Divine Liturgy

"We cannot describe it to you; we only know that God dwells there among men and that their Service surpasses the worship of all other places…” Report of envoys of Vladmir of Kiev after attending the Liturgy in the Great Church of Holy Wisdom in Constantinople – late 10^th Century.

I haven’t worked out exactly when the Liturgy starts on the Lord’s Day morning. There is no such thing as a notice with times of services. I knew that arriving at Ayios Dimitrios, as I did, some time after 9, things would already be in progress, but I was surprised at to what extent – the gospel reading for, example, had already passed. I was there though for the central eucharistic part, which was accompanied by incredibly beautiful singing, a few samples of which I have included below. The bishop’s (still haven’t confirmed that that’s who he is) sermon, which came after the Eucharistic ceremony, lasted slightly over eighteen minutes (I recorded it) and was very spirited. The acoustics made it particularly difficult to make out what he was saying, but there was a strong focus on the person of the Lord Jesus Christ towards the end.

After the liturgy there are generally one or two private ceremonies, which are held in and around the sanctuary as others leave the building. I was puzzled by today’s. Could it have been to do with the anniversary of someone’s death? Family members stood around dressed in various shades of grey and black and what looked like the widow was at the forefront. Just inside the sanctuary was a table with white flowers on it and an iced low-angled cone shaped cake with what appeared to be one candle on it. The priest stood in the porch to the iconostasis door and recited the words of the ceremony, making extensive use of the censer in the latter part.

Download S6302107.WAV
Download S6302106.WAV
As people left, many of them filed past two priests and kissed relics the latter were holding.

On the way to church I came across something I don’t recall seeing before - people moving out of a flat with the help of a large electric ramp. The flat was on the top floor, and household items such as a fridge were loaded onto a large metal plate which remained horizontal as it purred down the ramp.