The Start of Our Explorations: Orthodox Christianity

The air is charged with the scent of incense and the deep murmuring song of the priests. The embroidery flickers on their candle-gold robes as they perform their sacred rituals. The solemn icons observe the liturgy from all corners of the room, the wisdom in their faces intense and palpable.

The atmosphere is ancient, reverent, but never dismally so. The congregation stands, enraptured before the altar of their god, stirring the incense with their fingertips as they mark the sign of the cross over their chests and sink into an easy, lilting bow. Everyone who walks into the room is transfigured by the sacrosanct tranquility of the Orthodox liturgy.

This is what religion should be.

We began our exploration of churches with a visit to St. John of Kronstadt Orthodox Church. We weren’t disappointed. The service was beautiful. As I mentioned in my previous post: it didn’t matter that I didn’t agree with the theology of the church—the chants and rituals were more moving than the evangelical “praise and worship songs” had ever been to me, even as a Christian.

And as I soon discovered, my sister and I fit in perfectly with the members of the congregation—they were our “kindred spirits.” They didn’t meet us with judgment, they met us with love. Here we were valued for who we were, rather than for what we believed.

(I don’t mean to say that the evangelical church is full of judgmental people—that’s not completely true. But it is not entirely free of them either. More to come in a later blog post about this topic!)

So, what sets Orthodoxy apart from other denominations? Let me phrase it this way:

How many Orthodox priests does it take to change a light bulb?

Ha. Change? You must be kidding.

Not only the the liturgy of the early church is preserved by the Orthodox church, but the theology remains the same as well. And I like it that way.

There are many other differences between Evangelicalism and Orthodoxy (and Orthodoxy and Catholicism for that matter) But perhaps the most notable is simply how they treat religion. They are not obsessive-compulsive about dogma and doctrine—instead they value the mystical nature of their relationship with God. It is this that really sets them apart. They don’t try to wrap up their theology in a water-tight box. (Evangelicalism tries to do this, but all they end up with is a pretty misshapen box)

My sister and I now attend St John’s regularly. And even though we don’t believe in the teachings of the Bible, we feel at home in the Orthodox church. Why?

Because the Orthodox understand the art of religion. They understand the art of the unexplained.

(The website for St. John of Kronstadt Church is http://kronstadtchurch.org/ the website for their ancient Christianity coffee shop and bookstore is http://catacomblincoln.com/)


-Monica