Spotlight on Eastern Orthodoxy II: Christmas Service

Holy Resurrection Orthodox Church

There is something serenely peaceful about listening to religious chanting and there is much of that in the Holy Resurrection Orthodox Church in Allston, MA.

Because they go by the Julian calendar rather than the Gregorian calendar, their Christmas service is held on January 7.

The HROC is a relatively small building with the iconic orthodox cross on its roof.

As you walk in the entrance is unassuming with a small sign pointing the way to the sanctuary which is up the stairs to the left or right.

I was somewhat unsure at first whether I found the correct door to the sanctuary, but there was enough evidence that I somewhat timidly opened the door and found myself surprised.

Icon of Madonna and Child

Ahead of me were two pictures of saints on golden colored stands, one to my left and another to my right. There were two more ahead of those.

As people approached the icons they kissed them, bowed, and made the sign of the cross. Some of the bows were so low that they resembled a Muslim salah.

Ahead of the icons was an inner sanctum, which only the clergy was allowed to enter. The inner sanctum had two smaller entrances on the side and a larger one in the center.

Back: Inner Sanctuary

There was minimal seating and I found out later that the majority of people stood through the entire service. Near the walls there were more (but less ornate icons).

The entire service, with the exception of the short sermon, was chanted. There was a call and response from the clergy and the parishioners. Most of the clergy were wearing ornate white robes, with an icon: crosses, images of Jesus, and the like.

While the priests did most of the chanting, "Lord have mercy" was repeated several times as a response by the congregation.

As noted in my last post this was a common refrain (almost literally) in The Way of the Pilgrim. Lord have mercy was praised for its versatility; it could mean forgive my debts and give me alms (as well as other potential meanings).

With the exception of the sermon and the three or four carols they sung at the very end of the service, there was little to indicate that this service was a Christmas service. 

However, I was invited to dine with them, which I did. This is when it was obvious they were celebrating Christmas

It was a feast. Chicken, mashed potatoes, pork, good wine, cheese, deserts, and more. People where exchanging gifts at this moment as well. And the two new deacons (who were ordained during the Christmas service) received gifts from the church.

This was the second time I had a meal with members of this church. And both times I felt as though everyone I spoke to was thoughtful and genuinely lived a moral and devout life.

I was able to briefly talk to a few people in the process. One was the priest who let me borrow The Way of the Pilgrim and I told him that one thing that struck me was the repetition. And I mentioned that I saw that on their website they quoted St. John Chrysostom as encouraging people to read the Bible everyday.

He told me the following. He said, you have a job right? And in your job your expected to read your bosses instructions and carry them out. You would be fired if you did not do this. Heavily implying a good Christian is obliged to pray and read the Bible everyday.

Another person I spoke to was a convert to Orthodoxy. He and his mother saw an Eastern Orthodox priest talk about C.S. Lewis. His mother converted before he did and they felt this was the right path. Previously I saw this person bow the lowest out of the entire congregation during a part of the liturgy.

As I was leaving there were several performances of Christmas carols and classical music ensembles. I left during the first performance. I left through the back door so that I did not have to fight my way through the crowd to the front of the room.

As I was leaving I saw one of the parishioners speaking to a man outside who appeared to be homeless. The parishioner was offering food from their table on behalf of the church.

Bottom line:

There isn't much to critique here. The chanting is a reminder of collective effervescence formulated by Durkheim, but I have mentioned this elsewhere when writing about other traditions. Experientially, this was closest to Buddhist chanting at the Kurukulla Center.

More than most churches it seemed to me that all the people I had a chance to speak to had a sense of a shared mission and more than that a thoughtful disposition to their faith.

Though not entirely through reason, if reason is meant as a naturalistic worldview. The priest at least, seemed to advocate for knowledge based on revelation or at least intuition that is not empirically verifiable in addition to empirical knowledge.

Sure this type of epistemology (worldview or way of knowing) has opponents, but how we know anything is a very difficult question for philosophers. This includes theologians and philosophers of religion, as well as naturalistic philosophers.