John Arenas - Church Visit 1

Blog Title: John Arenas - Church Visit 1

Church Name: Greek Orthodox Church of Our Saviour

Church Address: 2195 Westchester Avenue East, Rye, NY 10580

Date Attended: October 17

Church Category: Greek Orthodox

Describe the worship service you attended. How was it similar or different from your regular context?

After arriving late to the service, I was surprised to see I was one of only four people in the sanctuary. Two priests were praying the morning prayers, all in Greek. I took my seat in the back and tried to use a liturgical book in front of me to follow the service. Although, the church’s website said it started at nine o’clock, I was there ten minutes later and it seemed that the priest hadn’t even gotten into the official start of the service. As I sat in reflection and tried to read the English of what they were praying, people started to trickle in. I am used to people being late in my own church background, but it ended up that the vast majority of the congregation didn’t show up until right before the reading of the Gospel, which was an hour in. I also noticed that as they entered they kissed a Bible sitting on a pedestal. I grew up at and now currently attend a liturgical church so I appreciated the repetition and call and response of the liturgy, but it was hard to connect into my own sense of worship since I didn’t know what it meant. Fortunately by the end I had “Kyrie Eleison” down.

How did the worship service illuminate for you the history and contours of global Christianity?

            I was struck when I entered by the beauty of the sanctuary. All around the dome and walls were icons of angels, prophets, and saints. From my understanding of church history I expected this, but I was surprised by how much it helped me to worship. The saints and prophets surrounding me made me feel like I was in a literal cloud of witnesses. When I looked up I looked directly into the face of Christ, at the top of the dome. Essentially it helped me see the other side of the iconoclastic debate when I had mainly heard from Western sources. At one point in the service, I found myself getting frustrated the Gospel was being read in Greek, but then I realized how wrong-headed that was. Greek was the original language! The Greek orthodox get the closest reading of Scripture to the original meaning of the words. What a blessing!

How did the worship service illuminate for you your personal identity as a Christian?

          Overall the service made me more open to the use of icons in worship, and a little bit more wary of liturgy. The icons really made me feel more connected in worship, and as long as one understand that one does not worship the icon itself, but rather God through the icon then I think it can be very helpful. The icons were in the traditional Byzantine art style so I wondered what it might look like if they were modernized and how technology might play a role in that. As someone who likes liturgy, the service made me see some of the drawbacks. The congregants were not following along very much or enthusiastically, and the fact that most of the congregation showed up as late as possible seemed to be connected. When liturgy becomes just rote ritual it fails.