What to know at first Orthodox service?

Hermit76

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Sounds like an interesting day. As far as the fast reading... yes that's normal. Could you imagine the time necessary to go through all that in a nice southern drawl? You get used to it and actually it flows quite well after a few times. I have students with dyslexia that have electronic readers. They read the text much faster than humanly possible. The students build up to that speed and can understand and comprehend it all. When I listen it sounds like gibberish.
 
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~Anastasia~

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Oh! Also, what do I do with my bottle of Holy Water?
You can use it to bless things - dipping your finger in and making the sign of the cross, or sprinkling it. You can drink it. Some people take a little sip each morning, crossing themselves when they do.

Because it is blessed we treat it with a measure of respect. It wouldn't be right to pour it in a drain or throw it away. Blessed things like bread or water can be poured in flower beds, for example, where they won't be trampled on.

If you are almost out and you want more, you can add more water to the bottle, as literal NT as some remains. It all mixes together.
 
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Hermit76

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Additionally... You shouldn't make a decision to become a catechumen the first time. Take your time and consider everything. We are not pushy. We're happy you visited and we'll help you however you ask. In the end it's your decision based on your beliefs and convictions
 
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~Anastasia~

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Additionally... You shouldn't make a decision to become a catechumen the first time. Take your time and consider everything. We are not pushy. We're happy you visited and we'll help you however you ask. In the end it's your decision based on your beliefs and convictions
Oh absolutely! Best not to be in a hurry. Priests will generally assure anyone who seems rushed that the Church isn't going anywhere, and they should take their time. :)
 
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WadeTheophan

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Thank you all for your help. I did attend the service this morning: I showed up for the last few minutes of Orthros, the full Divine Liturgy (including a memorial service for the reposed at the end), the cutting of Vasilopita, and introduced myself briefly to the priest at the end (but then ducked out quickly for reasons I'll explain momentarily :D )

Overall, I loved it! It was simultaneously very similar to the Lutheran services I'm used to (one of our liturgies is based almost entirely on St. John Chrysostom's), and remarkably different (and not only because it was half in Greek, though that was an extra challenge).

The church was beautiful - having Icons all over the place was stunning, and gave me something to focus on when I had no idea what was going on during the service. The Iconastasis is quite something to marvel at.

Some things raised questions -- do you guys always speak/read super duper fast? This isn't intended as an insult, it's just something I noticed. The creed, the Lord's prayer, basically everything that wasn't chanted/sung was read at a super fast speed (oftentimes it was fast in Greek, and then the second time in English it was slower)

At the end of the Liturgy when I went up to receive the blessed bread and the priest's blessing, I kissed the priest's hand (this was interesting -- he explained why it is proper to do that in his sermon, since the priest's hands have been consecrated and handle the Holy Things) and he gave me bread, I introduced myself briefly, etc. Then there was a guy who had a tray of Holy Water that he was handing out. Behind me was a girl around my age who introduced herself to the priest as a parishioners granddaughter. The Holy-Water-distributor asked her if I was her brother, to which she (naturally) said we were not. Then he asked if I was her boyfriend and we both laughed and I probably blushed and we said we were not, to which he responded something like "oh good, you young folks stay away from that stuff". So that's when I decided to leave instead of going to the coffee hour :p

But like I said at the start, I did enjoy my visit. I will likely be attending another Orthodox Church in the future when I am back at university (this is my last week of winter break). I am still not sure if I desire to become a catechumen, and I'm unsure as of this point in time (merely a few hours after the Liturgy) if this is influencing me one way or another, or just providing me with more information about Orthodoxy. In any case, thank you for all of the advice, it made this experience much more enjoyable.
I knew you would love it. If you have a heart that desires to know God I knew you would love it. The speed at which the liturgy was said is something unique to each priest in my experience. My priest goes quite slowly and I think it adds greatly to the service.
 
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AMM

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Sounds like an interesting day. As far as the fast reading... yes that's normal. Could you imagine the time necessary to go through all that in a nice southern drawl? You get used to it and actually it flows quite well after a few times. I have students with dyslexia that have electronic readers. They read the text much faster than humanly possible. The students build up to that speed and can understand and comprehend it all. When I listen it sounds like gibberish.
Fair enough; in Lutheran churches we always speak very slowly and clearly especially when chanting, but we're also not saying nearly as many prayers, nor are we doing the readings in multiple languages, so I guess it balances out.

Interesting about the dyslexic students!

You can use it to bless things - dipping your finger in and making the sign of the cross, or sprinkling it. You can drink it. Some people take a little sip each morning, crossing themselves when they do.

Because it is blessed we treat it with a measure of respect. It wouldn't be right to pour it in a drain or throw it away. Blessed things like bread or water can be poured in flower beds, for example, where they won't be trampled on.

If you are almost out and you want more, you can add more water to the bottle, as literal NT as some remains. It all mixes together.
Thanks! I might drink a bit each morning during my prayers. That seems like a good way to start the day off. And I didn't know I could just add more to make more! I'll keep that in mind.

Additionally... You shouldn't make a decision to become a catechumen the first time. Take your time and consider everything. We are not pushy. We're happy you visited and we'll help you however you ask. In the end it's your decision based on your beliefs and convictions
Certainly, I'm not trying to be hasty. I've been looking into Orthodoxy for almost 2 full years, this was just the first time I've attended a liturgy. I'm certain I'll do that a handful more times before I decide either way; I don't want to rush this decision. I don't have a deadline to make my decision, for example. Thank you.

glad you had a good experience!
Thanks!

I knew you would love it. If you have a heart that desires to know God I knew you would love it. The speed at which the liturgy was said is something unique to each priest in my experience. My priest goes quite slowly and I think it adds greatly to the service.
Thank you!
 
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~Anastasia~

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On the speed, I only recently discovered something.

Btw I will admit I was REALLY bothered especially by the 40x Lord have Mercy the first time I heard it, and how quickly it was done. Ah - newly on the chant stand, I'm worried about encountering that. What will I do? It sounded like a blur. But I can hear Lord have mercy chanted 100 times and love it. (That was not part of a service btw)

Anyway. Speed always implied insincerity to me too. But I've just learned something. I've gotten very familiar with the prayers I pray regularly, and it sometimes takes more effort to attend carefully to them and really pray, not being distracted by something else and letting them become rote. The difficulties tend to come in cycles. But somewhere I hear a comment that praying them more quickly can engage the mind more actively and help repel distracting thoughts, and I found it to be true! So in some cases at least, it is actually possible to pray more sincerely by going much faster.

It was a revelation to me.

And of course we try not to judge others' hearts or unfavorably compare them to ourselves anyway. But that little revelation has helped (and humbled!) me. :)
 
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Chesterton

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Btw I will admit I was REALLY bothered especially by the 40x Lord have Mercy the first time I heard it, and how quickly it was done.
This is an interesting part of this thread to me, because the 40x Lord Have Mercy is the only thing I've ever heard read fast at our church. I've heard father advise a deacon to slow down once during a Vespers reading, when it sounded like the deacon was reading normally to me.
 
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~Anastasia~

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This is an interesting part of this thread to me, because the 40x Lord Have Mercy is the only thing I've ever heard read fast at our church. I've heard father advise a deacon to slow down once during a Vespers reading, when it sounded like the deacon was reading normally to me.
I should ask Father before it comes up. If I hear anything from him - it's to slow down. That was part of the confusion my first time on the chant stand because he stepped in because he was kind of correcting the Greek reading going too fast, so he wanted to preemptively prevent me following suit. But I took the advice here and try to slow slow everything down, and Father confirmed that both he and the people want it all slow. (Though sometimes it's not done that way.)

But the 40x Lord Have Mercys are always said so quickly by contrast.

I think it was my first visit to an Orthodox Church - Antiochian - and I heard that part chanted out. It took a lot of time but dropped into my spirit, it seemed, and I "heard" it for days continuously. I used to often chant it to myself when I was driving alone. So for me, it's been a huge benefit and that might be the only time I ever heard them done slowly.

I don't know. But in our parish its done so quickly the words blur together. It may be that chanter's own style though. I really know nothing. :)
 
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E.C.

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Behind me was a girl around my age who introduced herself to the priest as a parishioners granddaughter. The Holy-Water-distributor asked her if I was her brother, to which she (naturally) said we were not. Then he asked if I was her boyfriend and we both laughed and I probably blushed and we said we were not, to which he responded something like "oh good, you young folks stay away from that stuff". So that's when I decided to leave instead of going to the coffee hour :p

But like I said at the start, I did enjoy my visit. I will likely be attending another Orthodox Church in the future when I am back at university (this is my last week of winter break). I am still not sure if I desire to become a catechumen, and I'm unsure as of this point in time (merely a few hours after the Liturgy) if this is influencing me one way or another, or just providing me with more information about Orthodoxy. In any case, thank you for all of the advice, it made this experience much more enjoyable.
Haha! Be careful, the Greek grandmothers love to set people up, TRUST me! ^_^

Glad you had a pleasant time.
 
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~Anastasia~

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Haha! Be careful, the Greek grandmothers love to set people up, TRUST me! ^_^

Glad you had a pleasant time.
Not just the grandmothers! (But very much so - they were all asking me when I first came if I was single!)

I have a goddaughter now, and parents of young men in the Church were very friendly and inviting both of us together to just about join their families, so as to be there when the young men would come home for a visit.
 
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ArmyMatt

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Haha! Be careful, the Greek grandmothers love to set people up, TRUST me! ^_^

Glad you had a pleasant time.

one tried to set me up with her granddaughter because I went to St Anthony's in AZ for Spring Break. I was a good Orthodox boy...
 
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GreekOrthodox

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Overall, I loved it! It was simultaneously very similar to the Lutheran services I'm used to (one of our liturgies is based almost entirely on St. John Chrysostom's), and remarkably different (and not only because it was half in Greek, though that was an extra challenge).

Is that the Ukrainian Lutheran Church's liturgy by Dr. Weber?

Some things raised questions -- do you guys always speak/read super duper fast? This isn't intended as an insult, it's just something I noticed. The creed, the Lord's prayer, basically everything that wasn't chanted/sung was read at a super fast speed (oftentimes it was fast in Greek, and then the second time in English it was slower)

The speed of us chanters can range all over the place especially during Orthros. If the Liturgy is supposed to start at 10am and we might have to pick up the pace or slow down if we're running a bit fast.

Unlike other churches, we're not working from a single hymnal. We're using a collection of variable texts that are both in English and in Greek (or Slavonic or what have you). There is the overall service with fixed parts. Then there are the hymns for the season or time of year. Then specific readings for the date. Finally, there is a set of eight tones or melodies that rotate each week. This means that some hymns have eight tunes that change every week. Throw in a feast and now we have additional hymns and readings that we only use for that day or season. So we have a small bookcase for us to have everything at our disposal and we probably use three to four books each Orthros. Fortunately, websites are now putting everything together in a couple of PDFs but even there we still need four PDFs each service. Glad you enjoyed it. If you make it out to Hampton Roads sometime, give me a holler.
 
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E.C.

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one tried to set me up with her granddaughter because I went to St Anthony's in AZ for Spring Break. I was a good Orthodox boy...
Hahahaha!

When I was still Catholic, and a freshman in highschool, my dad took my brother and I to the cathedral in Seattle one weekend. One of the ladies at our home parish found out and tried to set me up with her granddaughter!

Anytime I've been to an Arabic speaking parish I swear it's inevitable that I'll meet every niece, daughter, granddaughter or goddaughter in the place!
 
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E.C.

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Conversation usually goes like this,
"So, you're American and Orthodox and can speak Arabic?"
"Yes"
"Oh ok. YELLA! DINA! COME HERE! I'd like you to meet my daughter"
 
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Chesterton

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Conversation usually goes like this,
"So, you're American and Orthodox and can speak Arabic?"
"Yes"
"Oh ok. YELLA! DINA! COME HERE! I'd like you to meet my daughter"
"Yella" = Arabic for "git-r-done".
 
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ArmyMatt

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Conversation usually goes like this,
"So, you're American and Orthodox and can speak Arabic?"
"Yes"
"Oh ok. YELLA! DINA! COME HERE! I'd like you to meet my daughter"

similar with me. I was making incense when this yia-yia came over and asked why I was here...

me: oh, I am here for Spring Break.
yia-yia: not Cancun or something?
me: nah, I'd rather be here for Break.
yia-yia: STASIA!!! COME HERE!!! you must meet this good Orthodox boy.
 
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