Greek Orthodox Church the Only

Greek Orthodox Church

The only real exposure I had ever had to the Greek Orthodox church before this assignment was going to my first Greek Festival back in high school. I had the pleasure of talking to a priest there, who explained their services. One of things that I noticed right off was that a lot of the traditions resembled the Catholic Church's traditions. I remember asking the priest about it. Unfortunately, I don't remember a lot of what he said (I admit I was much more interested in the food and traditional clothing than the religion). I don't think I had any outstanding stereotypes about the church, but then again, I've never been to a service. My perspective will probably change afterward. I'm glad I got this assignment because it will give me a chance to learn more -- something I should have done when I had the chance years ago.

According to the Catholic Encyclopedia (no date), "The Greek Orthodox Churches are Churches separated from Rome and following the Byzantine Rite, i.e. The rite developed at Constantinople between the fourth and tenth centuries." I didn't know this, but according to greekorthodoxchurch.org, the Greek Orthodox Church can trace its roots all the way back to Pentecost, where the Bible says the disciples first started preaching the Gospel in languages other than their own. The disciples took Pentecost as a sign that they were permitted to preach the Gospel to non-Jews, and the beginnings of the Orthodox church were created.

The church itself got its start back in 1833, when 36 bishops decided to create their own Holy Synod, or a group of bishops authorized to elect the head of a church. The church's authority itself was not recognized until 1850, however. Currently, the Greek Orthodox church has five members in its Holy Synod. The Church of Greece, located in Greece itself, has over two and a half million members. I was shocked to learn this; I knew that the Greek Orthodox Church would have followers in Greece, of course, but I would never have thought there would be so many. The Yearbook of American & Canadian Churches (2000), reports that the U.S. has 1,950,000 members, close to the Greek number.

I watched the streaming online service of the Greek Orthodox Church of the Holy Cross in Belmont California, which has its online services during the week as well as Sundays. The first thing I noticed was that the church had a lot of similarities to a Catholic church, just as I remembered from many years ago. There is a large picture of the crucifixion on the wall, and a lot of images of saints on the wall too. A reader read from the Bible, and there was a response sung. Later, the priest talked about the scripture of the day, which was the beheading of John the Baptist. The scriptures themselves were read in English, but the actual rites were done in part English, part Greek. The priests' robes were also very similar to the Catholic version. When the audience recited the Nicene Creed, it was done in English, which surprised me -- I was sure that a statement of faith would be done in a traditional language. There were only two real differences that I noted: the bread for communion was cut with a small knife, instead of being broken apart, and there were bells rung during certain prayers.

I found out from goarch.org (no date) that the spear shaped knife, known as a lonche, was symbolic of the spear that was used to pierce Jesus in the side after his crucifixion. I also discovered that the bread was cut apart in a very specific manner, and that only one piece (the piece that symbolized Jesus' crucifixion) was speared in the middle.

The bells were part of the censor, or thurible. The censor holds burning incense; at this church, the censor is swung during the Eucharist. The Eucharist is symbolic of Jesus' death on the cross. A cantor usually sings while the censing is taking place.

I was unable to get an interview with anyone from Holy Cross, since they were really busy with their upcoming Greek Festival, but they recommended one of the best known Greek Orthodox churches in the Bay Area -- the Greek Orthodox Cathedral of the Ascension in Oakland, California, which was the first church built in the East Bay. According to the cathedral's website, Greeks in Oakland began celebrating their liturgy in a rented hall with a priest from the Greek Orthodox Cathedral of the Holy Trinity in San Francisco. In 1921, The Greek Orthodox Church was built in downtown Oakland and dedicated to the Koimisis (the Dormition, or Assumption, of the Mother of God). Orthodox Greeks, like Catholics, believe that Jesus' mother Mary did not die but was taken up into heaven. The church was dedicated to that moment in their religious history. The original church even had a hall for religious instruction and community events.

Over time, the church grew and in 1960, a new church was built on its present site in the Oakland hills. It was dedicated to the Analypsis, or Ascension, of Jesus into heaven, and had a new community center built in 1976. It was granted cathedral status in 1992. This church has served six generations of Greeks throughout its existence; it celebrated its 90th year of existence in 2007. The old church was given historical landmark status, and still exists in downtown Oakland.

Father Tom Zaferes, parish priest, was willing to answer my questions (personal interview, August 2011). He pointed out that a lot of the Greeks emigrated to the United States starting in the 1920s and continued through the 1960s. They needed a place to congregate, and the church became that place. Needless to say, it was very important for them to maintain their culture in a foreign country, since it was a familiar thing in an unfamiliar land. The church gave them a place to preserve that culture, as well as a way to preserve language.

He also noted that the makeup of the church has changed over time. Nowadays, many people come because they want to share that connection with their families. Generations of Greeks have been part of the church. He added that people of different ethnicities are also starting to join the church, and it is partly because they see it as an institution. "People want to be a part of something with a history." As a result, young people today will attend services almost identical to the ones their great grandparents attended, down to the language itself. Also, if a Greek Orthodox member were to go back in time and worship in a Greek Orthodox church in, early AD Jerusalem, they would see the same service they would see today.

When I asked Father Tom which part of the church was most important to him, he told me that faith is most important. "I take great pride in my Greek heritage," he said, "but I wouldn't have become a priest if I didn't believe what the church said." Considering what he mentioned earlier about non-Greeks becoming part of the church because of their faith, I can see his point.

I then asked him if he felt that there were a lot of stereotypes about religions that people were not used to. He said that there were, but they were due to cultural forces. "The media has a lot of influence on us. We're given the "news" version-- 'Islamic jihadist does this', 'Catholic priest does this'. They never talk about the positive things people do, because they're focused on the negative ones." That was a perspective I hadn't considered at all. Father Tom doesn't feel that there is a way to fix the situation, unless it's done one person at time. "People need to come to an understanding and accept that others are different. You or I may not think they're right, but they have the right to believe. That's what this country was founded on."

I don't think I really had any misconceptions about the religion to begin with. I figured they were a "splinter group" from the Catholic Church, and I was right. Catholics still see them as "one of us," though, so I guess they're not considered too far away from their roots.

I 'm starting to understand just how much of the church is ethnically based. It's not just based in Greece, it incorporates Greek history and life into every aspect. The classmate who originally invited me to that first Greek Festival was not only Greek herself, but was taking part as a dancer. So she had the privilege of learning about her faith and her culture at the same time. I don't think many other religions do that -- for instance, I know Baptists are a branch of Protestantism, and Southern Baptists tend to be from the South, but not all of them are the same ethnic background, so they don't share the same experiences. As great as it is to have one thing that everyone shares, it's even better to have more than one to relate to. I think that makes people take their faith even more seriously.