Easter again yesterday. I find Orthodox Easter incredibly depressing. Not the spectacle itself, nor the service nor the church, nor even that fact that it is all in a language I don't understand. I love the candles, the symbolic action of dousing al the lights to let Jesus Light of the World enter the darkness at midnight. Even the celebratory fireworks (which the priest hates) I like.
No, the thing which bothers me about Orthodox Easter is all those people turning up, probably more than 1,500 at the church last night, and going away having been scolded by the priest for being "barbarians" for letting off fireworks and ruining "his" Easter.
Surely, surely, with over a thousand people to speak to, most of whom this is the only time in the whole year for them to turn up to church, he might have a message of hope, of life, of forgiveness, of love, or reconciliation or an invitation to seek further? No - a bitter comment about the inappropriate fireworks. What's more, that's all we talked about afterwards as well! Mainly about how this happens every year, and every year the priest gets angry about it, and isn't it strange how the congregation is becoming more alienated and smaller every year...
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Hi, Elizabby! It's Jamie from CHF! I was puttering around the site when I saw someone mentioning your blog...so I thought I'd say hi!
Concerning this entry: You know, I hear that complaint around Easter and Christmas here in the states. I can understand the petpeeve the "regulars" have towards those who get inspired once a year to show up for services. But I can't understand their just blurting it out there. I am much more inclined, even with or without all the fancy trappings of the season, to think that the one time these people show up that the priest/pastor would be more beneficial in actually speaking about the things of God rather than their (priest/pastor) pet peeves.
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