+ "Awkward" isn't quite the word I would have used, but it was definitely very different from what I'm used to and much beyond even Anglican High Masses and the Emmanuel Lutheran service I went to (though those both certainly helped prepare me insomuch as this wasn't completely foreign) and part of the apart-feeling-ness was just thinking, "This is so not the kind of place that would be my church home" because it is so different from what I'm used to and all the veneration and High Churchyness makes me uncomfortable (in a not-used-to-this way as well as a theological way). + The service was definitely well-attended. The pews probably would have fit ~60 with plenty of personal space (6 pews on each side, 5 people in each) but people came in late and were seated at intervals, squeezing in, and there were pews along the back wall for latecomers to sit in, so my guess for attendance would be ~80, and the sanctuary felt full because of how small it was designed.
> And I'm curious about your reactions to the liturgy itself, not so much the thinky stuff, since my impression is that Orthodox liturgy is less about the latter than Protestant worship is.
Partly I talked mostly about the sermon because at 25/75 minutes it was a large portion of the service, and also because *that* I could talk about; since so much of the service was so foreign that I don't have notes or anything and couldn't even follow along so it was mostly just washing over me (which I know is partly the point, especially during Matins, but it's not very helpful).
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reply, part 3 [experience, cont.]
Date: 2005-12-13 01:44 am (UTC)+ The service was definitely well-attended. The pews probably would have fit ~60 with plenty of personal space (6 pews on each side, 5 people in each) but people came in late and were seated at intervals, squeezing in, and there were pews along the back wall for latecomers to sit in, so my guess for attendance would be ~80, and the sanctuary felt full because of how small it was designed.
> And I'm curious about your reactions to the liturgy itself, not so much the thinky stuff, since my impression is that Orthodox liturgy is less about the latter than Protestant worship is.
Partly I talked mostly about the sermon because at 25/75 minutes it was a large portion of the service, and also because *that* I could talk about; since so much of the service was so foreign that I don't have notes or anything and couldn't even follow along so it was mostly just washing over me (which I know is partly the point, especially during Matins, but it's not very helpful).