Orthodox Liturgy in English
August 29th, 2011
Sunday morning we took a cab to an Orthodox church where the priest conducts much of the liturgy in English. Father Joseph, who hails from Texas, is a convert to Orthodoxy, spent six months on Mt. Athos, and has a Cypriot wife and four young children. His tiny congregation meets in a small chapel in the basement of a large, Orthodox Church.
Fr. Joseph took us to see this monastery during Sunday afternoon.
Given our Protestant backgrounds, we had to work hard at following the liturgy and trying to understand the symbolism of the priest’s movements, the burning of incense, etc. Most of the service involved chanting through a book, the Divine Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom (he lived AD 349–407). The book has Greek on the left page and an English translation on the facing page. Participants chanted most of the liturgy, including the readings from an Epistle and a Gospel. Those who get restless with long sermons will be interested to know that the homily was not more than five minutes. To see an online version of the liturgy, go to websites such as the following. http://www.ocf.org/OrthodoxPage/liturgy/liturgy.html
We were especially interested in the number of times that the liturgy praised the “glorious Lady Theotokos and ever-virgin Mary” and requested her prayers for Christians. We also noticed at one point that there was a brief prayer to Barnabas, as well as a short hymn to this saint.
Overall, it was a very good day of meeting welcoming Christians who were eager to be helpful with my research project on Barnabas.
Posted in Uncategorized | 3 Comments »
September 1st, 2011 at 6:08 pm
Photo looks amazing! I feel like I could reach out and pick a leaf right off the tree. Thanks for sharing this rich visual and spiritual experience with us!
September 6th, 2011 at 7:28 pm
I am enjoying the blogs from you and Lynne. I can imagine the two of you in the orthodox church. I realize how protestant I am every time I go to mass with a catholic friend, and I do that occasionally.
I love most thinking about your all wandering together through unfamiliar streets and fields, finding memory treasures to hold on to for life! Some of my fondest memories are of Wallace and me doing the same thing–cycling through some strange place, or eating new dishes in a place that was so totally un-American! I had to help Wallace remember those times in the last years of his life, but when he could still remember, we often traveled back togetherin memory to wonderful, exotic moments.
I am so thankful you are having this experience.
September 21st, 2011 at 2:37 am
Hi Mike,
What an interesting commentary on what you’re seeing and learning as you research Barnabas! Having visited many churches in Greece, much of what you’re writing about is familiar. The lavish use of gold in the icons and other art has always astounded me . . . and how interesting how few depictions you’ve seen of Barnabas (so far).
I do have a funny Catholic Church story for you (and Lynne). For more than a year, I’ve been playing percussion for the Sunday evening contemporary service at Our Lady of the Lake Catholic Church in Lake Oswego . . .
One Sunday afternoon, while practicing with the cantor and the pianist for the evening service, we noticed a small swarm of bees buzzing around a nearby light in the ceiling. As we continued to practice, the swarm got bigger and bigger, and occasionally a random bee would break away to dive bomb us. We eventually retreated to the other side of the platform and called the young priest who was to perform mass that evening. He came over immediately from the nearby parish and stood observing, with hands on hips, until he too was dive bombed by a bee or two.
Then he disappeared for a moment, and returned with an lighted incense container on a gold chain, which is used in the mass, and began to swing it back and forth so the smoke would rise up to where the bees, now in the hundreds, were loudly buzzing about. Watching the priest swinging the smoking incense under the swarm, as if it were part of the Ritual of the Bees, I had to laugh. If anything, it struck me as a very funny Saturday Night Live skit: “Holy Smoke!”
So, of course, that brought on the wisecracks: Hey, it’s a Mass of Bees! Or would that be a Mass IN B? And when a few of the bees, overcome by the smoke, fell to the floor, the young priest immediately stomped on them, rather unceremoniously, I might add. (Odd for a priest, don’t you think?) Of course, that meant it was now a Mass in Bee-Flat . . .
Needless to say, there was no Mass in the sanctuary that evening. The fire department was called, then an exterminator, and by the next day the bees had moved on. (They apparently were a traveling swarm, trying to find water.)
In my opinion, it was a wonderful event in which to participate . . . one of those humorous stories you just couldn’t make up.
Keep your own stories and observations coming! . . .
Ginny