![]() ![]() They said, variously: Why would we want that? It’s against the Tradition. Almost before I could get the words out of my mouth, I heard a resounding “No!” Rather taken aback, I asked why not. So I asked the OCWA board if women’s ordination was an issue with them. ![]() At that time, our Metropolitan had just (wickedly!) appointed me to represent him at the national Convention of the Episcopal Church, and I knew I would be asked why we Orthodox chauvinist pigs oppress women. Their leaders were, I think, the most competent, organized, intelligent, “put together” group of people I have ever dealt with. Not many years after I became Orthodox, I was our Milwaukee clergy fellowship’s “chaplain” to the Milwaukee Orthodox Christian Women’s Association’s board. In both cases I gave a very inadequate answer, and they said, Oh, I understand, and that was the end of that. Or maybe people just don’t try because they know nothing ever changes here?! Anyway in thirty years I had two people ask me about it. So I was amazed that women’s ordination doesn’t seem to be an issue in the Orthodox Church. Roman Catholics are still divided about it, with many clergy and laypeople all for it, and Pope Francis sounds as if he might like to be, but dare not. Were I in a Western denomination I would worry somebody might try, or send a hit man (hit woman?) after me! There people feel so very strongly about this issue. In the Episcopal Church we fought like cats and dogs about it, before “we” lost. Should I get into this subject? Oh, why not? Nobody can shoot me through the computer. The Holy Table itself is also often called the Altar. The “Altar” in Orthodox terminology means the entire area behind the iconostasis.Why only male clergy? Why only males in the Altar? * I think this is good: “How we worship is what we believe.” And so the teachings of the Church enter not only into our ears and souls but also into our minds – for if you sing something you easily remember the words. Our people sing well, even some simple basic Byzantine chant. We at Saint Nicholas, Cedarburg, followed his direction. Our late Antiochian Metropolitan Philip promoted it. In recent times, the ancient tradition of congregational singing is being revived in some places, especially in the New World. Much of Orthodox choir music is very lovely – a s above which I think is the very best of it. Continue on to the next video – Saint Nektarios’ popular hymn which many Orthodox people love to sing. It troubles me in Greece when people now stand there totally silent during worship. This changed after the “establishment” of the Church, when music was allowed to develop and it became more complicated – it’s the nature of everything to get more complex as time goes on – but very hard for ordinary folks to sing, so the choir or cantors took over. The parts of our Liturgy books which direct the “choir” to sing originally belonged to the people. In the Apostolic Church and up till at least the Fourth Century, the people did much of the singing. At the conclusion, use your return arrow above to get back to the Post. I just think this is a particularly good explanation. The video could just as easily be about Russian or Serbian or Romanian or some other Orthodox music. It refers to Byzantine chant – which may seem strange to non-Orthodox, and maybe even to some Orthodox, as it did to me at the beginning, but now I love it. ![]() Here is a video about the significance of Orthodox Church music. I wanted to cry out “Ichabod!”, “the glory has departed!” But I didn’t. Once I attended a contemporary “Bible church” service where the pastor delivered a superb sermon about the holiness of God – only to be followed by a sentimental “twang twang twang” guitar song. Maybe I shouldn’t add this, but I think it’s worth saying. God is awesome. Music expresses the mystery, the wonder, the holy fear, the joy of being in his presence. It never occurred to anyone to just stand before God or the gods and talk as to an ordinary person. So far as we know, no ancient religion had “simple said services”. Where does it say that in the Bible?) Orthodox worship was naturally simplified when services were held secretly during persecution, but as soon as Christians were free again they returned to normal. (The notion that the early Christians had simple free-form services is made up out of “whole cloth”. Orthodox Byzantine chant must have developed out of Hebrew chant. The Apostles were Jewish, and that’s how they grew up worshipping, so naturally that’s how early Christians worshiped. ![]()
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