Rebecca Carswell—Church Visit #1

Church Name: St. Peter & St. Paul Orthodox Church

Church Address: 6980 County Line Road, Burr Ridge, Illinois 60527

Date attended: February 14, 2016

Church Category: Orthodox

Describe the worship service you attended. How was it similar or different from your regular context?

We attended a Matins service, and the entire service was sung by a young girl (perhaps age eight) and two deacons. The priests sung at a few parts. The priests remained behind the royal doors in the sanctuary for the first part of the service. The priests swung the censor during the majority of the service. I have seen incense used before, but never in this quantity. As congregants trickled in, they would cross themselves (right to left) and kiss at least one, often multiple icons, sometimes kissing the ground as well. I believe that the Psalms were the only Scripture sung during this service. They sung the Lord’s prayer (which is similar to my regular context), repented for their sins (many times; I sometimes do this once) and blessed the Lord (multiple times). They sung glory to the cross, and “Lord, have mercy” (which is sometimes done in my regular context). They prayed to Theotokos and venerated other icons.

How did the worship service illuminate for you the history and contours of global Christianity?

We talked to the deacon before the service, and she was sure to tell us how they were the first historic church, and that the Catholics broke off from them. She explained that the Orthodox cross themselves from their right to their left because Jesus is on the right hand of God, and that the Catholics changed the direction they crossed later to differentiate themselves from the Orthodox. It was evident that the tension between these two groups still remain.

As I mentioned, an elementary-aged girl sung much of the liturgy; there were also two elementary-aged boys in vestments in the sanctuary. It was neat seeing such young children participate fully in the service, actually leading it for the entire congregation. I was reading on their website that they allow young children to partake in the Eucharist because unlike the Catholic church, they do not need communicants to fully understand the intricacies of Communion because none of us, neither children nor adults, can understand the holy mysteries fully since we are finite beings. The Orthodox appreciate mysteries, whereas western churches tend to try to clearly define doctrine and intellectualize the faith. Perhaps this is because the West was more affected by the Enlightenment. I think this same idea applies to allowing children to lead the service even though they do not understand it to the same extent of many adults.

How did the worship service illuminate for you your personal identity as a Christian?

When I read Hebrews 12:1, “Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us,” I have always interpreted this pretty similarly to the Message: “Do you see what this means—all these pioneers who blazed the way, all these veterans cheering us on? It means we’d better get on with it.” All of the congregants venerating the icons, who (from my understanding) believed that through the icons, the saints were really present with them, made me ponder my “extremely protestant” interpretation of the saints and the great cloud of witnesses. Although I would not go to the extent of veneration, the Orthodox view the saints of so much more than just some old people we need to measure up to, and I think that maybe as saints we are all a part of something a little bigger than just blazing the way for the Christians of 3016.