Pauline Pujol, Divine Liturgy is not an evangelistic tool, it is a worship service for the initiated; some of those initiated speak different languages (and often don’t understand English very well). It is not for proselytizing. We evangelize by living Christ-centered lives, keeping the Commandments and loving our neighbour. In the Divine Liturgy a great mystery takes place that is not for everyone. That is why the priest says “Catechumins depart”. Those who are not Orthodox Christians should depart at that time so that they can receive the mystery when they’re ready, not beforehand. It is not the language of the Divine Liturgy that needs to change, it is us who project ideas from our own backgrounds unto something else that need to change.

I look at learning languages as similar to the Roman Catholics before their mass went all English after Vatican II. Latin was needed to worship in their churches, and when I visited the Catholic church down the road with my best friend, I needed Latin to know when to stand. Being Presbyterian, I was informed kneeling wouldn’t do me any good as my salvation was pretty much a lost cause unless God changed His mind about Calvin.

I learned a smattering of Russian from my various violin teachers, but they generally used the language when I messed up. As a result, I learned mostly phrases that would never be heard in any church. I have also learned that Greek is a great thing to learn, because when I want to read the original New Testament, it helps to know what was written and how the grammar may or may not accurately reflect the reality of that beautiful language. Bonus: you get really high quality gyros ordering in Greek, no matter how trashed your accent might be. As for Arabic, forget about ever reading the calligraphic stuff on walls, because the art totally removes clarity unless you really understand nuance. Yet, a few phrases here and there are wonderful to know, and the language and grammar is much simpler for almost every language, when compared to English. I love the music of it, and look on unknown languages as a new adventure into the great unknown of communicating with friends I’ve not been introduced to, yet.

Sure, Orthodox worship is a lot different than sitting in a service with God’s Frozen People. It’s less different from Greek to Romanian, to the other Greek, to the Russian to the English speaking parishes, yet locals all have their own customs that add to the richness of each service. If Greek I and Greek II would consistently put the emphasis on the same syl-LA-bel, I’d maybe have an easier time. One church only uses readers who are native Greeks, others use readers with Greek as language learned at any time, including adulthood. Has anyone heard Greek mixed with a heavy dose of Louisiana?

Every parish has its own customs, and each has its unique beauty. I’ve tagged along with a variety of Orthodox friends, getting a taste of the UN in the city by the big lake, meaning only a few Sundays in any given parish. This is the wonder of it, in that unity permeates the worship of every church, in unison participating in the same liturgy. Chances are good that in some remote area of Russia there is a service any American could navigate without much instruction, except perhaps in the language spoken. I don’t think every church is steeped in a single ethnic tradition any longer, or at least that’s so around me, but after reading many articles here at JTO, the service was less mysterious, except of course, when the services are supposed to be mysterious. Then the mysterious is delightful.

In my parish, my first visit was just over a year ago. My husband and I were brand new in town (we’d just moved due to a new job for him), and I was immediately put on bed rest due to complications of pregnancy with my fourth child.

I attended Liturgy a whopping once before being put on bed rest, and I was stunned when this small parish of people who really didn’t know me started making a rotation for bringing my family meals. I knew there must be something pretty profound about the faith and practice of a community that showed that much love to a newcomer.

We will be praying for you this weekend!

In Christ –
Pauline