- May 21, 2009
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After a good 9 months or so of interacting with people here on this forum, and of course reading a lot of books, I finally wandered into an Orthodoxy liturgy, almost by accident. I was on business in Colorado Springs and figured I should go to church somewhere that Wednesday. I looked around at churches on Google Maps (probably never originally designed for religious use) and found an OCA church just about a mile from my hotel. My coworker was going to an Ash Wednesday Mass that evening anyway, so I figured I'd take the opportunity to finally experience this rather than just read about it. I also assumed it would be an Ash Wednesday service. How Western of me.
The priest was very helpful and so were the people in the congregation. I had another clueless Protestant visitor near me so we made a good team, I think.
At any rate, on the whole I was at first confused, then befuddled, but finally overcome with quite a sense of awe at the service. I certainly didn't catch every word, but I recognized a huge portion of the chants from the Psalter. Certainly no accusation can stand that Scripture isn't a big part of the worship. I had heard that EO churches often don't have pews, and this one didn't, which at first I thought was kind of an absurd idea. After standing for almost the entire liturgy, I have to admit that I now wish they'd take the pews out of my own Presbyterian church! This was the first I'd ever actually exerted effort in worship. People around me bowed, knelt, and prostrated. At first it seemed almost chaotic for people to move around, lighting candles and such, but I came to realize that people were far more actively worshipping than they ever could just sitting motionless in one place. Though my own tradition tends to think of using images in worship as idolatry, it was quite evident to me that it was no such thing. In fact, for some reason I couldn't seem to escape the gaze of an icon of Christ with the crown of thorns--almost like He was looking at me. Very powerful.
For the last few years I've been accustomed to sitting in a pew (standing during the reading of Scripture) where the congregation takes down notes silently during the 50-minute sermons. Hymns are sung from the hymnal. There's a certain austere beauty to that, but the other night I prostrated myself before God for the first time in my life and oddly didn't care if I looked goofy or did it the wrong way. There's something more worshipful about that. And during the (very short
A couple of questions that maybe someone can help me with:
1. In EO churches that have pews, do people still mill around freely, prostrate, etc.? It would seem hard to do with fixed benches in the way. After the other night, I suddenly feel much more like a spectator sitting in a pew, than a participant.
2. During the 100 minute service, I only heard people respond or "sing along" maybe twice...otherwise it was like a sung dialogue between the priest and the choir. It seemed odd that the people themselves didn't sing. Is that typical?
3. Things looked pretty "free form" to me but I wasn't sure what I was seeing...are there set times when everyone always crosses him/herself, prostrates, kisses an icon, etc., or do people sort of do those things as they feel moved to do them? Maybe some combination?
The priest was very helpful and so were the people in the congregation. I had another clueless Protestant visitor near me so we made a good team, I think.
At any rate, on the whole I was at first confused, then befuddled, but finally overcome with quite a sense of awe at the service. I certainly didn't catch every word, but I recognized a huge portion of the chants from the Psalter. Certainly no accusation can stand that Scripture isn't a big part of the worship. I had heard that EO churches often don't have pews, and this one didn't, which at first I thought was kind of an absurd idea. After standing for almost the entire liturgy, I have to admit that I now wish they'd take the pews out of my own Presbyterian church! This was the first I'd ever actually exerted effort in worship. People around me bowed, knelt, and prostrated. At first it seemed almost chaotic for people to move around, lighting candles and such, but I came to realize that people were far more actively worshipping than they ever could just sitting motionless in one place. Though my own tradition tends to think of using images in worship as idolatry, it was quite evident to me that it was no such thing. In fact, for some reason I couldn't seem to escape the gaze of an icon of Christ with the crown of thorns--almost like He was looking at me. Very powerful.
For the last few years I've been accustomed to sitting in a pew (standing during the reading of Scripture) where the congregation takes down notes silently during the 50-minute sermons. Hymns are sung from the hymnal. There's a certain austere beauty to that, but the other night I prostrated myself before God for the first time in my life and oddly didn't care if I looked goofy or did it the wrong way. There's something more worshipful about that. And during the (very short
A couple of questions that maybe someone can help me with:
1. In EO churches that have pews, do people still mill around freely, prostrate, etc.? It would seem hard to do with fixed benches in the way. After the other night, I suddenly feel much more like a spectator sitting in a pew, than a participant.
2. During the 100 minute service, I only heard people respond or "sing along" maybe twice...otherwise it was like a sung dialogue between the priest and the choir. It seemed odd that the people themselves didn't sing. Is that typical?
3. Things looked pretty "free form" to me but I wasn't sure what I was seeing...are there set times when everyone always crosses him/herself, prostrates, kisses an icon, etc., or do people sort of do those things as they feel moved to do them? Maybe some combination?