Moros
2nd January 2005, 09:11 PM
OCA Liturgy is different than what I've been exposed to (Serbian jurisdiction, Monastic, although with services in English (and full cycle every day, w/ Liturgy on Sat. and Sun.)) but it wasn't so different that it wasn't familiar. I guess without the 2 hour 4 AM Matins beforehand it felt kind of short though. Three things that immediately grabbed my attention were only the old Russian women wore headcovers and the genders weren't separated. Also the English was modern, so it sounded kind of funny. I'm not a proponent of KJV English by any stretch, but More Honorable Than the Cherubim sounded really off with 'you' instead of 'thee.' There was also less prostration but a ton of singing from the choir which I wasn't used to. But, other than about 5 initial minutes of awkwardness, it was a nice service. It was refreshing to see that it wasn't totally 'ethnic.' There were about 18 people there, which is less than half of the usual congregation. There were about 5 Russians, a Ukrainian, a southerner of all things (which is rare to find this far north, especially attending a Liturgy) and the rest were yanks.
a little background: the mission is located in the upstairs of the episcopal church, which is a) awkward enough to walk in to, b) is a square city block and about 4 stories tall, and c) heavily guarded ;)
one time i tried to go, i was waiting around in the parking lot for the anglican service to end and when i went to go in, the episcopal priest jumped in front of the double doors and locked them. true story. i was standing there with my hand on the doorhandle while this guy had his back to me with both arms outstretched blocking the doors, then he turned around real quick and locked them. it was kind of hilarious in retrospect. i guess i should have parked my lexus golf cart in a more plain view.i had a few sour experiences with them so i decided to say screw it and visited a monastery for 2 weeks instead to get aquainted with services while the mission looks for a building. today i felt like going so i figured id just bowl anyone over who got in my way. luckily there were no anglo-catholic bouncers at the door today, so all was well.
a little background: the mission is located in the upstairs of the episcopal church, which is a) awkward enough to walk in to, b) is a square city block and about 4 stories tall, and c) heavily guarded ;)
one time i tried to go, i was waiting around in the parking lot for the anglican service to end and when i went to go in, the episcopal priest jumped in front of the double doors and locked them. true story. i was standing there with my hand on the doorhandle while this guy had his back to me with both arms outstretched blocking the doors, then he turned around real quick and locked them. it was kind of hilarious in retrospect. i guess i should have parked my lexus golf cart in a more plain view.i had a few sour experiences with them so i decided to say screw it and visited a monastery for 2 weeks instead to get aquainted with services while the mission looks for a building. today i felt like going so i figured id just bowl anyone over who got in my way. luckily there were no anglo-catholic bouncers at the door today, so all was well.