During this next week my wife and I, together with my eldest son and his family, are vacationing in Montreal, Quebec. This morning we attended St. George Antiochian Orthodox Church. St. George was the second parish founded by St. Raphael of Brooklyn.
As we sat at coffee after liturgy, my wife said something that moved me a great deal. "This morning our family is in three countries on two continents. But all of us prayed one and the same liturgy."
One of the joys of being Orthodox is the knowledge that, on any given liturgical Sunday, believers around the world unite in the same hymns, the same commemorations. So this morning, as we were in three countries (Canada, the US, and Ukraine), we all prayed together. Glory to God for all things!
"One hears that, in foreign lands, people are now learning to swim, lying on the floor, with the aid of equipment. In the same way, one can become a Catholic or Protestant without experiencing life at all--by reading books in one's study. But to become Orthodox, it is necessary to immerse oneself all at once in the very element of Orthodoxy, to begin living in an Orthodox way. There is no other way."--Fr. Pavel Florensky
5 comments:
This morning, Fr. Michael, from the OCA parish nearby, served the liturgy since we are currently "between priests." Our parish is Greek ... and the liturgy was served quite well in English this morning(with less Greek than usual). A couple of weeks ago, a similar thing happened at St. George in St. Paul, MN: the parish priest was on vocation, and the neighboring OCA priest served. Same Liturgy. Same Faith!
Your comments, Fr. Gregory, only add to the joy!
Ezekiel
Such is the great Catholicity of the Church! Our priest 7 years ago, before he was a priest, travelled to Russia and met a deacon there and they shared a great friendship. A few weeks ago he ran into this same deacon at Holy Cross Hermitage in WV. This morning, the deacon served at our local parish. It was such a beautiful liturgy with equal parts Slavonic and English (typically our parish is all English). It was such a joy to share in a gospel that is for every people, tribe and tongue!
Amen, and amen. Glory to God for all things. Today, I stayed after the English Liturgy (we have up to 3 on a Sunday, what can I say, we're big and have 3 priests), and enjoyed the fellowship hour of the people from the Slavonic Liturgy. Sure, they did it at a different chronological time, but we shared the same hymns, commemorations, and Eucharist. I love being Orthodox, if only for this reason (but in reality, for many others as well).
what is really cool is that you all were actually at the same worship service... even though separated by miles...
I've long been fascinated with the continuity of Orthodox services, literally across time and space. The languages may be different, but the format is the same. You could be displaced half a world and a thousand years away, and still largely be able to follow along. A far cry from flavor-of-the-week songs sung in contemporary protestant churches.
Post a Comment