Eastern Orthodox Churches

Worship and Sacred Actions Throughout the Year in Eastern Orthodox Churches

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The Orthodox church sanctifies time with daily, weekly, and annual cycles of celebrations that commemorate instances of God’s redemptive action in human experience. At the center of the numerous events of the Orthodox church year stands the Easter celebration of the triumph of life over death and light over darkness.

The rhythm of Orthodox Christian worship and spirituality is governed by recognition of the relationship between time and eternity, of the presence of God with us (cf. John 14:16–23), and of the Sunday worship liturgy as a journey to heaven, where we worship God in the presence of and with all the heavenly host (see Alexander Schmemann, For the Life of the World: Sacraments and Orthodoxy [Crestwood, N.Y.: St. Vladimir’s Seminary Press, 1973], 26–28). The evening-morning cycle of daily life, the recurring sequence of the week, the revolving of the years, and the ongoing stretch of time from one’s birth to death are all sanctified by prayer and observance.

From Creation until the End, time is marked by events such as the Fall, the choosing of Abraham, the Exodus, the giving of the Law, the Babylonian captivity and return, and the Incarnation of the Son, which we keep in remembrance as signposts bearing on the work of God with his people and on our own salvation. And for each of us, there are those once-in-a-lifetime sacraments and sacramental blessings that affect our lives: baptism, chrismation, marriage (or monastic profession), ordination (if so be our calling), and burial.

Daily and Weekly Cycles

Orthodox prayer life invariably includes evening and morning prayers in which the remembrance of death and resurrection is explicit. In the evening we pray, “Into Your hands, O Lord Jesus Christ, my God, I surrender my spirit and body; bless me, save me, and grant me eternal life.” And in the morning: “Arising from sleep, I thank you, O Most Holy Trinity, that, for the sake of Your great kindness and longsuffering, You have not had indignation against me, for I am slothful and sinful. Neither have You destroyed me in my transgressions ….”

Additionally, the service books provide corporate prayer services for daily first (6:00 A.M.), third (9:00 A.M.), sixth (noon), and ninth (3:00 P.M.) hours of prayer, as well as daily Matins and Vespers. Few, if any parishes hold all these services, but all observe some of them, and in some monasteries, all the prayers are said.

Within the cycle of the week, there are variations in all the daily services, with certain hymns and emphases allotted for each day of the week. Sunday is a “Little Easter,” its theme being the Resurrection. Monday is devoted to the holy angels; Tuesday to St. John the Baptist; Wednesday and Friday, to the Holy Cross; Thursday, to the Apostles; and Saturday to all other saints, particularly the martyrs. Wednesday and Friday are fast days, set aside by the early church in accordance with the tradition of Israel, although different days than the Jewish fast days of Monday and Thursday were chosen.

The Movable Cycle

Upon these cycles are imposed both the observances of the movable cycle of the year centered upon Easter (still called Pascha in the church) and those of the fixed cycle—the feasts which fall upon the same date every year. Though the fixed year “officially” begins on the first day of September, the spiritual heart, center, and foundation of the year are Pascha—Easter. For it is the Resurrection of Christ, the triumph of Life over death, of light over darkness, that everything related to his church begins. Thus, we start there, with the first of the fifty-two Sundays, each of which, we remember, is also a celebration of the Resurrection. On this daytime is crossed with eternity and we worship in heaven, at the marriage supper of the Lamb.

But prior to Easter, the church continues the tradition of a long period of preparation for the celebration of the Resurrection. Lent is the forty-day period of fasting, prayer, and preparation of our hearts, but we do not enter even Lent unprepared. The following series of Sundays before Lent are assigned scriptural themes designed to show us the way: (1) the Sunday of Zacchaeus; (2) the Sunday of the Publican and the Pharisee; (3) the Sunday of the Prodigal Son; (4) the Sunday of the Last Judgment; and (5) the Sunday of Forgiveness, the day before Lent begins.

And then begins the Forty Days, our journey to Pascha. The structure and content of all the daily services are changed, taking on the flavor of the successive emphases of the weeks of Lent. During these days we devote ourselves, even more than we have, to fasting, to prayer, and to almsgiving. And we progressively prepare ourselves to enter with the Lord into the week before the Cross, through his suffering and death, and to his glorious Resurrection. Lazarus Saturday and the next day, Palm Sunday, are two days of joy, following the weeks of repentance, and which prepare us for Holy Week and its days of darkness and mourning.

Holy Week again changes all the services of the days of the week, and the special content of these days prepares the church to meet the Bridegroom. The services are deep and rich and conclude with the service of the burial of our Lord on Holy Friday evening. Then comes the glorious light of Easter morning and the celebration of our Lord’s resurrection, as we sing of Christ “risen from the dead, trampling down death by death.”

After Easter Sunday we count fifty days till Pentecost, fifty days of celebration in the church. Each Sunday is distinctive. The first is St. Thomas Sunday; the second, that of the women who brought spice to the tomb of Jesus only to then become heralds of his resurrection. The next three Sundays all teach us about baptism and the new life received in the great mystery of grace, focusing successively on the paralytic whom Jesus had healed at the pool of Bethesda (John 5), the Samaritan woman who drank living water (John 4), and the blind man, who washed in the pool of Siloam (John 9). In the middle of the fifth week, on Thursday, we celebrate the Ascension and immediately after, the Sunday of the Holy Fathers of the First Council of Nicea, in which the deity of Christ was affirmed. Then comes the Feast of Pentecost, at which we sing of “the presence of the Spirit, the fulfillment of the promise and the completion of hope.”

The Fixed Cycle

With the Easter cycle completed, we continue through the year with additional celebrations fixed by date. Pascha is the Great Feast, but there are other great feasts to be celebrated, each with its own liturgy of preparation and fulfillment. In examining these fixed feasts, we could start at any point, but most preferable is Christmas, the celebration of the Nativity. Christmas has its own time of preparation, its own forty days of fasting and prayer, called Advent, beginning on November 15th. Once again, the sequence builds, the references to the birth of Christ appear in the services. The second Sunday before Christmas commemorates the ancestors of Christ, and the Sunday following commemorates all righteous men and women who have pleased God from the beginning—from Adam through Joseph, betrothed to Mary. Beginning with December 20th, the texts of the services are all directly concerned with the birth of Christ. Special celebrations are held on both Christmas Eve and Christmas day. The day after Christmas commemorates the Lord’s Mother. The twelve days from Christmas to Epiphany (January 6th) are filled with yet more commemorations: Stephen, the first martyr, on the 27th; the Holy Innocents, killed by Herod, on the 29th; Joseph the betrothed, David the Prophet and King, and James the Brother of the Lord, on the Sunday after Christmas.

On January 1 we celebrate the circumcision of the Lord, and then begin preparation for Epiphany, also called Theophany, the manifestation of God. At this feast, we celebrate not only Christ’s appearance but also his baptism, since it is also the occasion for the Great Blessing of the Waters. Christ blessed the waters of the earth once for all by his baptism in the Jordan, and our liturgical services are simply an extension of his act. Following Epiphany the church begins something of great significance to all her people—the annual blessing of each home by a ceremony carried out by the priest and the people of the household.

The fixed cycle includes yet seven more “great feasts”: The Birth of the Virgin Mary, Mother of God (September 8th), The Exaltation of the Cross (September 14th), The Presentation of the Virgin Mary, Mother of God, in the Temple (November 21st), The Presentation of our Lord in the Temple (February 2nd), The Annunciation of the Virgin Mary (March 25th), The Transfiguration of our Lord (August 6th), and The Falling Asleep of the Virgin Mary, Mother of God (August 15th). Each is of great significance, and every church celebrates each one, along with its period of preparation.

These do not exhaust the significant church year celebrations, and those mentioned above deserve far more coverage than can be given here. The references below will help the interested reader to gain a broader and deeper understanding of the Orthodox Christian church year: The Year of Grace of the Lord: A Scriptural and Liturgical Commentary on the Calendar of the Orthodox Church, by a Monk of the Eastern Church, translated from the French by Deborah Cowan (St. Vladimir’s Seminary Press, 1980); The Festal Menaion, translated from the original Greek by Mother Mary and Bishop Kallistos Ware (Faber and Faber); The Lenten Triodion, translated from the original Greek by Mother Mary and Bishop Kallistos Ware (Faber and Faber); Divine Prayers and Services of the Catholic Orthodox Church of Christ, compiled and arranged by the Reverend Seraphim Nassar (Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of North America, Englewood, N.J., 1979); Greek Orthodox Holy Week and Easter Services (in Greek and English on parallel pages), compiled by Father George L. Papedeas (Daytona Beach, Florida: 1979); Alexander Schmemann, Liturgy and Life: Christian Development through Liturgical Experience (Department of Religious Education, Orthodox Church in America, 1974) and Alexander Schmemann, Great Lent (St. Vladimir’s Seminary Press, 1974).

The Arts in Eastern Orthodox Churches

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The trend among Eastern Orthodox churches in America is to return to the customs of the ancient church in architecture, icons, and music. However, some churches are writing new music in an American idiom, but always with the ancient tradition in mind. In every case, music, iconography, and architecture are used as servants to the liturgy.

The Orthodox Churches of America share a common faith but a diverse ethnic heritage. There are more than sixteen jurisdictions of churches that call themselves Orthodox, but the form of worship is one, and the faith they hold is one. Three large groups serve as especially important models in America: the Greek Orthodox Church, the Antiochian Orthodox Church, and the Orthodox Church in America, with its Slavic roots.

According to ancient evidence and scriptural tradition, the worship of the Christian church developed around the hours of prayer, as in the synagogue, together with the living remembrance of Christ’s sacrifice on the cross, expressed in the Divine Liturgy (the preparation, Word, and Holy Communion service). It was emphasized by the apostle that we are spiritually “seated with Christ in the heavenlies” and “have come to the Mount Zion, and to the City of the Living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to innumerable angels in festal gathering, and to the assembly of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, and to God, the Judge of all, and to the spirits of the just made perfect, and to Jesus, the Mediator of the New Covenant, whose blood speaks more graciously than the blood of Abel” (Heb. 12:22–23). These texts, along with biblical Psalms, canticles, and descriptions of heavenly worship, formulate both the reality of Orthodox worship and its goal.

Formal Orthodox worship takes place both in the Christian “temple,” the sacred space set apart for worship, and the home, likewise consecrated by a yearly dedication. In the home, worship is characterized by prayers, psalms, Bible readings, grace at meals, and the “family altar,” whereupon may be displayed sacred pictures (icons), a cross, the Bible, blessed water, and perhaps incense. These are constant reminders that the home is the “little church,” often called by the Orthodox “the domestic church,” of which Christ is the head to whom the members are subject.

Orthodox worship is, in a certain sense, a continuation of Old Testament temple worship, but more significantly, it is an expression of its fulfillment in Christ. It is not subject to innovation, yet it seeks to adapt itself to the circumstances of modern life. It has been said that the Orthodox church changes only to remain the same. Yet in order to remain the same—faithful to the apostolic tradition—the American church has adapted itself to assure the fuller participation of the faithful in the services, as well as to expand its missionary outreach.

Architecture

The Orthodox church building, or “temple,” must reflect the theology that undergirds it, both in its architecture and in its appointments. Typically, the building is square or rectangular in shape and includes three significant areas: an outer narthex or portico, the body of the church in which the faithful gather, and the sanctuary, wherein the celebrants stand for much of the service. The latter area is slightly raised above the level of the rest of the church. In front of the screen or railing separating the sanctuary from the body of the church is the ambo, the portion of the platform where the sermon is read, blessings are given, and the congregation comes forward for Communion. Central to the interior is the “throne,” or altar table, whereon the Communion gifts are consecrated and the Gospels are kept in honor.

The trend in church architecture is toward functionality, simplicity, and the expression of Orthodoxy within the American culture. For example, there is a desire in many churches to take out the choir loft, in order to restore the sense of “singing with one voice,” the Orthodox ideal for worship that promotes the participation of the entire worshiping community. Instead of singing from a loft, the choir sings on the same floor as the congregation, leading rather than representing them in song. In addition, the icon screen, which was formerly built rather like a wall in Slavic churches, is often made less solidly, so that all the participants may see the celebrants clearly. This “innovation” is in fact a restoration of the early ideal—full participation of the people of God in the Divine Liturgy.

Icons

Iconography, the ancient art of sacred painting, plays an important part in Orthodox worship. Although grounded in Scripture, it is often confused with the worship of images, which is strictly forbidden. Within the temple and the home, icons are displayed to direct the mind and heart toward God, and thus are sometimes called “windows on heaven.” Fr. John Breck succinctly states the theology of the icon:

An icon painted on a piece of wood
Becomes a window on reality
Through which a man in prayer can see the good and perfect image of divinity.
Through matter, Spirit comes to speak the truth
That unto endless ages yet shall last
And, first proclaimed when faith was in its youth,
Unites the present moment with the last.

An icon is not a simple picture or portrait, painted according to the whim of the artist; it is a spiritual statement “written” within strict and ancient guidelines. While they are not in themselves objects of worship, icons are venerated because they represent the timeless and ever-present Kingdom of God present with us as a “great cloud of witnesses” (Heb. 12:1):

The faithful fruit of fasting and of prayers
This hallowed image formed by brush and paints
The message of the Liturgy declares
That we are called to be one with the saints
Whose glory proves that by some sacred plan
The icon of the Unseen God is man.

A widespread trend toward excellence in iconography is encouraged by schools of iconography and associations of iconographers. The availability of superb textbooks, prints, and teachers has brought about a renaissance in this ancient and difficult art.

Music

The Orthodox church is a singing church, using more music in its worship than any other Christian body of believers. In the Divine Liturgy, for example, almost everything but the sermon (and, in some churches, the Lord’s Prayer and creed) is sung, either by celebrants or by the assembly.

Sacred song has been called “the heightened speech of worship.” It is “worship, especially when it is Scripture we are singing. It characterizes the body of Christ as if we are one gathered singing assembly, singing in unison with the angels. It should not be an accompaniment, background, preparation, a moodsetter, filler, or any such thing. It is serious and certainly not a divertimento” (Fr. Sergei Glagolev). Following the understanding of the early church, even the Scriptures are chanted, rather than read. That is not because the early Christians did not have good acoustics or electronic enhancement, but because they believed, according to Jewish precedent, that it was disrespectful to the Word of God merely to read the text; it must be proclaimed in song.

In today’s church, as in the early church, most music is unaccompanied. There are several reasons for this. First, the instruments available to the first Christians were used in pagan worship and not thought seemly for Christian use. Second, the Jews laid aside their instruments in mourning for the destruction of the Temple, and the Jewish converts to Christianity no doubt followed their lead. But more important than these considerations was (and is) the idea that instrumental music is not worded, as is vocal music, and an instrumental solo or ensemble cannot replace the unified people of God “singing with one voice” in his praise.

Orthodox church music is not meant for performance, with the exception of some elaborate later settings that are more appropriate to the concert hall. Choirs and individual cantors are used, but their music is meant to be a simple expression of praise that elevates the soul and not something sung to elicit an emotional response. The music is based upon a tonal system, that is, upon simple melodies that can be learned by all the people, so that when one might hear, “The Prokeimenon (gospel hymn) is in the eighth tone,” one would know what to expect and how to respond antiphonally. This tonal system, along with the practice of “lining” some of the hymns, allows the congregation to sing whether they can read music or not.

Johann von Gardner aptly states the philosophy of Orthodox music in these words:

Since the Church in a sense is timeless, existing both outside of time and encompassing all of time, its singing also must preserve the traditions of the past while maintaining a link with the present. Above all, the singing of the Church must never stray from its central essence: the liturgy. It must avoid at all cost the tendency to pursue exclusively aesthetic or personal, subjective goals. Only a thorough knowledge of the entire system and history of Orthodox liturgical singing will enable this middle ground to be found.

In spite of what may seem to be rigidity in its tradition, the Orthodox church has witnessed a tremendous resurgence of scholarship and creativity in its music for worship. There is the same sense of excitement about the rediscovery of excellent traditional music as there is regarding excellent iconography and architecture.

Research and scholarship have uncovered a treasury of ancient chants, valuable in themselves and as examples for modern composers. In addition, because of a movement toward unity among the various jurisdictions and their continuing efforts to work together in all areas, Orthodox churches and seminaries use and teach music from many ethnic backgrounds. Furthermore, because of an urgent sense of mission, as well as the desire to make itself understood to the faithful (who are less likely to be immigrants than in past generations), the church in her several jurisdictions is proceeding with the painstaking production of translations of the services into English and the task of improving existing translations.

In addition to the rediscovery of the Orthodox musical heritage, there are musicians who are producing original compositions and experimenting with an American idiom in which to continue the Orthodox musical tradition. Some of these have chosen to support their compositions with a light accompaniment; others have not. Some, particularly in the Antiochian Evangelical Orthodox Mission, have used Western hymn melodies as vehicles for Orthodox texts, in the belief that they will be more readily understood here in America than the sometimes exotic-sounding strains of the Eastern chant. These divergent ideas represent the growth of the contemporary church and underscore the need for continuous adaptation, based on the Orthodox understanding that to be an artist, architect, or musician is first and foremost to be a theologian, a servant of the Word.

Other Uses of the Arts

The worship heritage of the Orthodox church includes the use of incense. Candles illumine the faces of the icons and of the worshipers, who are censed with the icons to remind us that we ourselves are icons, images of Christ, made in the image and likeness of God. The service includes processions, sometimes around the outside of the church (as at the Paschal service), the use of bells, which are unique and joyously rhythmic, banners (usually featuring the patron of the church, who may be a saint—other banners may portray Christ or the cross), and a variety of worship postures. While most Orthodox churches in America now have pews, many prefer the greater freedom of individual movement which the traditional central standing room provides. There are always seats available to the infirm. Visitors are welcome not only at the churches but at the many monasteries throughout the country, as well as at the seminary chapels, which present some of the best examples of Orthodox worship as they train future clergy, musicians, iconographers, and architects to bring their particular talents to the Master for his honor and glory.