~Anastasia~
† Handmaid of God †
- Dec 1, 2013
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That's too bad really.Yes, it does matter to an extent. I've been to GO services with my in-laws, and I was a little perplexed that each time I might ask about why something was done, or what a Greek prayer meant, all I ever got from any of them was "I dunno." I actually seemed to know more about why they did some of the things they did than any of my relatives knew.
I can't speak for a particular person's experience. At one end of the spectrum, I have talked to converts who complain about meeting Orthodox that they believe only go for cultural reasons. They may or may not be right in their judgement.
I find people in my parish are mostly not interested in listening to podcasts or reading books (makes it difficult as I am the parish librarian). But they are pretty deeply involved in understanding their faith. They frequently tell me why we do a certain thing, or what meaning is attached to this or that. The same as they do for children - Church is one continuous lesson. We have a well-attended weekly Bible study. We have Sunday school classes. Father's homilies are frequently instructional, frequently an exhortation to living the faith - about evenly divided. And if a person listens to the hymns (or reads them in the booklets we print for every service), they will learn a great deal. And in our parish, people do.
That's my experience, and I'm thankful for it.
Though I will offer one thing. I spend the festival inside the Church, talking to visitors and answering questions. And every day, someone will ask a question I can't answer. Sometimes several times in a day. The thing is, the Church is so full of meaning, I'm probably not exaggerating if I say there may be 10,000 possible questions that could be asked based on what people see. And no, I can't answer them all. I may have learned the answer to many, or maybe most - but probably no one can answer all. I usually refer the questions to someone else, or ask the priest - sometimes even he doesn't know. There is so much meaning to what we do, no one can possibly know it all.
But if they can't answer any question, that's unfortunate.
And I do understand that people tend to judge by those they meet or know.
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