I ride to the Church in the Patriarchate's mini bust along with a couple of the Chanters, the neokoroi of the Patriarchate, the Grand Archimandrite, a couple of the Deacons. We get to the Church and we are greeted by one of the Metropolitans that I do not realize he is a Metropolitan. The Orthodox Clergy in Constantinople (as, supposedly, all clergy) must wear a suit and tie. We are then indistinguishable from one another. Often you do not know who is clergy and who is layman. Most of the time, if they are shorter, white hair, wear coat and tie, they are probably Metropolitans.
When we in the US have a Metropolitan or Bishop come to our parishes, we have everything ready. We priests (supposedly) know to have the dikiri-trikiri (Bishop's candlesticks) with proper candles and ribbons in addition to the other things the parish should have. It's a travesty that some parishes- even after a Metropolitan/ Bishop visits them still don't learn from their mistakes and make sure that they have everything for the next time their Hierarch visits them. It was the case in New Jersey when I was there and I see it California as well.The Bishop should bring with him his vestments. Everything else should be there.
The Patriarchate leaves NOTHING to chance. We arrived at the Church of the Entrance of the Theotokos Staudromion and the neokoroi of the Patriarchate start taking out suitcases. They had brought everything for the Patriarchal Liturgy- all the Deacon's vestments and the Grand Archimandrite's vestments, Patriarchal Vestments, chalices, glasses for post communion, icons for the Patriarch's entrance prayers, censers, incense, you name it they had it. It was a well oiled machine. They have done it so often that everyone knew what was supposed to happen and they made it happen. In the space of half- hour at the most everything was ready. I could only hope for half of a well oiled machine such as this. Of course, you did not see the packing the night before. They take down was just as impressive- everything went back in its place and put in the right place in the suitcase. To be put away at the Patriarchate. These folks are always in the Cathedral for Orthros and Vespers tending to the candles and the incense- and a myriad of other chores that keeps the Patriarchal Cathedral humming.
There were about 7 or 8 Metropolitans serving with the Patriarch I took my place out of the action since I did not have any liturgical responsibilities but learn and pray. Even though I did not have any responsibilities it was still a blessing for me to be back in the altar to watch the precision of the Divine Liturgy without having to direct anyone as I normally do on Sundays. Would that I ever have a Sunday when everyone knows exactly what to do when then need to do it. Usually when I get in that mode on some Sundays just to test out whether my boys are paying attention to what needs to get done- they get the "deer in the headlights" look and scramble to do what they need to get done.
The Patriarch never raises his voice or scolds anyone during the course of the Liturgy- even when some one does something incorrectly. I am sure someone did something incorrectly, but you will never know because they carry on as if it was the way it was supposed to be. Speaking for myself, whenever I do a liturgical action incorrectly, people never know because to them it seemed that that was the way it should have been done. You keep on going. This was a special day- The main aisle of the church was packed and the side aisles also had people but not jam packed. The children from what I assume was one of the remaining Greek day schools in the Taksim area. It was good to see young people there.The other thing that stood in my mind was that after the people received their antidoron (which the Patriarch distributed along with a small icon) the milled around in the back of the Church or in the side aisles greeting one another. Similar to what we do when we greet each other in the Narthex of the Church. We pride ourselves on "taksi" - order- but in reality I think this is one of the "puritanical" things that have crept into the Church in America. Our faith is relational and to say that we shouldn't greet each other in Church is being disingenuous to who we are as Christians caring for one another. The liturgy does not end with "Through the prayers of our holy fathers..." but the liturgy is continuous through every waking moment of the day.
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| The antidoron was cut not from one big loaf with a seal but many little loaves. I liked this. I think I will recommend it to my ladies when I get back to the states |
A note about most of the Churches in Constantinople. I think I mentioned in an earlier post that the was some type of building program in the late 1700's and more in the middle of the 1800's. There was a prohibition of the churches having a dome. The Churches were built according to the basilica style in which the building is long rectangular building which was the common public building in the Roman era. The space inside the building is usually divided by colonnades (columns) that divide the space into a main central nave and side aisles and an apse on the end where the Holy Table and Sanctuary is located. In domed Churches the Icon of Christ Pantocrator is located in the dome. In the basilica Churches there is a medallion of the Pantocrator in the same position that the dome would have been (Hint for Richmond, VA).
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