Orthodoxy: slow church in action

If Gideon Strauss wants to see an example of slow church, he should attend the Divine Liturgy celebrated in a local Orthodox church. The liturgy varies little from one sunday to the next, and the entire service is sung with magnificent inattention to the clock. People arrive late, with no one really taking notice. Once there, at least in the old country, they mill about for hours on end within the standing-room-only sanctuary. There is no effort to hurry through the drama of Christ's redemption being re-enacted in front of the assembled congregation. Unlike the typical protestant church, where parishioners become impatient if the sermon takes too long, none of the worshippers in an Orthodox church expect the liturgy to take any less time than it does.

The Divine Liturgy replicates the pace of a small rural village in the Balkans, in which peasants are attuned to the rhythms of the earth and the sea. Seasons come and go with no effort made to hasten their arrival or departure. The Creed will come when it comes. God will hear the prayers whether they are chanted a minute from now or an hour from now. Kyrie eleison. Kyrie eleison. Kyrie eleison.