Today was one of the most interesting, refreshing, informative days I can remember. I had the opportunity to go to a Greek festival at a Greek Orthodox Church. I don’t know the technicalities-maybe it’s called Eastern Orthodox? The heritage of the attendees was Greek and so they were having a huge church festival and sort of open house thing.
We had time for a few different tries at Greek food that didn’t come from a diner. We had Greek coffee which is very, very sweet and strong and also has cinnamon in it. There were a few artisans there who made different things. Mostly jewelry. Also there was a russian orthodox church booth with some fascinating stuff in it. And there was a booth that I think might have had things from a Roma(gypsy) tradition.
So, the shopping aspect had some neat stuff to look at and a ton of things I didn’t understand at all. But then I went into the church which was amazing. It was even more alien on one hand but felt very familiar on the other. And, I’m not sure I can evoke the right sense of the experience here. What I can talk about are the impressions. The church felt very physical.
You know how, when you walk into a place like an art museum, old library or cathedral you can feel the weight and history of the place? It’s like the place has a life of it’s own. This didn’t feel like that at all. Don’t get me wrong, I like that feeling of the place having it’s own sense of being. This was just a completely different sense of life.
It wasn’t close or dark or heavy at all. It was actually physical-the incense was buring so there was a light smokiness in the air and the heavy perfumy smell of the incense. The church had a skylight-dome, so it was bright in the room. The skylight-dome had cryptic panels around it depicting the events from the Annunciation to Pentecost, with a huge iconic portrait of Christ on the top. I wish I could remember the exact title of that beause the wording was beautiful, but I’ve forgotten. Down inside the room, the altar area was light blue and the rest of the church was offwhite. Music was playing; a chant, but there was a sense of movement that wasn’t really from that. It felt like movement and life happening; like a place where people could move and exist and interact in their worship. Umm…it’s felt communal. There were icons all over plus all the other necessities of the orthodox liturgical traditions which are based on communal prayer and recitation and hymns. Since it was an open house they had the Priest’s celebration vestments out and a decon’s robe and evrything else they’d need for any sacrament. It seemed pretty decorated but not overly; not so much that the feeling of movement was stifled. It felt like the people who were there left an echo of themselves there. It felt mystical; not elves-and-fairies mystical, but mystical as if a veil was pulled aside to reveal the past and the future living alongside us.
I had the unique opportunity to talk to the priest at length about the church and the icons and some of the liturgical elements. I understand I am the only person who’d be completely fascinated by that stuff. Really, I get how boring it sounds to everyone else but that’s how I feel when people start talking about taxes or politics. Well, to each his own, right? The Priest said it was pretty simple as far as Orthodox churches go. It was amazing to hear why things were ordered the way they were, who (on the icons) was where, that all orthodox churches in the world would have the same things in the same places. The relics were in a case to see, the carved tomb and the sand pits into which parish members placed their candles, the icons and incense buring all together bound the Church’s ancient past prayers and people with the prayers of the people lighting candles. Granted, the Orthodox Church is the church from which Roman Catholicism split away and maybe they have a connection that, by virtue of it’s name, remains closer to the early church than anything else we can experience today. (this blog is called Pleading the 5th for a reason….)
That was more philosophical than I intended to be about it. I have a couple of really great stories about some of the things the Priest and his wife told me, which I’ll tell soon. They stand on their own merit and deserve attention far more than this post does. Nonetheless, if you leave out the Agean sea and those gorgeous white buildings, the day was a wonderful (cheap) mini-vacation to Greece.
pleading the fifth 