Categories: uncategorized
Date: 25 May 2005 03:45:22
I visited an Orthodox church on Sunday. It was an English speaking parish that meets in a Uniting church building. As we stepped through the door, we crossed ourselves, walked in and lit a candle. The priest stands at the front facing the alter. An icon of the good shepherd, and an icon of Mary with the baby Jesus were on one side, and an icon of Jesus at his second coming, and one of John the Baptist on the other. The choir stands at the back of the church. The entire service, including bible readings was chanted by the priest or the deacon assisting him, with responses chanted by the people. Even grace after the service was chanted.
The service is written word for word in a service booklet. Every time the names of God or Mary were mentioned, a little cross in the book indicated that we were to cross ourselves. There was also an insert in the book which had changes made to the service for that day, and sometimes the priest says one thing while the people sing something else. So as simple as it seems to cross yourself when you see a cross, I couldn't seem to find where we were up to in the book. My one goal became to cross myself just once at the right time.
The person next to me told me, whenever they shake something at you, bow. Insense was waved at us, the bible held over us, and a handheld cross held above us. I did manage to bow, but mostly because my head was in the service book, looking for where we were up to.
For communion, the priest prays that the bread and wine will become the body and blood of Christ. People walk to the front, bend at the knees, tip their head back, and the wine is, I think, dropped into their mouth from a spoon. People then take a big chunk of bread. Not being baptised into the Orthodox church I was not able to participate in communion, but two people bought us some bread, which symbolises a blessing from them.
At the end of the service, we walked forward and kissed the handheld cross, and received a blessing from the priest. I'm quite pleased I did, even though I wasn't sure what I was doing and wondered if your lips were actually supposed to touch the cross.
Everyone was very friendly. People kept asking me what I thought of the service, and if I found it long. I never found myself waiting for the end of the service, but I really haven't worked out what I thought about the whole thing yet. That can be for the next blog entry.
It did really get to me. I came home and slept, and dreamt about the orthodox church. Each time I woke up in the night I was thinking about the service. I was quite unsettled and reflective in a depressed kind of way, which I think is a reflection of the thought that in some way the rest of the Christian church has, in changing so much from their beginnings in the Orthodox church, got it wrong. This would mean, that a lot of what I believe is wrong. I don't believe this yet, but the doubt is there.
I'm very glad I went. Try Orthodoxy for a month of Sundays is the suggestion from the Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of North America. Maybe I will.