40s, lives alone. Her husband left her, and she is afraid of hostility from her neighbors since she is ethnically Russian, not Uzbek, and not a Muslim.

"It is not important what is written on your door," Eduard Chudov told UCA News, though he has never experienced problems. "In the past, I had no number on my door, and these letters served as identification for my apartment," Chudov added. He said he was baptized about 10 years ago, but started marking his door only after his faith grew stronger and Church came to have a more significant place in his life.

Alexander Philimonov and his family have no hesitation about writing the symbols. "No one has ever asked what they mean," Philimonov said. "Some people know that we are Catholics and respect our view, and this probably expands on the visible expression of our faith," he added.

In spite of such peaceful coexistence some, some who are not reluctant, like Larisa, to make their faith visible do so cautiously. Lana Kamaryan remembered another parishioner who wrote with the white chalk on her door's white background to make it less noticeable.

Even priests, who wear mostly lay clothes in public and don clerical vestments only in church, observe caution, acknowledged Father Kordas, who has been in Uzbekistan for a few years.

"I feel awkward every year in Bukhara," he said, "because people ask, and it is not always easy to convey the meaning. I tell them the letters mean that Allah blesses this home."

END