Orthodox Christianity: Church, Practices, and Worship

GCSE Religious Studies (Philosophy & Ethics)

Merculief

Zena Z. Merculief

“Since even the best description of life is only a reflection of the experience itself, the best advice to anyone wishing to get acquainted with Orthodoxy would be the same as that given by Philip to Nathaniel: ‘Come and see!’ (Jn 1:46)” (Paul 12).

In St. Paul, Alaska, the small Aleut village I grew up in, Russian Orthodoxy was a prevalent part of our adapted culture and a major part of my family’s life. I never paid much notice to how large a part of my life my religion had become. It had just always been there. Not until my sophomore year of high school had I realized how little I knew of my faith. I would go to other churches with my friends, testing the water so to speak, and it was after that I realized no matter what, I am truly Orthodox at heart and shall always remain so. I am an Eastern Orthodox and a Russian Orthodox person. My own misconceptions, mixed with that of my many-aged friends and acquaintances, urged the furtherance of my knowledge of Orthodox Christianity’s Church, practices, and worship.

It all began as one. One Church; church means belonging to the Lord, and thus the gathering of those who belong to the lord. The Church came first and afterwards, bit by bit, scrolled down by the Apostles, came the books of the New Testament, the Gospels. The Gospels are known as any of the first four books of the New Testament which are Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, and also in the New Testament are the Epistles, which are the letters of the Apostles and come after the Gospels.

The Orthodox Church calls itself “the Church,” the reason being Eastern Orthodoxy was the first religion. In a sense, it was formed by the first gatherings of people to worship Christ. The Greeks long ago simply referred to those who were Orthodox, who gathered as the Church, as Christians. The Christian faith is an encounter with Christ – the Biblical conceptions of faith thus form the starting-point of Orthodox Christianity.

Christ’s Gospel commandments are not law, but grace and mercy, providing structure for the Orthodox Christian. The sources of the doctrine as defined in the Orthodox Catechism are the Holy Bible and the Holy Tradition transmitted by the church. These go hand in hand for one would seem irrelevant without the other. In Orthodoxy it is emphasized that doctrine and life are two sides of the same thing (Paul 45) – Christ’s Gospel commandments providing doctrine and the Church providing for life of the spirit.

The Orthodox Church was born out of the Pentecost (the 7th Sunday after Easter observed ...

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The Orthodox Church was born out of the Pentecost (the 7th Sunday after Easter observed as a Church festival commemorating the descent of the Holy Spirit on the Apostles) and has remained the same all throughout history. It is a direct continuation of the Church of the Apostolic Age. Through the testimony of the Apostles, new congregations arose everywhere; thus was the beginning of the Church. The fifteenth chapter of Acts tells of a meeting of the Apostles to come upon a decision and that decision was made with the announcement: “It has seemed good to the holy spirit and unto us…” (Paul 87). Thus it is with the Holy Synods/councils, or the meetings of the Bishops and other clergy of the Church upon decisions regarding the Church.

The Orthodox Church is practiced relatively the exact same way as when it began. The Church today, if you were to attend one of its services, is actually a reflection of the Church two thousand years ago. “Think of it as an image of one whom as grown, in comparison with that of one as a child” (Paul 15). Church services include reading and singing. Reading is done with a recitative or singing voice, showing the reader is not just expressing his own feelings, but the common prayers of the Church. Many of the prayers used in Church are Biblical texts or from the early Church. The pattern of the services dates back to early Church and varies according to the time of day and the Church year.

The Orthodox practice, Orthodoxy, is liturgical, meaning that all church services are held in similar formula or ritual. For example, here in Alaska, every Orthodox Church service is held at the same time following a similar order. This does not mean, however, that every service is the same. There are different sermons and variables differing in each community – for instance, language and culture. “They may differ from each other in form, but not in spirit” (Paul 16). Also practiced in Church service is Divine Liturgy.

“Liturgy is a rite or body of rites prescribed for public worship; an established formula for public worship, or the entire ritual for public worship in a church which uses prescribed forms; a formulary for public prayer or devotion” (Houghton Mifflin). Liturgy is the service in which the Holy Eucharist is performed – those who are baptized Orthodox and have had a recent confession are able to partake of the Body and Blood of Christ as in the Last Supper. Each person individually is given the opportunity of salvation through the church by confession and communion (the offering of the Holy Eucharist).

Partaking in the Holy Eucharist, or communion, happens normally in the Sunday morning Church service. This service begins on Saturday night and takes place from 6:30pm to 7 or 7:30pm and is called a Vespers service. The Church service is then continued on Sunday morning. This part of the service is called Divine Liturgy. This individual opportunity is a reflection of the gift of free will given to man through the Eucharist.

The Eucharist is, “a representation of the Last Supper, in which wine and bread are consecrated as the body and blood of Christ” (Houghton Mifflin). The verbal content of the Eucharist is the offering of thanksgiving to God the Father. The main cause for thanksgiving is the redemptive sacrifice once offered by Christ for the sake of humankind. In order for one to partake of the Eucharist in the Eastern Orthodox Church, they must first be baptized into Christ and into the Church.

When one is baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of their sins, they receive the gift the Holy Spirit, and this is when salvation begins. The belief of eternal life through the practice of Holy Communion with Christ, partaking of the Holy Eucharist, and that there is a constant communion of prayer between the visible, earthly part of the Church, and the invisible, heavenly part, counting again, for the belief that in Orthodoxy doctrine and life are two sides of the same thing and the Church accounts for life – eternal life and salvation through Christ. Within the baptism the person is given a saints name.

Parishioners (members of the Church) will usually have their newborns baptized forty days after birth, or after their belly button heals. In the process of baptism one is given a saints namesake or “Christian name” and a godmother and godfather (in Aleut, Kroosna). Consequently, that saint whose namesake the child or person was given, is then seen as an intercessor for their soul unto God. Additionally, each day of the year is dedicated to the memory of some saints whose names are known. It is customary for the Godparents of the child or person to buy their baptismal cross and garments, and usually their first Bible, also attending Church services with the child while the child is still very young, usually until the age of eight. Either of the Godparents will be responsible for taking their Godchild to communion. Now, not through baptism and communion, the Holy Eucharist and sacrifice of Christ are the people of the Orthodox faith granted salvation, but also through the Holy Trinity.

“Yet it is in part of the Holy Trinity that the people in the Orthodox faith are granted salvation, through the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit” (Paul 23). For instance, they are like one line and three points on a triangle. “It is distinct to Orthodox services that most all of the prayers end in praise to the Holy Trinity: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit” (Paul 23). Reference to the Holy Trinity is seen all throughout Orthodox worship, most often in the sign of the cross.

There are a number of wide-ranging features in Orthodox worship. Standing in church is a symbolic way of showing reverence for Christ. The sign of the cross that you may notice someone of the Orthodox faith making is one of the oldest Christian symbols. The sign of the cross is made at special times in the service and in accordance with a person’s own feeling in prayer. The sign of the cross is a wordless confession of faith: three fingers equal the Trinity and the two against the palm of the hand show that we believe the Savior was both God and man.

Kneeling and prostration are also features of Orthodox worship, performed as an expression of the thoughts and feelings in the worshipper’s heart. It is also believed that kneeling and prostration aid a person who may be weaker in prayer in entering more fully into the common prayer of the Church. Furthermore, the people of the church bow to receive the blessing given by the priest with his hand or with the cross, and the smoke of the incense used in the priests censor symbolizes the common prayer of the Church rising before the face of God. The candles you will see inside the Church are those that worshippers place in front of the icons express fervent prayer, either for dear loved ones or personal battles they may be struggling with.

It is believed that the Church and its characteristic features and traditions of apostolic priesthood inherited from the first Apostles and first Church, the Eucharist, and other sacraments (baptism, confession, prayer, marriage, etc.) and the common experience of the Church (life), aside from its susceptibility to errors, weaknesses, and failings through its human side, will hold strong in more people learning more and furthering their knowledge of Orthodox Christianity’s Church, practices, and worship.