Experience at a Greek Orthodox Church - Essay Example

My Experience at a Greek Orthodox Church It may seem strange to people who have grown up in America, but my childhood has not been focused at all on the Christian traditions that seem to be so fundamental a part of the American culture. Growing up, I have known nothing of Christianity or any of the religious traditions that are observed in this country. When I decided to learn something about it, I quickly discovered that simply going to a church would not be sufficient to fill this void for me. There are many different types of Christianity practiced in the United States and each group has their own priorities and emphasis. For my present religious field trip assignment, I opted to visit the St. Sophia Greek Orthodox Church located in downtown Los Angeles. I chose this church because it was easy for me to access, the architecture for the building is incredible and I have some friends who attend there so I didn’t feel quite so strange about going. In spite of having friends that attend this church, I made my plans to visit on my own. I didn’t want to feel pressured into forming a favorable opinion in order to appease my friends. My visit to this church was also the first time I had ever attended a church meeting of any kind and I had no idea what to expect. My friends had done their best to explain what Sunday mass was like, but what they told me and what I found out through research was not enough to prepare me for what I experienced while attending one mass held at this church. My lack of education in the Christian traditions does not reflect poorly on my parents for not giving me this very American experience. I was born in China and grew up in all Asian countries. We had our own concepts of theology and followed our own traditions but we did not have much experience of Christianity and I never felt the need to explore the beliefs or traditions of this religion prior to now. The closest I think I ever came to understanding anything about the Christian tradition was my parent’s use of a familiar term. As I grew up, my parents would occasionally refer to something they called Orthodoxy, but the way that they used the term made me think that it was something that was most in line with the country’s ideals. To me, anything orthodox was a religion that worked the hardest to aid the country’s leaders. However, when I looked up the term prior to attending mass at Saint Sophia Greek Orthodox Church, I learned it actually has a slightly different meaning. According to several different dictionaries, the term is actually used to refer to a belief system that attempts to follow the original ancient traditions of the people. The concept seems to suggest that the religious idea should grow and spread among the people, but that it should not change in any way to accommodate changing lifestyles or events. It seems from my basic research that the goal of Orthodox Christians is to become sealed to the Holy Spirit at birth and then spend the rest of their lives doing whatever is necessary to draw closer and closer to God by observing the ancient traditions and practices of their ancestors. There are many ways that I, as an Asian newly introduced to the concept of Christianity, can relate to these ideas. In China, we have a great reverence for our ancestors and the customs of the past. It is true that we have had to change and grow with the passage of time and the changes that have been brought about in the world, but at our core, we still want to stay as true to what we believe is the right way as we can and we spend our lives hoping to be honored like our ancestors after we are gone. My decision to attend this church was partly based on what I knew of it from the outside. It is a beautiful mostly white structure built on a rectangular frame. Facing the street is a great inset arch highly decorated with carvings, a set of small circular windows and masking the main doors, which appear tiny by comparison. Just in from each corner is a tower. These are topped by domes in the front and more traditional sloped roofs in back. A main dome rises from the center of the building in the back and the roofs are covered in green. The emphasis is always on the vertical and the church seems to be attempting to reach up to God on its own. Inside, the church is just as beautiful. There are many wall paintings that depict the stories of Jesus for people walking in. There is also a very large painting of the church’s patron saint, Saint Sophia, placed near the front of the church. Although this was a beautiful painting, very well executed, it made me somewhat uncomfortable. I felt as if she were watching over me the entire time I was there and this feeling was a bit intimidating. Otherwise, it was decorated with gold fixtures and painted glass windows, obviously very well maintained and everything in place to emphasize the glory and majesty of God and his people. The church maintains a very busy schedule, but I opted to attend the 10 AM Divine Liturgy service because my friends had told me this was one of the more sacred services the church offers. When I arrived, I discovered that the church community was almost all white, I presumed mostly of Greek origin, and that they tended to attend church as part of a large family group. At first, it seemed the congregation was comprised of a great number of young couples with small children, but then I noticed there were several people who seemed to have come alone and many old couples. What surprised me was that even though this is considered a more important service, there were very few young couples who did not also have children with them and the people did not worry about arriving on time. When the service started, there were not very many people there, but people kept arriving throughout and by the time the service ended, the church was nearly full. The service itself was something I found I could support even being as non-religious as I am. At the beginning of the service, the priest explained that the Divine Liturgy is a call to examine your own predisposition. Rather than being a passive occasion for the congregation to come and be blessed by God, the priest explained that it was all about coming to the church to offer yourself to God and discover what it is he wants you to do. I really liked what he had to say. The idea of being actively engaged in the religious rituals rather than just passive observers of it, waiting blindly for God’s salvation to come, speaks to my own sense of responsibility and involvement. Though I am not religious, I felt this kind of instruction was very helpful because he was asking his listeners to become more positive about their lives and to take action in making them better and more in line with the expectations of their society rather than to sit back and wait for the blessings to flow in. To me, action is always better than inaction. The delivery of the Divine Liturgy was very interesting to me because it was conveyed through a mixture of spoken and chanted verses, special hymns, audience participation and sacred priestly rituals. This combination created a very harmonious atmosphere and emphasized the idea that we must take action in our lives to receive the blessings being promised. The priest has a really good voice and he determines when he wants to sing a verse and when he just wants to say it, but he did it in a way that really captured my attention. The hymns are sung by the choir at the back of the church and made me feel like divine spirits were singing above me while the audience also participated in the service by singing and by reading verses and prayers from the Bible. During my visit to this church, I was overwhelmed by the beauty of the structure and the thoughtfulness of the Divine Liturgy. It was inspiring to see how such an ancient ritual has been preserved for such a long time and remains as vibrant and inspiring today as it must have been in the ancient past. I was very touched when the priest asked each of us to introduce ourselves to the people around us because of the care and concern this showed to make sure someone like me didn’t feel left out or somehow just tolerated. The person in front of me actually turned around, smiled at me and shook my hand. This was surprising to me because I obviously didn’t belong there, as the only Asian in the room, and this person must have known on first glance that I was not Greek Orthodox but just a visitor to their church. It was also touching to me to see the great efforts that some of the older people put in to getting themselves to church. Some of them were in wheel chairs or had to use walkers, but they still got dressed up and made it to the meeting, standing, sitting and singing with everyone else. There were several times when I saw an old person struggling to keep up, but they did it and it made me feel they were even more involved with the service rather than they were falling behind. One older lady was cringing at the end because it was such a struggle for her to stand up for so long. She was gripping the back of the seat in front of her to help her stay standing, but she did it and didn’t sit down until everyone else had been told to be seated as well. The amount of devotion and real effort that these people gave to the observance of their tradition was amazing to me and I will be unlikely to forget it anytime soon. Read More