Some Things
You Might Like to Know
Before Your First Visit
to an Orthodox Church
There are a number of things about our worship that are different from
the services of other churches, whether Roman Catholic, liturgical
Protestant, or Evangelical. In an effort to help alleviate
confusion, here are some things you might like to know about worship in
the Orthodox church.
1.
A SENSE OF HOLINESS — If you are from a Protestant
or non-liturgical tradition, you may feel overwhelmed the minute you
walk in the door of an Orthodox church. You will find yourself
surrounded by a blaze of colour in the priest's vestments and the icons
that adorn the walls. The pungent fragrance of incense will envelope
you. Rich, deeply moving but unfamiliar music will fill your ears. All
around you people will be doing things—lighting candles, kissing
icons, making the sign of the cross, bowing, standing in prayer—everything
but sitting still. To someone accustomed to four bare walls and a
pulpit, all this may seem very strange.
It's important to remember that none of this is an end in itself.
Everything we see, hear, smell, touch, taste, or do in the Orthodox
Church has one purpose and one purpose only: TO LEAD US CLOSER TO GOD.
Since God created us with physical bodies and senses, we believe He
desires us to use our bodies and senses to grow closer to Him.
2. STAND UP FOR CHRIST —
In most Orthodox churches, there won't even be any pews, just a few
chairs scattered at the edges of the room for the elderly and infirm.
Other churches, especially those that purchased already existing church
buildings, may have well-used pews. If you find the amount of standing
too challenging, you're welcome to take a seat. It get easier with
practice.
3. BY THIS SIGN — We
sign ourselves whenever the Trinity is invoked, whenever we venerate the
cross or an icon, and on many other occasions in the course of the
Liturgy. But people aren't expected to do everything the same way. Some
cross themselves three times in a row, and some finish by sweeping their
right hand to the floor. Often before venerating a icon, people will
cross themselves twice, bowing each time with their right hand to the
floor, then kiss the icon, then cross themselves and bow again. Don't
worry; that doesn't mean you have to follow suit.
We cross with our right hands, touching forehead, chest, right
shoulder, then left shoulder to end over the heart, the opposite of
Roman Catholics and Anglicans. We hold our hands in a prescribed way:
thumb and first two fingertips pressed together, the last two fingers
pressed down to the palm. Here as elsewhere, the Orthodox impulse is to
make everything we do reinforce the Faith.—The three fingers held
together represent the Trinity; the two fingers against the palm
represent the two natures of Christ.
4. NO KNEELING —
Generally, we don’t kneel on Sundays, We do sometimes prostrate. This
is not like prostration in the Roman Catholic tradition, lying out flat
on the floor. To make a prostration we kneel, place our hands on the
floor, and touch out foreheads between our hands. At first, prostration
feels embarrassing, but no one else is embarrassed, so after a while it
feels natural.
Sometimes we do this and get back up again, as during the prayer of
St. Ephraim the Syrian, which is used during Lent. Other times we
get down and stay, as during the Lord’s Prayer during weekday
liturgies.
Not everyone prostrates. Some kneel, some stand with head bowed, or
sit crouched over. No one will notice if you don’t prostrate. In
Orthodoxy there is an acceptance of individualized expressions of piety,
rather than a sense that people are watching you and getting offended if
you do it wrong.
One former Anglican priest said that seeing people prostrate
themselves was one of the things that made him most eager to become
Orthodox. He thought, “That’s how we should be before God.”
5. THE KISS — We kiss
things. When we first come into the church, we kiss the icons.
You’ll also notice that some kiss the chalice, The acolytes kiss the
bishop’s hand when they give him the censer or candlesticks, and we
all line up to kiss the cross at the end of the service.
We kiss each other (“Greet one another with a kiss of love,” 1
Peter 5:14) before we take communion. When Roman Catholics and Anglicans
pass the peace, they give a hug, handshake, or peck on the cheek. In
Orthodoxy different cultures are at play. The Slavs kiss once on each
cheek and then again on the first cheek; the Greeks and Arabs kiss only
twice. Parishes with lots of converts may give a hearty bear hug. Follow
the lead of those around you.
The usual greeting is “Christ is in our midst,” with the
response, “He is and always shall be.” The greeting is not the
previously familiar “The peace of the Lord be with you,” nor is it
“Hi, nice church you have here.”
6. BLESSED BREAD AND CONSECRATED BREAD
— Only Orthodox may take communion, but anyone may have some of the
blessed bread. Here’s how it works: the round communion loaf, baked by
a parishioner, is imprinted with a seal. In the preparation service
before the Liturgy, the priest cuts out a section of the seal and sets
it aside; it is called the “Lamb.” The rest of the bread is cut up
and placed in a large basket, and blessed by the priest.
During the eucharistic prayer, the Lamb is consecrated to be the Body
of Christ, and the chalice of wine is consecrated as His Blood. The
priest then places the Lamb in the chalice. When we receive communion,
we file up to the priest, standing and opening our mouths wide wile he
gives us a portion of the wine-soaked bread from a spoon. He also prays
over us, calling us by our first name or by the saint’s name which we
chose when we were baptized or chrismated (received into the Church).
At the end of the service, as we file past the priest, we come to a
basket of blessed bread. People will take portions for themselves and
for visitors and non-Orthodox friends around them. If someone hands you
a piece of blessed bread, do not panic; it is not the eucharistic Body.
It is a sign of fellowship.
7. NO GENERAL CONFESSION —
In our experience, we don’t have any general sins; they’re all quite
specific. There is no complete confession prayer in the Liturgy.
Orthodox are expected to be making regular, private confession to Christ
in the presence of their priests.
The roll of the pastor is much more that of a spiritual father than
it is in other denominations. He is not called by his first name alone,
but referred to as “Father First-Name.” His wife also holds a
special role as parish mother, and she gets a title too, though it
varies from one culture to another. Some of the titles used are: “Matushka”
(Slavic), which means “Mama”; or “Khouria” (Arabic) or “Presbytera”
(Greek), both of which mean “priest’s wife.”
Another difference you will probably notice is in the Nicene Creed. In
the Creed we affirm that the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father, but
we don’t add “and the Son,” as Western denominations do. In this
we adhere to the Creed as it was originally written.
8. THE MUSIC — About 75%
of the service is congregational singing. Traditionally Orthodox use no
musical instruments. Usually a music director leads the people’s
singing. The style of music varies as well, from western-sounding four
part harmony in a Slavic church to solo chant in an Arabic church, with
lots of variations in between.
This constant singing may be a bit overwhelming at first; it feels
like getting on the first step of an escalator and being carried along
in a rush until you step off ninety minutes later. It has been fairly
said that he Liturgy is one continuous song.
Before long you know it by heart. Then you fall into the presence of
God in a way you never can when flipping from prayer book to bulletin to
hymnal.
9. NO SHORTCUTS — The original Liturgy lasted
something over five hours. The Liturgy of St. Basil edited this down to
about two and a half hours, and later (around 400 AD) the Liturgy of St.
John Chrysostom further reduced it to about one and a half hours. Most
Sundays we use the St. John Chrysostom Liturgy, although for some
services (e.g. Sundays in Lent, Christmas Eve) we use the longer Liturgy
of St. Basil. Several time a year the Liturgy of St. James and the
Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts are also used.
When you arrive for Divine Liturgy on Sunday morning, worship will
already be in progress and you will feel chagrined at arriving late. You
are not late; the priest, reader and some parishioners are just winding
up the Third Hour, which began about a quarter of an hour before. Before
the Third Hour, the priest and deacon had other preparatory services;
they will be at the altar for a total of over three hours on Sunday
morning, “standing in the flame,” as one Orthodox priest put it.
Orthodoxy is not for people who find church boring.
10. ABOUT MARY — We love her and it shows. What can we
say? She’s His Mother. We often address her as “Theotokos,” which
means “God-Bearer.” In providing the physical means for God to
become man, she made possible our salvation.
Not that we think she or any other saints have magical powers or are
demigods. When we sing “Holy Theotokos, save us,” we don’t mean
“save” in an eternal sense, as we would pray to Christ; we mean
“protect, defend, take care of us here on earth.” Just as we ask for
each other’s prayers, we ask for the prayers of Mary and the other
saints as well. They’re not dead, after all, just departed to the
other side. Icons surround us, in part, to remind us that all the saints
are joining us invisibly in our worship.
11. THE THREE DOORS — Every Orthodox church will have
an iconostas before its altar. “Iconostas” means “icon-stand.”
In a mission parish it can be as simple as a large image of the Virgin
and Child on an easel on the left, with a matching image of Christ on
the right. In a more established church, the iconostas may be a literal
wall, adorned with many icons.
The basic set-up of two large icons creates, if you use your
imagination, three doors. The central opening, in front of the altar
itself, usually has two doors, called the “Royal Doors,” because
that is where the King of Glory comes out to the congregation in the
Eucharist. Only the bishop, priest and deacon, who bear the Eucharist,
use the Royal Doors.
The openings on the other sides of the two main icons, if there is a
complete iconostas, have doors, usually with icons of angels; they are
termed the “Deacon’s Doors,” Altar boys and others with business
behind the altar use these, although no one is to go through any of the
doors without an appropriate reason. Altar service, bishop, priests,
deacons, altar boys, is restricted to males. Females are invited to
participate in every other area of church life. Their contribution has
been honoured equally with that of males since the days of the martyrs;
you can’t look around an Orthodox church without seeing Mary and other
holy women. In most Orthodox churches, women do everything else men do:
lead congregational singing, paint icons, teach classes, read the
epistle, and serve on the parish council.
12. EVERYONE IS WELCOME — Flipping through the Yellow
Pages of our city, you’ll find a multiplicity of Orthodox churches:
Ukrainian, Greek, Romanian, Russian, Antiochian, Serbian, and others. Is
Orthodoxy really so tribal? Do these divisions represent theological
squabbles and schisms?
Not at all. All these Orthodox bodies are one church. The ethnic
designation refers to what is call the parish’s “jurisdiction” and
identifies which bishop holds authority there. There are about 6 million
Orthodox in North America and 250 million in the world, making Orthodoxy
the second-largest Christian communion.
The astonishing thing about this ethnic multiplicity is its
theological and moral unity. Orthodox throughout the world hold
unanimously to the fundamental Christian doctrines taught by the
Apostles and handed down by their successors, the bishops, throughout
the centuries. They also hold to the moral standards of the Apostles.
One could attribute this unity to historical accident. We would
attribute it to the Holy Spirit.
Why then the multiplicity of ethnic churches? These national
designations obviously represent geographic realities. Since North
America is also a geographic unity, one day we will likewise have a
unified national church, either a Canadian Orthodox Church, or an
American Orthodox Church. This was the original plan, but due to a
number of complicated historical factors, it didn’t happen that way.
Instead, each ethnic group of Orthodox immigrating to this country
developed its own church structure. This multiplication of Orthodox
jurisdictions is a temporary aberration, and much prayer and planning is
going into breaking through these unnecessary walls.
Currently the largest Canadian jurisdictions are the Greek Orthodox
Metropolis of Toronto, Canada, the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of Canada
and the Orthodox Church in America. Services will differ in the language
used, the type of music, and a few other particulars, but the Liturgy is
substantially the same in all.
Orthodoxy seems startlingly different at first, but as the weeks go
by it gets to be less so. It will begin to feel more and more like home,
and it will draw you into the Kingdom of God. We hope that your first
visit to an Orthodox church will be enjoyable, and that it won’t be
your last.
© Based on the Conciliar Press pamphlet 12 Things I Wish I Had
Known by Frederica Mathewes-Green. Used by permission of the author.