Case study. There really is so much liturgical variety in the world. I saw these two ceremonies recently and thought that they provided a very deep insight into how two very different cultures approach …More
Case study.
There really is so much liturgical variety in the world. I saw these two ceremonies recently and thought that they provided a very deep insight into how two very different cultures approach the same action the worship of God. Reading the following passage of Holy Scripture made me think a bit: Holy Father, keep them in thy name whom thou has given me; that they may be one, as we also are. John17:11.
There really is so much liturgical variety in the world. I saw these two ceremonies recently and thought that they provided a very deep insight into how two very different cultures approach the same action the worship of God. Reading the following passage of Holy Scripture made me think a bit: Holy Father, keep them in thy name whom thou has given me; that they may be one, as we also are. John17:11.
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This video compares two different styles of worship, the American and the Orthodox. The contrasts are not just a result of differing theologies and cultural practices but an essential difference to the way these peoples relate to God and the essential questions they ask as to what salvation means.
In America people have an external freedom that is prison for their souls. The cardinal sin in our …More
This video compares two different styles of worship, the American and the Orthodox. The contrasts are not just a result of differing theologies and cultural practices but an essential difference to the way these peoples relate to God and the essential questions they ask as to what salvation means.
In America people have an external freedom that is prison for their souls. The cardinal sin in our culture is to feel bad or to be unhappy. Therefore when one is sorrowful it is the sorrow itself that those around us find offensive and so we in America treat the symptom rather than the cause. Modern Christianity has lost the idea of suffering, the idea of the Cross, and offers people a high-tech and “happy” life without thinking substitute. And people buy it, they spend fortunes on distractions and rarely if ever dig deep within themselves. The foe of mankind wants to convince us that we can be happy and live as we want, and that the only thing we can wish is that others would be like us. But this happiness is nothing but “having fun” and the goal is to take away the true path to God. But you cannot be happy if you don’t know what suffering is. You cannot love you fellow human beings if you don’t carry your cross.
Orthodox worship is not so concerned with our feelings, but with the deeper eternal state of our souls. The liturgy is based on Heavenly worship and the life in the Church is designed to prepare us for death. As much as we try to avoid thinking about it, death is an unavoidable, certain, reality. The state of our souls, not our physical life, is of the greatest concern. The liturgy is not meant to excite the body or emotions but to plunge into the depths of the soul. It is above all things transformative; each liturgy has an effect in this lifelong process. It is not an opiate that distracts us from our troubles but something that that truly reaches and heals the root causes of our suffering; sin, death, and separation from God.
In America people have an external freedom that is prison for their souls. The cardinal sin in our culture is to feel bad or to be unhappy. Therefore when one is sorrowful it is the sorrow itself that those around us find offensive and so we in America treat the symptom rather than the cause. Modern Christianity has lost the idea of suffering, the idea of the Cross, and offers people a high-tech and “happy” life without thinking substitute. And people buy it, they spend fortunes on distractions and rarely if ever dig deep within themselves. The foe of mankind wants to convince us that we can be happy and live as we want, and that the only thing we can wish is that others would be like us. But this happiness is nothing but “having fun” and the goal is to take away the true path to God. But you cannot be happy if you don’t know what suffering is. You cannot love you fellow human beings if you don’t carry your cross.
Orthodox worship is not so concerned with our feelings, but with the deeper eternal state of our souls. The liturgy is based on Heavenly worship and the life in the Church is designed to prepare us for death. As much as we try to avoid thinking about it, death is an unavoidable, certain, reality. The state of our souls, not our physical life, is of the greatest concern. The liturgy is not meant to excite the body or emotions but to plunge into the depths of the soul. It is above all things transformative; each liturgy has an effect in this lifelong process. It is not an opiate that distracts us from our troubles but something that that truly reaches and heals the root causes of our suffering; sin, death, and separation from God.