Pews at your church?

[Dorothea]

Does your church have pews?

 

[Khaleas]

Yes and only because they are so bolted into the floor that we would have to change the floor too and there is no money for such...
It was originally a Methodist church so the pews were not put in by our parish.

 

[SeraphimSarov]

We've got some chairs on the side... I don't like them there, but it's not my call.

 

[Mary of Bethany]

I don't mind having chairs (or benches) available. It would be very uncharitable to expect everyone to stand all the time.

In our choir area, we have little stools we can pull out to sit on as needed. I have flat feet, so no matter what kind of shoes I wear, my feet end up hurting at some point. It's nice to be able to sit sometimes.



Mary

 

[E.C.]

I don't like pews. Yet people do get old and pregnant.

Chairs and benches on the side work.

 

[Tsarina]

My Church is full of pews, you can't even move.. it's disgusting, i hate pews!

 

[ByzantineDixie]

We have pews...and they were deliberately installed when the chapel was built. OK by me except during weekday Lenten services. We all have to make a mad dash to the aisles to do our prostrations. It looks like everyone getting reading to do exercises.

When one is 25 and in good health there is no need for seating. When one becomes older and/or suffers from health issues it is a good thing when seating is available. Most people figure this out when they are no longer young.

 

[Dust and Ashes]

No, we just have some benches along the wall.

 

[nikostheater]

We hace rows of chairs..

 

[Protoevangel]

We have pews at my church. I hate the pews, they just get in the way. There is an OCA church that I like to visit that has chairs along the walls. I really prefer that set-up. Enough chairs for those who need them, and the rest sit on the floor during the sermon.

 

[rusmeister]

Pews are not really compatible with Orthodoxy.

Those of you in America just have to put up with them sometimes, I guess!

 

[AureateDawn]

Yes, the Greek church I will be attending here and there has pews.

 

[Tsarina]

Pews are not really compatible with Orthodoxy.

Those of you in America just have to put up with them sometimes, I guess!

 

[Oblio]

Chairs on the side in the back 1/3 of the Nave. We hope to replace them with benches, much better for setting coats & sippy cups on them, plus they have storage space which a traditional temple is fairly short of. I'm not sure how one can practically do without some seating. Even if you are in a cradle area with no 'visitors' not used to standing for 90+ minutes (does anyone really want that to be a stumbling block ?) there will still be a need for the old, infirm, mothers(to be)/children to have a place to sit. Even Mt. Athos has chairs

 

[Oblio]

I DO hate pews

 

[kamikat]

We have pews and I don't mind them.

 

[Monica child of God 1]

We have a bench at the back and some chairs around the perimeter. I am glad that we have some seating because there are folks who really do need to have a seat. Also, there are portions of services that we are allowed to sit through like the kathisma psalms. Kathisma implies being allowed to sit, just as akathist means we stand.

I prefer a pew-free church overall but it does not keep me from visiting churches with pews especially for services that we don't have like the paraklesis.

M.

 

[hungrytiger]

We have pews along the sides and the back and a few chairs. I'm glad I'm able to sit when I need to, though I may go too easy on myself at times, I don't know.

 

[Dorothea]

Wow! Thanks for all the responses. I remember discussing pews in another thread, but it wasn't about them, so I decided to make a thread on this because I was surprised at how many of the churches you all attend don't have pews! LOL Every Greek Orthodox Church I've attended has rows of pews and built-in kneelers that flip down when it's time to kneel. St. George's Greek Orthodox Church in Shreveport, LA, Sts Markella and Demetrios in Ft. Walton Beach, FL, The Assumption in Dayton, OH, Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Church in Spokane, WA, and now my current Church: Archangel Michael Greek Orthodox Church in Colorado Springs. All have pews, and so I expect to see pews! I like them. I haven't been in a church that doesn't have them, believe it or not, so it would be very different and would take acclimating to a church with no pews for me. Whew. I still can't believe I and a few others are the only ones that have pews!!!

eta: We stand, sit, and kneel in our church (and all the ones I've been to listed above), so there are times when one sits: like during the Epistle reading and some of the basic prayers the priest does, and during his homily. We stand for the rest of the service, and kneel once during the service.

 

[Akathist]

A year ago Pascha we removed the pews from our parish and installed some rugs. (I voted chairs on the side as the poll didn't have room for a couple pews on the side. We have four pews two on each side and a few chairs here and there as needed.)

It is so much better (IMO) without pews. I no longer bang my head on anything for one thing! Doing prostrations is also easier. But the very best thing is that the kids are less fussy. They are much more comfortable moving on the floor from Mom to Dad, to someone else.

I grew up in Protestant Churches with pews and only went to one that had chairs. I never would have imagined that I would prefer a pewless Church but I sure do.