My visit to an Orthodox church
Yesterday I visited an Orthodox church. I thought the service wouldn't be too different from the service at a Lutheran Church I experienced. Boy was I wrong. Here's a link to information, including a picture of the church I visited. You might not be able to tell from the picture but the church is an example of the cross church design.
I arrived at the church at 9 am; the Divine Liturgy was scheduled to start at 9:30 am. When I entered the building, I quickly realized that it was even more beautiful inside than I thought it would be. The worship area was domed and the walls were covered and paintings of various saints and apostles. The front stage-like area had a wall also covered and paintings of saints that screened off the rest of the building (the part of the cross above the crossbeam). Hanging down from the dome was a giant gold (colored I presume) chandler. Here on the church site is a picture of what I called the stage area (behind it was some altar I could only partly see during the service as it was behind that screen - there are at least three doors in the bottom row of those paintings) as well as a picture of some priests at what must have been a special event.
People were milling around lighting candles, and bowing and crossing themselves and from of various stands that had icons of various saints on them and then kissing them. One man was standing near the front and was reading something in the singing/chanting style that would prove to be the standard expression in the church. I often had a very hard time understanding what was being said (even though I did make sure to come to the English service). Apparently, there are various things going on before the liturgical service. After this, I finally realized that there weren't any pews or chairs in the worship area. The only chairs in the building were in a section at the bottom of the cross shape (at the entrance) in a section that was reserved from mothers and small children (the benefit of having a nursery in a separate room was made obvious during the service). No one had greeted me when I came in, and no one said anything to me while I was standing at the entrance to the worship area for about five minutes. Everyone looked busy, so I figured I'd go back to my car and wait until closer to the time for the service to start.
I reentered the church shortly after 9:20, hoping that someone would greet me, or preferably tell me what to do. I looked around (as I had done before) for a program, bulletin, or something like it, but there wasn't any to be found. So I just basically stood and watched the service without participating (standing for the whole service wasn't a problem for me). I had heard someplace that Orthodox services were big on congregation participation, but I was a bit disappointed on this scale. The liturgy was sung/chanted by the various priests who walked in and out of the stage wall or by the small choir (4 men, I think). The liturgy went on for about half an hour with the congregation participation seemingly limited to saying "Christ have mercy" and/or bowing and crossing themselves at times I couldn't predict (probably because I couldn't always understand what was being sung/chanted). After that a priest came out of the stage wall holding up a golden cover bible and walked to one of the icon stands. From there he read a passage from Luke in the same singing/chanting voice that the liturgy was done in. After that, the priest disappeared behind the stage wall and another priest came out and gave a short sermon (I presume this is what is called the homily) that keyed on the necessity of man responding to God. The sermon was spoken in normal voice, not the singing/chanting style.
After the sermon, the liturgy continued, including the parading around of the communion elements by the priest and then hiding of it behind the stage wall again (suffice it to say I didn't really understand what was going on). Some in the congregation did get involved in the chanting at a few points: the Lord's Prayer, the Nicene Creed, and some sort of confession done in preparation for taking communion. About this time (10:30) more people started to come in and by 10:45 the size of the congregation probably doubled - I'm guessing this people just wanted to show in time for communion.
A disclaimer was said before the communion was given in English and in another language (not Spanish, I'm guessing Russian or Serbian) - this was the only part of the service translated. The disclaimer was that to take communion you need to be a baptized Orthodox who had had a recent confession and was prepared by fasting (I was prepared for that so I didn't take part and wasn't offended or anything). I was a bit confused by the communion. People got in lines before the priests and had something put into their mouth by a spoon (I assumed this was the bread). After that, the people went of to the side where there was bread and wine. Which would make three things, so I wasn't sure what that was about.
The liturgy ended soon after communion, and I left at about 11:20. During the whole time no one said anything to me - there wasn't much non-service talking at all, so I wasn't sure if I was supposed to ask what was going on and stuff. The one exception was when someone was walking around with an offering plate, he asked me "how are you?" He left so fast however that it was obvious it was one of those how are you's when the person doesn't really want an answer. So basically, they don't seem to do a good job of letting visitors know what's going on.
I can see why people who were raised in the Orthodox tradition find typical American services dry and unbeautiful, and I did appreciate the seriousness with which people were treating the service. It did seem more reverential to God than most services I've experienced. Anyways, the worship style was completely different than what I am used to. I don't think I'm up for the veneration showed to icons and saints, and I'm just not going to go around kissing things. I'm fully satisfied though that these people did in fact love God and weren't in any more danger of hellfire than myself (as many conservative protestants think). Although, I don't think the Orthodox church is for me, I'm happy that there is such a range of worship styles that are available and practiced by Christians of different types.
Here's something I should have read before I went. First Visit to an Orthodox Church--Twelve Things I Wish I'd Known. The writer does seem to assume a familiarity with Episcopalianism though.
I arrived at the church at 9 am; the Divine Liturgy was scheduled to start at 9:30 am. When I entered the building, I quickly realized that it was even more beautiful inside than I thought it would be. The worship area was domed and the walls were covered and paintings of various saints and apostles. The front stage-like area had a wall also covered and paintings of saints that screened off the rest of the building (the part of the cross above the crossbeam). Hanging down from the dome was a giant gold (colored I presume) chandler. Here on the church site is a picture of what I called the stage area (behind it was some altar I could only partly see during the service as it was behind that screen - there are at least three doors in the bottom row of those paintings) as well as a picture of some priests at what must have been a special event.
People were milling around lighting candles, and bowing and crossing themselves and from of various stands that had icons of various saints on them and then kissing them. One man was standing near the front and was reading something in the singing/chanting style that would prove to be the standard expression in the church. I often had a very hard time understanding what was being said (even though I did make sure to come to the English service). Apparently, there are various things going on before the liturgical service. After this, I finally realized that there weren't any pews or chairs in the worship area. The only chairs in the building were in a section at the bottom of the cross shape (at the entrance) in a section that was reserved from mothers and small children (the benefit of having a nursery in a separate room was made obvious during the service). No one had greeted me when I came in, and no one said anything to me while I was standing at the entrance to the worship area for about five minutes. Everyone looked busy, so I figured I'd go back to my car and wait until closer to the time for the service to start.
I reentered the church shortly after 9:20, hoping that someone would greet me, or preferably tell me what to do. I looked around (as I had done before) for a program, bulletin, or something like it, but there wasn't any to be found. So I just basically stood and watched the service without participating (standing for the whole service wasn't a problem for me). I had heard someplace that Orthodox services were big on congregation participation, but I was a bit disappointed on this scale. The liturgy was sung/chanted by the various priests who walked in and out of the stage wall or by the small choir (4 men, I think). The liturgy went on for about half an hour with the congregation participation seemingly limited to saying "Christ have mercy" and/or bowing and crossing themselves at times I couldn't predict (probably because I couldn't always understand what was being sung/chanted). After that a priest came out of the stage wall holding up a golden cover bible and walked to one of the icon stands. From there he read a passage from Luke in the same singing/chanting voice that the liturgy was done in. After that, the priest disappeared behind the stage wall and another priest came out and gave a short sermon (I presume this is what is called the homily) that keyed on the necessity of man responding to God. The sermon was spoken in normal voice, not the singing/chanting style.
After the sermon, the liturgy continued, including the parading around of the communion elements by the priest and then hiding of it behind the stage wall again (suffice it to say I didn't really understand what was going on). Some in the congregation did get involved in the chanting at a few points: the Lord's Prayer, the Nicene Creed, and some sort of confession done in preparation for taking communion. About this time (10:30) more people started to come in and by 10:45 the size of the congregation probably doubled - I'm guessing this people just wanted to show in time for communion.
A disclaimer was said before the communion was given in English and in another language (not Spanish, I'm guessing Russian or Serbian) - this was the only part of the service translated. The disclaimer was that to take communion you need to be a baptized Orthodox who had had a recent confession and was prepared by fasting (I was prepared for that so I didn't take part and wasn't offended or anything). I was a bit confused by the communion. People got in lines before the priests and had something put into their mouth by a spoon (I assumed this was the bread). After that, the people went of to the side where there was bread and wine. Which would make three things, so I wasn't sure what that was about.
The liturgy ended soon after communion, and I left at about 11:20. During the whole time no one said anything to me - there wasn't much non-service talking at all, so I wasn't sure if I was supposed to ask what was going on and stuff. The one exception was when someone was walking around with an offering plate, he asked me "how are you?" He left so fast however that it was obvious it was one of those how are you's when the person doesn't really want an answer. So basically, they don't seem to do a good job of letting visitors know what's going on.
I can see why people who were raised in the Orthodox tradition find typical American services dry and unbeautiful, and I did appreciate the seriousness with which people were treating the service. It did seem more reverential to God than most services I've experienced. Anyways, the worship style was completely different than what I am used to. I don't think I'm up for the veneration showed to icons and saints, and I'm just not going to go around kissing things. I'm fully satisfied though that these people did in fact love God and weren't in any more danger of hellfire than myself (as many conservative protestants think). Although, I don't think the Orthodox church is for me, I'm happy that there is such a range of worship styles that are available and practiced by Christians of different types.
Here's something I should have read before I went. First Visit to an Orthodox Church--Twelve Things I Wish I'd Known. The writer does seem to assume a familiarity with Episcopalianism though.
posted by Freethinker at 6:15:00 PM
2 Comments:
I think it is a good for people in their younger days to visit numerous types of churches. It does for them religiously what overseas travel does for them socially. It is a growing experience to see how others live and worship.
I really enjoyed the article you linked to, though it was very long.
I agree with your point about growing experience. I'm glad you like the linked article. I've read a few other articles she wrote, she's a powerful writer. I recommend reading Three Bad Ideas
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