38. Saint Anna Greek Orthodox Church, Roseville, CA [May 23-24, 2014]
After our visit to a Catholic church last Sunday, Tara mentioned that we hadn't yet visited an Orthodox church. “True. True.” I thought and started browsing for Orthodox churches in the Sacramento area.
Perfect timing. Based solely on their website (how many decisions do we say that about these days?), I decided that Saint Anna Greek Orthodox Church in Roseville looked like a great place to try. Serendipitously, the weekend we chose to visit was also the three-day Greek Food Festival. So we started with dinner on Saturday.
The largest tent at the festival housed the buffet of Greek food. There was Greek salad, loukaniko, spanakopita, fasolada, grilled chicken, lamb, moussaka, and so much more. It was a beautiful evening to sit out under the ancient oak trees, the band playing Greek music in the background, and stuff ourselves with good, handmade food.
After dinner, as it grew dark, we ran into a few friends and walked through the booths. While eating koulourakia for desert, we started up a conversation with Rev. Deacon Joseph Ruocco-Brown, one of the clergy who serves the congregation of St. Anna. He graciously answered our many questions and gave us a guided tour of the sanctuary, relating many of the stories behind the relics, icons of saints, and the historic practices of the Orthodox Church.
Deacon Joseph told us about what makes St. Anna unique: even though “Saint Anna Church...was originally founded by a small group of Greek Americans, ...today the parish aptly reflects the American experience and comprises approximately 200 families representing at least 12 different nationalities, all witnessing to the Good News of Jesus Christ, striving to reflect His love, and living according to the ancient Christian principles and disciplines of the Orthodox Christian Church.” I had the privilege of seeing this in action the following morning during the morning liturgy.
Sunday Morning starts early with Orthros – prayers that are corporately read and sung. Following Orthros is the Divine Liturgy, which is the focal point of the Orthodox Church community. The unity and unbroken historical practice of the church are core values of the Orthodox Church. As it says on the website, they “are precisely the same Church across the globe, and across time, preaching the Gospel, teaching the Lord’s commandments, and worshipping God in spirit and in Truth just as we have these many centuries.” For example, they brag that their “newest service is 1,300 years old!”
Here are some of things I noticed during liturgy:
No technology – no lights, no microphones, no electric instruments (actually no musical instruments at all) during the service, until the very end. During the short homily, one of the young-men-wearing-a-robe (not his official title) set up a small video camera on a tripod to film the homily (which can be found online).
The majority of the service is spent standing and singing. Not all Orthodox churches have the congregation sing along, but they do here throughout the entire service.
The content of the liturgy feels like continuous congregational prayer. While the people are praying, the priest and young-men-wearing-robes are not directing their actions toward the people. You get the feeling that their audience is God and that they are facilitating the prayers of the people. For the theologically minded among us: “The Divine Liturgy has two main parts. The first part is the gathering, called the synaxis. It has its origin in the synagogue gatherings of the Old Testament, and is centered in the proclamation and meditation of the Word of God. The second part of the Divine Liturgy is the eucharistic sacrifice. It has its origin in the Old Testament temple worship, the priestly sacrifices of the People of God; and in the central saving event of the Old Testament, the Passover (Pascha).” More Here
Icons are everywhere. They are the “cloud of witnesses” that surrounds us on our journey of faith (Hebrews 12:1). Deacon Joseph knows them by name. He is inspired by their stories. They are like the framed photos that line the walls of our grandparents’ houses, locating us by reminding us of who has gone before us and serving as spiritual role models.
I feel like there is much more that I could share. Memories of my visit have lodged in my mind: the rich pageantry and acting out of the liturgy, the smell of incense, the young-men-wearing-robes bearing crosses and candles, the icon-saints surrounding the sanctuary – still very much alive in the practice of the church, the prayerful singing, and the climax of the service -- the diverse congregation from around the globe, both young and old together, coming forward to share in the Eucharist.
I’m glad St. Anna was one of the stops on our journey.