tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6574198575168538104.post4238136039095633720..comments2024-02-27T14:15:43.978-06:00Comments on Modern Medievalism: Things I’ve learned from Eastern Orthodoxy, again: Cheesefare SundayThe Modern Medievalisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07238571174836044412noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6574198575168538104.post-40682029936464820602015-06-29T07:17:33.948-05:002015-06-29T07:17:33.948-05:00So... I realise several liturgical seasons have pa...So... I realise several liturgical seasons have passed since you wrote this, so I really hope you'll excuse my necropost-ish comment.<br /><br />One of the reasons OCA parishes avoid Byzantine Chant is because it's Greek, not Russian. Now, OCA parishes will often use a selection of music from various chanting traditions, but—aside from Byzantine Chant in English being weird—the 'default', if you will, is Western-style Russian Chant. Or, for whatever reason, Serbian Chant. Whilst I prefer Byzantine Chant (my own OCA parish does a particularly haunting version of Phos Hilarion), its use outside of Greek parishes is limited by its complexity and the fact the (possibly vast) majority of people trained in it are members of the Greek Archdiocese. <br /><br />I won't lie, as a 20 year old male, I occasionally am tempted to sit during the Divine Liturgy, but immediately decide against it when I see 70 year old women standing the whole time. Ironically, I hate pews. Like... whenever I travel, and go to an Antiochian or Greek parish, the pews make me feel uncomfortably confined. And, they make it impossible to metany at the appropriate times.<br /><br />The Russian women at my central GA parish certainly dress as you describe, which I didn't even think of as strange until I saw them prostrating during Great Lent services.<br /><br />I plead guilty to wandering around the church, as well as synchronically crossing myself dramatically. It just happens; I can't help it.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00554830859411216515noreply@blogger.com