A Protestant View on Orthodoxy
The Lord Jesus Christ
“We could take a cue from Orthodoxy, whose priests stand with their backs to their congregation, leading a liturgy that is neither clever nor impassioned, but simply beautiful, like stone smoothed by centuries of rhythmic tides. It’s an austere ritual, in the sense of – there’s nothing new here; it’s sublime, in the sense of – creating a clearer view into Heaven. The priest can be any priest. Who he is, what he looks like, how he speaks, and what he thinks matter little. He hasn’t written the service that he officiates. It isn’t about him or his prowess. He’s an interchangeable functionary draped in brocaded robes, obscured by incense, and, as such, never points to himself, a flawed human, pointing ever and only to the Perfection of the Mysterious Divine. That is the role of every priest or preacher – invisibility, while making God seen.”
*Taken from here… and thanks to Andreas Blom for the inspiration!
Your perseverance in maintaining this blog is heartening. Please pray for all those souls, mine included, who fret and feel themselves inexorably attracted to the cup of despair that comes in the aftermath of undue dalliance with this world.
The cult of personality seems to be so prominent in Protestant/Evangelical church leadership. There is such a deep truth in this quoted perspective on the Orthodox Church. It’s not about us, but about God- He is the focus of our worship!
Isn’t that the goal of all of us – to “bear” God – and fade into the background as our “selves”?
Beautiful quote!
The Orthodox witness is indeed a much needed one for the rest of us who bear the name of Christ.
I attended some Protestant gatherings last year, and one of the things that struck me, after being out of touch with the Protestant ethos for about 20 years or so, is that nowadays for them “worship leader” seems synonymous with “entertainer”.
Fortunately the Catholic Church doesn’t have these issues that have infested the Protestants/Evangelicals.
Though we, the Catholic Church, can learn much from our Orthodox brothers in celebrating Mass (Divine Liturgy) much more reverently with a focus on God instead of the priest.