Video update on the blog

Here is another video update on the blog.

Icons, incense, chanting, and candles

I just got back from the Greek Orthodox service at Transfiguration Greek Orthodox Church. Again, I mentioned I used to attend this church long ago. So, did the Greek Church stir up the same sort of nostalgia and inspiration that the Catholic Church did in me?

Atmosphere:

The Orthodox do atmosphere as well as the Catholics. I have to say that I'm partial to the look of many Catholic churches vs. many Orthodox churches, but Orthodox churches are beautiful and it's only a personal preference of mine.

The outside of Holy Transfiguration Church is nothing to really write home about. On the outside you'd never guess the splendors that await you inside. The outside I've always referred to as the Greeks present the 1970's.

However, once you get inside, you're transported to another time and another world. The whole church is filled with the perfume of sweet incense. There is chanting (granted from a tone deaf choir, but chanting nonetheless) and bells jingling, you light a bee's wax candle and place it into sand, kiss icons, and feel as though you have stepped out of the Utah and out of the United States.

Behind this wall of icons (sacred paintings that are not intended to be realistic but depict spiritual realities to their faithful) is the high altar. I wish I could have gotten a picture of that, because it's beautiful, but I didn't want to photograph the service and the doors in the center are closed off when services are not in progress.

This icon hangs from the center of the ceiling. It is known as Christ the Pantokrator (Christ the Ruler of All). It represents Christ looking down upon the Earth from his throne in Heaven with the Book of Life in his hand blessing the whole Earth.

These are known as the Royal Doors. The icon in the center slides to the side like a sliding door. It depicts Christ as the High Priest. Below it are two doors that have the four Gospel writers (Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John). Directly behind these doors is the high altar of the church, considered to be the most holy place in the church.

A couple more icons. The top one is the event for which the church is named for, the Transfiguration of Jesus. Couldn't get a great picture of it because everything is in the way. The one below is an icon depicting the Resurrection of Jesus. It depicts Jesus trampling down the doors of Hell and Death and raising Adam and Eve from their tombs.

One final note on atmosphere, I used to work for a stained glass studio. Long before I worked there, they did the stained glass windows for this church and I still think they're very beautiful.

If you follow the stained glass windows around the church, they actually depict the entire life of Christ.

The atmosphere is fantastic in an Orthodox church and I highly recommend checking one out for that reason alone.

The People:

The community at the Greek Orthodox Church in Ogden is amazing. That was always one of my favorite things about attending this church. Coffee hour afterwards was sometimes better than the service. Today was pretty plain compared to other coffee hours I've been to, just some doughnuts and Greek cookies, a Greek dessert I've always loved but can't remember the name of (pine nuts are actually good in dessert believe it or not), and some coffee.

Several people introduced themselves to me. I mentioned how I knew the old priest who used to serve there and his family and that was a good icebreaker. The current priest was very fun. He came over to the table and greeted us. Talked about how the coffee hour would be better with scotch and overall was just a hoot.

The Greek community of Ogden is a wonderful community. I miss them very much.

Side note, every September they hold a food festival with traditional Greek dancing. Check it out sometime if you're ever in Ogden at that time.

The Service:

I had forgotten this being away from the Church for such a long time. The Greek Orthodox liturgy is equal parts awe inspiring and boring. It is a beautiful service. In Ogden it's half in Greek and half in English and the whole thing is chanted. The service is essentially a dialogue between the priest and the congregation with the choir doing the responses for the congregation. It is breathtakingly beautiful and filled with rich imagery and chanting. Every single gesture is symbolic of something greater.

Yet, the service is insanely monotonous and repetitive. There are many points in the service where virtually the same prayer is repeated. The responses to the prayers are quite repetitive and the prayers go on in very long litanies. I realize this service built up over thousands of years, but there are times where all I do is focus on the pretty icons around me rather than what's going on because I have heard the same prayers just moments ago.

Overall, the service is very beautiful, but the repetitive nature of it drags it down a bit.

One thing I really do love is at the end everybody lines up and receives a piece of bread from the priest as a sign of fellowship. The bread is really good. It's leftovers that aren't consecrated during communion and baked fresh the night before by a member of the congregation.

The Message:

The Orthodox are not known for their long sermons. The sermon lasted literally like three minutes. The priest basically told the congregation that they should be reminded that human beings are small in relation to the grand scheme of things. In God's eyes we're tiny and we are insignificant in so many ways. But we are not all bad and we should approach God knowing we are sinners but there is good in us.

Not a bad message, keep in perspective that you're a good person, but you're not the center of the world and you have flaws.

Overall Experience:

I enjoyed the community and the sense of tradition that came along with it. But it wasn't as spectacular as I once remembered it to be. It is a beautiful church and a beautiful tradition, but it was never my home and in the end was never meant to be with me. I do still quite love the Orthodox Church and the Greek community of Ogden will always hold a very special place in my heart, but I don't know how long it will be before I go back.

Additional Comments:

This entire adventure is really giving me so much to think about. I am learning a lot about myself, my community, and my country from this as well as seeing a lot of diverse things I don't think I would otherwise see. I want to thank you all for your feedback so far. I want to hear more of your thoughts either in comments below, messages or comments on Facebook, or some other communication with me, because I want to know what you're learning, what questions you have, where you think I should go from here, etc.

Can't wait to hear from you.

Join me next week when I go and visit the Unitarian Universalist Church of Ogden.

Until then, peace be with you.

Going to see the oldest Christian church, the Eastern Orthodox Church

I hear two questions coming out of your mouth:

1. Isn't the Catholic Church the oldest Christian church out there?
2. Didn't you say you were going to go to the Greek Orthodox Church, not the Eastern Orthodox Church?

The answer to both of those is, yes.

1. The Catholic Church is the oldest continuously practiced Christian church. But so is the Eastern Orthodox Church, as is a collection of churches known as the Oriental Orthodox Churches. You see, these three bodies were originally one Church when the Roman Empire converted to Christianity and elevated the previously underground Christian Church to the level of a state religion. In 451 the Oriental Orthodox split from the main body of Christians. I could go into that topic, but there are no Oriental Orthodox Churches in Utah, so sadly, I'm not going to address them here.

However, the Christian Church continued as a unified body throughout the East and West of the Roman Empire. The two parts of the Empire developed different traditions, the West was Latin in language and culture, the East was Greek in language and culture.

The power in this church was vested in bishops. Five bishops were given a special title of "patriarch." These five patriarchs were, in order of importance, Rome, Constantinople, Alexandria, Antioch, and Jerusalem. All were merely bishops with added titles due to their historic importance and a larger sphere of influence politically over matters of church and state.

In the West, the Bishop of Rome, commonly known as the Pope, was also the Patriarch of Rome. Over time he consolidated power in the West and became the most important political and religious figure claiming he was the successor to Peter the Apostle, therefore the most important bishop of all of them. The patriarchs in the East disagreed with this completely.

In 1054, the cultural and political differences between the two parts of the Church became too much for either side to handle and they excommunicated each other. Since that time, they have been two separate and distinct churches with differences in doctrine, practice, and governance. Neither is older than the other, nor did they start new churches, simply split an already existing church into two factions.

2. The Greek Orthodox Church is part of the Eastern Orthodox Church. The Eastern Orthodox Church is a union of national churches divided over cultural and national differences, but united in doctrine and discipline. These churches include, the Russian Orthodox Church, the Greek Orthodox Church, the Romanian Orthodox Church, the Orthodox Church in America, the Latvian Orthodox Church, etc. Members of these churches use different languages and have different cultural traditions in their services, but they are all considered members of the same Church. A person who is Russian Orthodox can attend and fully participate at a Greek Orthodox church and vice versa with no issue.

So, here are some unique things about the Eastern Orthodox Church:

Differences between them and Catholics:

• No single head of the Church, all bishops are seen as equal spiritually though some have more honorific titles and power.
• They do not believe in Purgatory.
• They do not believe in Original Sin (the belief that all mankind bears the original guilt of Adam) instead they believe that Adam's fall caused mankind to be inclined to a sinful nature, but that we aren't guilty of sin from the moment of our birth.
• They believe that the Holy Spirit proceeds only from the Father, not from the Father and the Son. This probably means nothing to anyone reading this blog. Nonetheless, this was one of the big reasons the two churches split. Silly isn't it?
• Their priests may be married and have families as may their deacons. Their bishops; however, are celibate.
• They ordinarily baptize by immersion (this includes babies), though if the need arises, they will baptize by pouring water on the head like Catholics ordinarily do.
• They use leavened bread and red wine in their liturgy. Catholics use unleavened bread and the wine used can be red or white as long as it is grape wine.
• They don't use three dimensional art, instead they use two dimensional icons in their worship and this is a rich tradition with them.
• Their Church and doctrine is far more mystical where the Catholic Church and doctrine are legalistic.
• There are many other minor differences. Most of them are cultural. Their liturgy is very similar to and also quite different from a Catholic Mass.

Differences between them and mainstream Protestants/Evangelical Christians:

• Like the Catholics, they believe in a priesthood that has been passed down to them from the Twelve Apostles. They believe this priesthood is necessary to carry out the functions of the Church.
• Salvation for them is not through faith alone. Salvation for them is a divine mystery alive in sacraments, the Grace of God, and good works. They do not attempt to explain how man is saved but rather focus on communing with God.
• They have a very complex liturgy with lots of historical tradition built up over many centuries and eschew innovation, whereas many Protestant services are simple often with modern music.
• Like Catholics, they have monks and nuns.
• They do not see the use of icons in their services and worship as idolatry as they are not worshiping the image, but honoring the one the image represents.
• Additionally, they believe in the intercession of saints, which is asking saints to pray to God for you as they believe the Church does not end at death and that the dead can still benefit from our prayers and pray for us.
• Like Catholics, they believe that the bread and wine at communion become the literal body and blood of Christ, though they offer no explanation for this, instead they say that it is a divine mystery mankind cannot explain.
• Only members of their church may participate in Communion.
• Like Catholics and Protestants, they have sacraments called the Great Mysteries. Unlike Catholics and Protestants, they do not number them to 7 or 2 but instead say the whole life of the Church is the Mysteries. Therefore they practice, among other things, baptism, confirmation, communion, confession of sin to a priest, anointing the sick, ordaining clergy, and marriage.
• For them, Christ's main purpose was not to atone for mankind's sins. Christ's death on the cross did free man from sin and death they teach, but they also teach that Christ became man not to repay a vengeful God hellbent on punishing mankind, but so that mankind might become God. Not in the sense that mankind will become God himself or gods, but that they will be united within God forever.

I'm kind of excited to go back to this one. I used to attend this church many years ago. This Church was my first stop on the way out of Mormonism. I was never officially a member, and ended up Catholic instead before I lost faith in religion entirely.

I learned a lot about this religion and a lot about Greek culture from attending the church. I was and am still friends with the daughters of a Greek Orthodox priest and lived in their house temporarily while I was having issues with my family. I still consider their family to be a second family to mine, though they have since moved out of state and I don't talk to them as much as I would like.

This one is going to be nostalgic for me, but not in the way the Catholic Church was, and I don't think it will play with my head the same way. I'm very much looking forward to it. Tune in to see if it was as good of an adventure as I hoped.

Until then, peace be with you.