I would like to ask those of you who are Eastern Orthodox:
Does your parish church building have pews or chairs? Or is it open (standing room only)?
Does your parish church still practice head covering for women (and head uncovered for men)? Is it expected? Or up to the individual? (And yes, I'm aware the priests/Bishops etc wear head coverings/mitres etc at various parts of the liturgy, not asking about that.)
Finally, is your parish church more traditionalist, or "contemporary/modern" in its worship, practices, customs, etc? Do you think Eastern Orthodox churches in the West are moving in one direction or the other? Should they? Do you find that people are more attracted to a more traditionalist expression of Orthodoxy, or a more modern, Westernized expression?
Hello, and welcome to CF, and to TAW! I pray you are blessed by being here.
Our parish has pews, though we actually stand during most of the service. (Being in the choir I stand for pretty much all of it.) The local Antiochian parish has pews because they bought an existing building and they were already there. Of the parishes I have visited, about half have pews and half do not. It is often depending on jurisdiction. I prefer no pews, but otoh I have noticed that it serves to keep some children better corralled and less a distraction during the Liturgy (forgive me, I am getting old lol).
Men are expected to remove hats inside. Some women cover their heads (I do). It is optional, and probably less than half do. The older ladies tell me it became the usual to wear hats instead of head coverings, and then when they went out of fashion many stopped doing it. Again it depends on jurisdiction. Head coverings are expected in many parishes. Personally I feel if current fashion effected a change in practice, that ought not to have happened.
Our parish is probably less traditional than some because we have some singing in 4-part harmony (though even then we follow the tones), and sometimes there is an organ providing either a tone cue or playing music chords. However, we also have traditional Byzantine chant. We use both Greek and English in our services, because there are parishioners who understand only one or the other. But of course our Liturgy is still the Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom, and our hymns were mostly written in the early centuries. We use the same ones used for many centuries. If you mean "contemporary" like the "praise and worship" bands and music in many denominational gatherings today - no, no Orthodox Church does that, nor would we, nor should we.
What we "should" do in terms of expression as we tend to vary is a matter for the bishops. But when Orthodoxy is carried to various countries, it has adapted somewhat to those cultures in terms of language and musical expression, has it not? I like ours just as it is. I don't want to lose the Greek and Byzantine chant we have, not at all. But I do appreciate being able to hear in English as well, and appreciate our sung hymns too.
