Hi all,
I was just going to write a ‘Thanks to all’ and leave it at that, I really didn’t expect people to express interest… It is, after all, the Internets.
First of all thanks all for the advice, I’m glad the forums and her ?] users are here.
I went to an 11:00am Russian Orthodox Service and an 11:00pm Greek Orthodox Service. It was 5 hours of church in one day and admittedly, a little exhausting. Both were fantastic experiences and they’ve both made my choice of church far more difficult…
Russian Orthodox
The Russian church was my first standing service and my first Orthodox Service. I loved it and I have to say that of all the services I’ve been to, their wearing your best clothing and for lack of a better word, casual, approach to formal behavior is perfect. It was the first ‘human’ church I’ve been to.
They celebrated the Liturgy of St. Basil and while the website said the service was in Russian and English, it was entirely Russian excepting the Old Testament readings. That said, I’ve never heard so much Bible reading, and it was all chanted. Wonderful. And doubly Old Testament so since it was English and we didn’t speak Russian
I saw the Eucharist celebrated, and it was everything it’s known to be.
The other major memory of the visit was that the worshipers would prostrate themselves in front of the sarcophagus. I have just learnt about the body/spirit connection and how action is a necessary part of worship as a result (from several Catholic Theology books). In January I held my hands out (with the rest of the Catholic congregation) as a suppliant, and now knowing the importance of such a thing, when the people would kneel and touch their heads to the floor to pray, I think I understood, and it was perfect. This approach to God’s presence was an utterly new idea to me and I shall adopt it.
It’s been two days since I went and I am really looking forwards to attending a Russian or similar church again in the near future. The more I consider it, the more I want to go. Will have to find one in my area (Toronto, Canada).
Greek Orthodox
The Greek Orthodox service was actually the more enjoyable experience perhaps because it was mostly in English, and was slightly closer to what I’m used to: sitting & watching, standing & singing. It ran three hours from 11 to 2:00am and we held candles which dripped shocking wax over our thumbs for slightly over two of those hours.
The priest who spoke was a wise and well-humoured man and I realized tonight (Monday) that he read the Easter announcement from the Patriarch of Constantinople. When you think about it, it’s not Istanbul, it’s Constantinople. His sermon was excellent. In the heart of a depression era Michigan he stated that ‘God will always answer your prayers if they are about salvation’. Courage and truth. It all took place under a giant Byzantine Dome, the first Byzantine architecture I’ve seen (hahahaha. Good ol’ North America).
I wish I knew the words to the hymn we all sang when we went outside. Since I would only be able to parrot the English lines, I kept my voice ‘sotto’ during the celebration.
The liturgy was St. Chrysostom’s and in English. I followed along bits of it in the book as best I could but had difficulty as there were many hymns interspersed throughout (I assume). Fantastic music. And since I’ve discovered this thing called ‘liturgy’ in January, I can’t get enough. The liturgy is I think my next major topic to study. I want to understand the services from their depths to their heights.
Conclusion
Overall despite the cultural barriers I felt as equally at home in the Orthodox Churches as I do in my present Catholic Church, and the Catholic church is the first church I’ve liked in a decade so that’s quite an accomplishment (n.b. excluding St. John’s Anglican in Detroit).
There are two things I have taken (so far) from Saturday. Firstly to seriously consider the Orthodox Churches. I plan on buying the two volumes of
The Truth of Our Faith and found, by random luck, volume 1 of
The Philokalia on a Saturday bookstore visit, which I’m looking forwards to read. So far I’ve only read Timothy Ware’s
book and have tried Lossky’s
Introduction but was defeated (this time).
Secondly, the devotion of the people in the Russian Church, their worship taught me a lot.
I’ve much more to say but I’m going to wait and process the data myself and not publish it here.
Please post comments or anything and thanks all for the advice.
