Russian Orthodoxy

I read today that the leader of the Russian Orthodox church died.

And that reminded me of a time a year or so ago that I visited an Orthodox church for a vespers service. Boy was it strange! It wasn't a mass, but rather a week day vespers. So I knew that it would be mostly psalms and probably a reading or two and perhaps some intercessions.

What I didn't realize was that I wouldn't be able to participate.

Here's what happened. The priest stood at a podium with 3 women (one with small children in tow) and they all chanted psalms from a large office book. They used a tuning fork to get the right pitch (and they were absolutely spot on). But what was most interesting is how fast they were chanting! They were literally chanting the words as fast as they could possibly go. And when they got done with one psalm, they didn't pause for reflection as they do in the Benedictine monastery, they just went right on to the next one.

After a 20 minutes of listening to chants going at a frenetic pace, I realized that I was not going to be able to participate in any meaningful way in this service, and I was literally the only other person there, so I just got up and left.

Some day I still hope to go to a large Orthodox church for mass.