On February 14, my (Catholic) priest and I attended Divine Liturgy at a Greek Orthodox parish here in town. My priest and the Greek priest, Fr. Elias, had met in the fall when Fr. Apostolos Hill came to speak at my university. My priest wrote to Fr. Elias and told him we were coming to DL. 
We got there just at the end of Orthros. Everything was in Greek, of course, but that did not bother me because I am very fond of languages and I knew the "important" words anyway (Theos, Kyrie, Kyrie Eleison, Theotokos, etc.) People were coming and going and no one batted an eye. That fact relaxed me, because in Catholic parishes, if you move around or come in late, you get death stares from people. I found it much more comfortable at DL in that regard.
There were Greek-English missalettes in the pews, but I cannot read Greek either (lol) so I could not properly follow along. However, from watching the actions of the priest, I recognised a few things that the Roman liturgy holds in common with the DL. Also the missalette helped me see commonalities too - prayers over the bread and wine, preparations for consecration, obviously the recitation of the Creed, the Our Father, etc. That helped me feel right at home.
One thing that I noticed very distinctly was that my attention did not wander for a single moment during the whole 2.5hours. The chant was constant throughout the DL - even the readings were chanted - and I found that it allowed my soul to settle more easily into the liturgy. I have great difficulties staying focused during my own Catholic liturgy, and it is only 1 hour long. I realised that that is because of the long periods of silence and the constant change in hymns and such. Byzantine Chant is all so similar-sounding that it served to bind the entire liturgy together and it really encouraged me to stay spiritually focused even though I did not know what was being sung (aside from the familiar words ).
Afterward, my priest and I went to receive the antidoron from Fr. Elias and he stayed to chat with us for a bit. He told us all about what the church will look like when finished (it was only built in the last few years and the iconography is not yet completed). He also invited us to come to the liturgy of the presanctified gifts one Wednesday during Great Lent. I told Fr. Elias that I want to come back to DL - I really, really do! - and he was very kind.
When my priest and I were sitting in the car afterwards, he looked at me and said, "Do you want to go to Divine Liturgy next week? We can go again! How about Wednesday? What are you doing on Wednesday? Do you want to go to presanctified liturgy?" I thought it was really funny. We are going to see if we can go to presanctified liturgy either this Wednesday night or next Wednesday.
All in all, it was a wonderful experience and I desperately wish I could go to Divine Liturgy every week. Although an English DL would be great... then I could understand the homily and readings, too.
It was very powerful to be present at something that has been celebrated for roughly 1400 years. What a gift it is to have such an ancient liturgy still celebrated today, transcending time and cultural differences to still speak to our souls and enliven our hearts. It was so beautiful.
We got there just at the end of Orthros. Everything was in Greek, of course, but that did not bother me because I am very fond of languages and I knew the "important" words anyway
(Theos, Kyrie, Kyrie Eleison, Theotokos, etc.) People were coming and going and no one batted an eye. That fact relaxed me, because in Catholic parishes, if you move around or come in late, you get death stares from people. I found it much more comfortable at DL in that regard.There were Greek-English missalettes in the pews, but I cannot read Greek either (lol) so I could not properly follow along. However, from watching the actions of the priest, I recognised a few things that the Roman liturgy holds in common with the DL. Also the missalette helped me see commonalities too - prayers over the bread and wine, preparations for consecration, obviously the recitation of the Creed, the Our Father, etc. That helped me feel right at home.
One thing that I noticed very distinctly was that my attention did not wander for a single moment during the whole 2.5hours. The chant was constant throughout the DL - even the readings were chanted - and I found that it allowed my soul to settle more easily into the liturgy. I have great difficulties staying focused during my own Catholic liturgy, and it is only 1 hour long. I realised that that is because of the long periods of silence and the constant change in hymns and such. Byzantine Chant is all so similar-sounding that it served to bind the entire liturgy together and it really encouraged me to stay spiritually focused even though I did not know what was being sung (aside from the familiar words
).Afterward, my priest and I went to receive the antidoron from Fr. Elias and he stayed to chat with us for a bit. He told us all about what the church will look like when finished (it was only built in the last few years and the iconography is not yet completed). He also invited us to come to the liturgy of the presanctified gifts one Wednesday during Great Lent. I told Fr. Elias that I want to come back to DL - I really, really do! - and he was very kind.
When my priest and I were sitting in the car afterwards, he looked at me and said, "Do you want to go to Divine Liturgy next week? We can go again! How about Wednesday? What are you doing on Wednesday? Do you want to go to presanctified liturgy?" I thought it was really funny. We are going to see if we can go to presanctified liturgy either this Wednesday night or next Wednesday.
All in all, it was a wonderful experience and I desperately wish I could go to Divine Liturgy every week. Although an English DL would be great... then I could understand the homily and readings, too.
It was very powerful to be present at something that has been celebrated for roughly 1400 years. What a gift it is to have such an ancient liturgy still celebrated today, transcending time and cultural differences to still speak to our souls and enliven our hearts. It was so beautiful.
