Laura Clark - Church Visit #1

Church name: Holy Apostle Greek Orthodox Church

Church address: 2501 S Wolf Rd, Westchester, IL 60154

Date attended: 10/9/2015

Church category: Greek Orthodox

Describe the worship service you attended. How was it similar to or different from your regular context?

This service felt very much like a Catholic Mass, which is a context I am not unfamiliar with due to my upbringing in Catholic grade school. The similarities were numerous: using a strict liturgy that included both chanting and speaking, burning of incense, the Kyrie, prayers and petitions, a scripture reading, and a short homily.  On the other hand, once of the most obvious differences was the unmistakable devotion to Mary. I lost track of how many times the priest sang “Most holy theotokos save us”. Granted, the service I attended was a Paraklesis, which is a special service of supplication addressed specifically to the theotokos. Despite that, the devotion to Mary outside of the liturgy was striking, and probably the biggest contrast to my normal context. Not only was the church filled with icons, but many of them depicted Mary. Most notable was the large one of her and Christ above the altar and the one that filled an entire wall depicting her death. 

How did the worship service illuminate for you the history and contours of global Christianity?

This service made it clear that although there are differences in doctrine between the branches of the Christian Church, they are often hard to distinguish. Despite this, it is these hard-to-distinguish differences that Christians focus on the most. In other words, it seems to me that many Christians tend to approach other Christian churches with a critical demeanor, rather than one of humility. Attending this service made me realize that although we are naturally critical, the differences are still difficult to pinpoint. For example, as I said earlier, I had trouble distinguishing this service from a Catholic Mass. My point is that history has seemed to make schisms in the church over very particular doctrinal matters. I do not say this to undermine the importance of precise theology, but rather to question the Church’s historical response to disagreements. How can a religion that calls for unity of the church create so much division?

How did the worship service illuminate for you your personal identity as a Christian?

This service illuminated one thing in particular for me: I do not feel comfortable praying to Mary, let alone devoting an entire service to her. In the past, I have tried to understand the concept of venerating Mary as the Mother of God, as opposed to worshiping her. The way people would usually try explain it is, “Who knows Jesus better than his own mother?”. In other words, she is a valuable resource to Christians when it comes to learning about Jesus. Although it seemed reasonable, I have come to learn—particularly through this service—that the line between venerate and worship is very blurry. I am not comfortable even toeing that blurry line. Is it merely veneration if we are praying to Mary, asking her to ‘save us’? Mary cannot save us! Who can save but Christ? Call it was they may, this service seemed an awful lot like worship to me and I am not comfortable participating in such a service.