An Ohio trip and an Orthodoxy variability observation
So this Sunday, I attended an OCA church in Ohio because I visited the OSU campus on Saturday. My family friend/as close to being my brother as you can get without actually being my brother or married to one of my sisters (who is a fellow PK... well BK now) is the priest at said OCA church (he left our diocese when his dad was made an OCA Bishop). A friend and I drove out on Friday and stayed with said priest and his family (is she still Pani in the OCA? Do they call them something different? I don't know. I still have to make a concerted effort to call him "Fr. Matt" instead of just "Matt" all the time, so I certainly just call her by her first name all the time.)
Anyway, during their coffee hour they had REAL cups, so I felt fancy. They were also having a good will offering luncheon for their Scholarship Fund, so they had more than just sweets.
They were obviously Mrs. T's, but I was willing to accept it as a sign that this OCA parish is pretty awesome and if I get to go to OSU I'd be happy at said church haha. There are obviously some small differences between the OCA and Carpie liturgy, but there was so much similarity as well. A lot of the choral arrangements were close enough that I was able to follow along. I also didn't even notice if there were books in the church or not... I was handed a sheet with the Tropar, Kondak, Prokeimenon, and Epistle & Gospel readings printed on it when I walked in. I just followed Jodi up to the front up the church with the kids, so I didn't even look for books.
I did have a moment during communion though. I was TOTALLY unprepared for the Sub-Deacon holding the cloth to wipe my mouth after I received communion. I also kissed the chalice, which I really never do. I had already made eye contact with Matt... comma Father, and he was holding up the chalice, so I just figured I should go with it.
I do find it kind of funny that, as a religion in America, us Orthodox folk cannot seem to agree on one Communion Prayer. Yes, they all have the same elements to them, and almost all of them start the same way ("I believe O Lord and confess...") but at some point, there is always some kind of variation. Sometime it's just that the phrasing is different, sometimes the order of sections are switched around, sometimes whole chunks seem to be missing. For instance, in my tradition, there are two instances in which we make three statements that are each accompanied by either the crossing of oneself, or a touch of a fist to the chest, as if one is beating their breast.
"O Lord, remember me when you come into your kingdom
O Master, remember me when you come into your kingdom
O Holy One, remember me when you come into your kingdom"
"O God, be merciful to me a sinner
O God, cleanse me of my sins and have mercy upon me
O Lord, forgive me, for my sins are many."
For me, these are really kind of powerful moments during the communion prayer. I tend to say the prayer with nearly identical inflection as my dad does (which makes sense, as I was raised hearing him say it every Sunday), and his voice always seems to be a bit stronger during these moments. However, these two "passages" (for lack of a better term) were absent from the prayer at the OCA church on Sunday. The first line of one passage was said, so I blessed myself while reciting it and began the next to find that it wasn't being said. I tried to just continue my prayer in my head, but it was hard to keep track of what was going on.
I've been to Liturgies in the Greek tradition as well, and those seem to have a longer prayer than I'm used to. It just seems as if we should have a standardized prayer at this point. Especially when we're at a point where (hopefully) Pan-Orthodoxy is being encouraged.
None of this took anything away from the Liturgy for me, and I truly enjoy getting to experience the traditions of other cultures. I just find it interesting that sometimes I know exactly what's going on at one point in a Liturgy and can sing along, but a few moments later, I'm not totally sure where we are (because maybe there's another Litany that we don't use in our Liturgy) or am unfamiliar with the hymn.
I was thankful that the choral music used in the OCA church I was at was close enough the choral music we use in our diocese, so I was able to follow along for the most part. There were a few times when I just tried to hum along, and a few smaller differences - maybe a note went down when I'd usually go up - but it's nice to be able to transplant myself into a church in a different diocese, but still be able to follow along and actively participate in the Liturgy by singing.
Funny enough, during coffee hour, I approached one of the parishioners because she went to the camp of my diocese and was friends with some of my older siblings. It was nice to see her and to hear that she's hoping to send her own children to the camp she attended and worked at.
Point is, it was a fun weekend catching up with friends and getting to walk around OSU. I just wish their parish wasn't 9 hours away from my house. It would be so much easier to see them if they were still in our diocese and at a parish in Jersey hahaha.
