On Sunday March 12th and 19th, my husband and I attended Holy Trinity St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church (HTSN) in Finneytown, Ohio. The church conducts Orthros (Matins) at 8:15 am and Divine Liturgy from 9:30-11:30 am. I chose to attend HTSN for two reasons; first, they host the annual Panegyri Festival and two, learning about the 1054 split intrigued me given the current state of the Methodist Church.
On March 7th, I spoke with Father Mark Emroll, explained the course assignment and requested his permission to attend the service. He briefly explained the prohibition for taking communion and that if I wanted to speak with either he or Father William Redmon it would need to take place after the service. Father Emroll explained the church
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Father Redmon explained in our interview that each person is to join his or her voice in united faith. My observation was of people outwardly participating e.g., kneeling, crossing themselves but vocal participation was minimal or left to the choir. During my interview with Father Redmon, I mentioned my observation regarding the various responses and he emphasized the centrality of the Eucharist, saying “Worship of the Holy Trinity through the Eucharist is the purpose of the church” and it is through this that they grow both individually and as the Church.
Through the various calls for response made by the priests, “let us be attentive”, “let us pray to the Lord”, “peace be with you” and “servant of God” tradition is linguistically demonstrated. Each of these and other prayers was concluded with a response or “Amen” typically by the priest or the choir. Also, we saw reminders of God’s beauty in the images of those who loved and served the Lord throughout the ages as painting on the ceilings and walls.
Finally, at the completion of the service, the priest welcomed the people and made a few announcements. This tradition of welcoming people into the House of God for worship and fellowship was explained to us by Mina, one the Greek “yiayia” as a gift of
· Hello – that is when the priest says welcome to the mass and tells
I found this part to be very interesting. Everyone stood while the censing was taking place and the offered up prayers and crossed themselves as the Priest and Bishop walked by. The service concluded with the bishop standing and speaking to the people for a few minutes; he spoke on the importance of the service and he shared some scripture and personal stories. After the service, Father Constantine invited everyone next door for refreshments, and stayed in the nave to answer any of our questions, this time was very helpful to me since this was my first time at an Orthodox church. Overall it was a very enjoyable experience, I learned a lot about the Orthodox tradition.
Webber, Christopher. Welcome to the Episcopal Church: An Introduction to Its History, Faith, and Worship. Harrisburg, PA: Morehouse Pub., 1999. Print.
Attending a non-denominational church we start out with worship and being free to sing and dance and let our spirits take over. This may come out as someone running around the pews, or on their knees, but while in the Catholic Church the environment was much different. It was a lot more structured and formal in a sense than that of the non-denominational church where I practice my faith. Another difference was the offering, or as the Catholic Church calls it, the Gift. I am use to this concept, but rather than taking Gifts at the beginning of the service they take it at the end; then came communion. This is where you take part in eating the bread and drinking the wine in symbolism of Jesus’ body and blood. This I was also familiar with, but was informed by the couple that I went with that they partake in com...
I am a nondenominational Christian and I decided to attend a catholic mass. I attended mass at the Conversion of St Paul Parish on April 6, 2014. The preside was Father Senan Glass and the starting time was 10am. The Conversion of St Paul Parish’s location is 4120 Euclid Ave, Cleveland, Ohio 44103. The church was very big and the stain glass windows were beautiful. At first, I felt uncomfortable because I did not know where to sit or what to do. I really did not have an idea of what to expect. Everything seemed very formal and the service was easy to follow because of the bulletin I was given, which had the order of service on it. The service was concise and it only lasted about an hour.
Being catholic since I was born, I know a lot of the history and traditions of the Catholic Church. I took part in a program called Religious Education at my church from 1st grade to 8th grade and performing my First Communion and Confirmation. I am going to tell a little about each religions tradition behind Communion and how it is done. Then I am going to compare and contrast Communion of the Catholic Church and the Methodist Church. The Communion rituals are similar in how it is performed, but there are a few significant differences.
Among the dignitaries who spoke was a solitary and impressive figure: a white-bearded man in flowing black robes, with a stovepipe headdress, over which a black veil gracefully draped down his shoulders and back. Around his neck, he bore the traditional emblem of his episcopal office; and in his hand he held the pastoral staff, which symbolized the authority he possessed as a shepherd to his flock. He approached the lectern to offer his tribute to the fallen heroes as the Greek Orthodox Archbishop of North and South America. He said, “I came to this memorial service because I believe this is an appropriate occasion not only to dedicate myself as well as our Greek Orthodox co...
Stead, G. Christopher. The Easter Sermons of Gregory of Nyssa. Edited by Andreas Spira and Christoph Klock. Patristic Monograph Series No. 9. Philadelphia: The Philadelphia Patristic Foundation, Ltd., 1981.
The pastor recited a version of a Eucharistic Prayer, which did not include the same verbiage that I am not accustomed to hearing at Roman Catholic Mass, and the gathered community recited the Lord’s Prayer. All baptized Christians were invited to receive Communion, but since the regulations of the Roman Catholic Church declare we do not partake in Protestant communion, my family and I went on the receiving line, putting a cross over our chests. The pastor respected the disciplines of our own church and offered each of us a blessing. At the very least, the pastor’s actions embody the respect offered to those belonging to different churches or denominations, making religious dialogue seem all the more possible. By respecting each other’s differences and learning about what exactly makes us and our practices different, we open the doors to Christian
However, I feel that the Lord's prayer is essentially a Jewish prayer, exhibiting the form and function of contemporary Jewish prayers. As with many other studies of any writings in the Gospels, it is important to discuss how these traditions have been brought to us, and what, if any modifications were made to the original text. Therefore it would be prudent, for the purpose of this paper to first look at the literary elements of the Lord's Prayer. To illustrate why the Lord's Prayer is essentially a Jewish prayer, we must first define and explore what Jewish prayers were like during the time of Jesus.
The church external appearance was quite different than other churches that I have seen. It was basically a big white stucco block with a gold dome on top and four decorated spikes on each corner of the building that surrounded the dome. The people of course were all Greek and were very well dressed. Most of the men and boys all wore suits, and If not they had some kind of vest on. I don’t know if this was some kind of rule or tradition, but it mostly seemed as a respect to God. The women all wore the basic dresses, and all the skirts fell down below the knee. Everybody was proper and ordered. As I walked in the church I entered a lobby of some kind. What I saw hear was something like social hour. Everybody was in there. They were all speaking Greek, and I felt as if I was in a family reunion party. The children were all together; the adults talked together and the young adults all were together. The way they all socialize is when someone comes up to say hello, they give each other a kiss on the cheek and a hug. These people are all very close to each other. It seems as if the church is the center of their lives. I admire that trait as well. To enter the auditorium you must enter this little room, which has a piece of garment from St. Constantine and St. Helen. Also there were candles lit. As they walked through this little room they lit a candle and knelt down for a moment to pray, and then touched each garment and made a cross over their chest.
The church plays a crucial role in the parishioners' life because it teaches the Gospel of Jesus to bring people closer to God. It encourages them to love and forgive others as God love and forgive us. The church’s role in the community is to help people need and be tolerant of other beliefs. The different icons that covered the walls and the ceiling show the basic beliefs of the church because it nurtures the parishioners’ spirituality through the worship. Moreover, the sermon and rituals also provide the basic beliefs of the church.
On Sunday, November 13, 2016, I visited The Pentecostal Church of Memphis, TN Sunday worship service at two o’clock p.m. The members of the church were very friendly and welcoming. Many of the members of the church came and personally introduce themselves, including the senior Pastor, his wife, many of the lower Pastors, and other church officials or position holders. I was assigned a designated member of the church to sit with during the service to assist me with anything I may have needed. The church service began with Pastor’s wife announcing and recognizing each of the visitors of the church.
...express their beliefs as well as listen to the words of the Lord. As Jesus said at his last meal with his disciples before his execution, “Do this in memory of me”. This quote is reflected in the mass in the stage of ‘being fed’ when an adherent receives both the body and blood of Christ, called Transubstantiation. In this way, Christian adherents are able to unit in a diverse environment following the ways that our Lord has taught us. Therefore through this, Christian adherents are able to express their faith.
Growing up, I was raised in a southern Baptist church setting. Every Sunday you were required to attend church which included going to Sunday school, first service, and second service. You were also required to be active in the church whether it be ushering or singing in the choir. For my foreign experience of worship I decided to attend a Catholic church. At first I was a bit skeptical about stepping outside of my background history of worship because I thought that attending a Catholic church may change some of my beliefs or practices. I will admit before my attendance to this Catholic Church I had negative thoughts and was determined that my paper would be only about negative experience that I had. Once I entered the church all of my negative thoughts were out of my mind. Prior to researching background information I really didn’t think that Catholics and Baptist had a lot in common, besides their belief in the faith of Jesus Christ. In my essay about my Catholic Church experience I will describe the physical setting of the church, tell you about the church service, and lastly tell