Visiting an Orthodox Church This Easter

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907John

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I’m thinking of attending an Orthodox Church this Easter, it’ll be the first time I’ve been in one.

Anyone have any advice for a first time trip? Can someone recommend a church in the Detroit, Michigan area?

Is going on Easter a bad idea or a good one? (The alternative is an Anglican Church, which is fully acceptable:) ). There’ll probably be a choice of either Greek or Russian Churches, so how much of a difference will that choice make to me?

What should I do and not do? I do know not to take the Eucharist.

An finally, is there anywhere on the web I can be pointed towards to do a little research before I go?
 
You need to be more specific, really; Detroit’s a huge metropolitan conurbation. At least narrow it down to which county…

And there are dozens of Eastern Rite parishes (Catholic and Orthodox) in the greater Detroit metro. And If your question is specific to Orthodox only, then it also in the wrong forum; questions pertaining only to Orthodoxy belong in the Non-Catholic Religions forum.

There is a nice Ruthenian Catholic parish, St. Stevens, only a couple miles from Wyandotte. My kinfolk are from Wyandotte.

ByzCath.org has an Eastern/Oriental Catholic parish finder.

byzcath.org/index.php/find-a-parish-mainmenu-111?catid=71 takes you straight to the michigan parishes; 8 of them are in Greater Detroit Metro area…
 
907John said:
I’m thinking of attending an Orthodox Church this Easter, it’ll be the first time I’ve been in one.
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I might recommend going prior to Pascha (Easter) than, so you know what to expect. There is a service every night of Holy Week, although they aren’t the Divine Liturgy proper.
Anyone have any advice for a first time trip? Can someone recommend a church in the Detroit, Michigan area?
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Is going on Easter a bad idea or a good one? (The alternative is an Anglican Church, which is fully acceptable:) ). There’ll probably be a choice of either Greek or Russian Churches, so how much of a difference will that choice make to me?
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Depending on what church you’re from, Orthodox Easter services are long. I think mine last year was 3-3 and a half hours. So if you aren’t used to long services be prepared for that. The only major thing that might change between juristictions is the language. Churches in the OCA (often called “Russian Orthodox” although strictly speaking not true) uses English in almost all their parishes, the Antiochans use English in most of their Parishes, and the Greeks will tend to have mixed language services. Any Church of another juristiction will most likely use its own language for the service.
What should I do and not do? I do know not to take the Eucharist.
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Don’t take the eucharist, other than that, don’t worry, just observe it. Make the sign of the cross if you want, follow along as best you can if you want (I have yet to be to a Parish where the books aren’t impossible for a new person to follow along, so don’t worry if you get lost).
An finally, is there anywhere on the web I can be pointed towards to do a little research before I go?
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Tons of places.

The various church websites oca.org, goarch.org, antiochan.org
Orthodox Wiki orthodoxwiki.org

Orthodox Info orthodoxinfo.com

A note about that last one, it has some great information, but many of its articles express opinions that are not the opinion of the Church, so approach anything from there with caution.
 
Glory to Jesus Christ!
907John said:
Is going on Easter a bad idea or a good one? (The alternative is an Anglican Church, which is fully acceptable:) ). There’ll probably be a choice of either Greek or Russian Churches, so how much of a difference will that choice make to me?

What should I do and not do? I do know not to take the Eucharist.

An finally, is there anywhere on the web I can be pointed towards to do a little research before I go?
Click to expand...
I see while I was composing Nine_Two covered basically what I had said, so I’m removing that from my response. Still wanted to say “Welcome”. I especially want to put a plug in for the other very wonderful liturgies each evening in Great and Holy week. Here’s one site with a very minimal description of services for the week. This Orthodox site has a more complete description.

If you decide you want to proceed with going at 11:00pm or so and staying (standing qyite possible) for a number of hours then we, or the Non-Catholic Religions forum, can give you more suggestions about what to expect, whether you go to the Divine Liturgy at an Eastern Catholic parish or an Orthodox parish.

Blest Feast of the Assumption!
 
I encourage you to check out the Catholic Church (whether of the Roman tradition or the Byzantine one).
 
it good idea then you come to church at midnight for Pascha service. wear comfortable shoes you standing for many hours. you will leave the church with everyone and all lights go out and then candles lighting and you go back in to worship. in jerusalem on Pascha all lightes go out and Holy Spirit light the lights himself and fire not burn anything.called holy fire. many youtube of miracle. you look on web to find out to get candle wax off your shoes and clothes. go where you want greek my church. you will sing the prayers. make sign of the cross right way you know how? it ok to make mistake sometime. tell someone you never come and they help you to know. jsut come then. its time now to come to church.
907John said:
I’m thinking of attending an Orthodox Church this Easter, it’ll be the first time I’ve been in one.

Anyone have any advice for a first time trip? Can someone recommend a church in the Detroit, Michigan area?

Is going on Easter a bad idea or a good one? (The alternative is an Anglican Church, which is fully acceptable:) ). There’ll probably be a choice of either Greek or Russian Churches, so how much of a difference will that choice make to me?

What should I do and not do? I do know not to take the Eucharist.

An finally, is there anywhere on the web I can be pointed towards to do a little research before I go?
Click to expand...
 
Aramis said:
You need to be more specific, really; Detroit’s a huge metropolitan conurbation. At least narrow it down to which county…
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I should have realized! The Grosse Pointes, Wayne County, in the neighborhood of the monastery.

The Mods haven’t moved the thread to the Non-Catholic Religions forum though I contacted them…
 
907John said:
I should have realized! The Grosse Pointes, Wayne County, in the neighborhood of the monastery.

The Mods haven’t moved the thread to the Non-Catholic Religions forum though I contacted them…
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Why shouldn’t “Orthodox in communion with Rome” be able to speak about attending an Orthodox church? Yes, that is a loaded question. 😉
 
907John said:
I’m thinking of attending an Orthodox Church this Easter, it’ll be the first time I’ve been in one.

Anyone have any advice for a first time trip? Can someone recommend a church in the Detroit, Michigan area?

Is going on Easter a bad idea or a good one? (The alternative is an Anglican Church, which is fully acceptable:) ). There’ll probably be a choice of either Greek or Russian Churches, so how much of a difference will that choice make to me?

What should I do and not do? I do know not to take the Eucharist.

An finally, is there anywhere on the web I can be pointed towards to do a little research before I go?
Click to expand...
Glory to Jesus Christ!
I will say that the russian chuch is more likley to use English… Be prepared for a long service and lots of standing… Dont recieve the Eucharist but other than that do whatever you like as long as it is respectful of the tradition and not distracting to the faithful

May God Bless you
SofG
 
A Russian church will have a more familiar style of music. They also seem to have (at least in the areas I’ve lived) both an English and a Slavonic liturgy, and on feast days they may have one combined English/Slavonic liturgy. Russian parishes seem to be more likely to not have pews. So, you’ll be standing for the entire liturgy, though they may have a few chairs for people to sit if they need to.

Also, read this:

orthodoxchurch.com/12_things/

Enjoy!
 
The biggest difference between Greek and “Russian” Churches (That is OCA and ROCOR Churches)is that the Churches founded in North America tended to see their primary purpose as being missionary churches, as such along with the Antiochans (who also see themselves as mission churches) tend to favour the vernacular, to the extent that it is easier to find Parishes that use English than not. The Greeks on the other hand tended to found parishes to deal with a diasporic community, and so they usually use Greek to some degree or another (however the amount varies, and most parishes tend to use some English).

Outside of these four, almost any Orthodox Church you find (Including Russian Orthodox directly under the Moscow Patriarchite, which are relatively rare for a number of reasons) will tend to use their native language, although again there are exceptions to this as well (I know we have a Bulgarian Orthodox poster who goes to a Church which uses English exclusively).

At any rate in a city like Detroit I have a very hard time believing you’ll have any trouble finding one in English. Either visit their website or call ahead and ask. If the first church you talk to doesn’t do English then they’ll likely know which ones do.
 
Nine_Two said:
Outside of these four, almost any Orthodox Church you find (Including Russian Orthodox directly under the Moscow Patriarchite, which are relatively rare for a number of reasons) will tend to use their native language, although again there are exceptions to this as well (I know we have a Bulgarian Orthodox poster who goes to a Church which uses English exclusively).
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Yup, it really depends on the parish. I’ve seen Slavonic OCA parishes and English-only Greek parishes.
 
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