Q: Can a laymen give a blessing?
A: In the absence of a priest or bishop, a
layman can give blessings. You can bless your food, for example. You do this by
saying the prayer before the meal, and then by making the sign of the Cross
over your food. If you are eating with your family, or other Orthodox
Christians, this would be done by the most senior person.
It is a
pious practice for Orthodox parents to bless their children, at the end of the
day, and when sending them off.
If you
use a home censer, when you put incense into the censer, you can also bless it.
But just
as a priest does not give blessings when a bishop is present, deferring to him,
likewise, laity do not give these blessings when a priest or a bishop is
present.
A laymen
simply forms his hand the same way he does when he blesses himself, but makes
the sign of the Cross over the person or thing that he is blessing, and because
he is blessing outwardly from himself, He makes the Cross from the top to the
bottom and then from his own left to his right (which, when blessing a person,
results in the Cross being made over them the same way they would have made it
over themselves).
By Fr. John Whiteford
Source: http://fatherjohn.blogspot.com/2018/05/stump-priest-lay-blessings.html
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