Carlos Antonio Palad
15-04-2008, 02:25 PM
Has anybody here attended Great Week in a monastery / monasteries and / or cathedral/s in Russia and Greece?
Here and there, I've read references to the sheer spiritual sublimity and magnificence of Great Week celebrations in Russian (Trinity-Saint Sergius?) and Athonite monasteries and I hope that somebody could relate their experiences here. I also heard that some liturgical elements not normally celebrated in parishes and in the diaspora are used at Russian and Greek cathedrals and Athonite monasteries. (I'm thinking of the hymns which are normally not sung in parish usage and in the diaspora). I wonder if that is true.
I have a friend -- a Filipino like me -- who visited Moscow last year, around Great Week and Pascha. He told me that he visited a Russian Orthodox cathedral and he was overwhelmed by the heavenly beauty of the singing, so much so that he wanted to stay there the whole day. However, he knew nothing about Orthodoxy aside from that experience and so was unable to articulate his impressions.
Here and there, I've read references to the sheer spiritual sublimity and magnificence of Great Week celebrations in Russian (Trinity-Saint Sergius?) and Athonite monasteries and I hope that somebody could relate their experiences here. I also heard that some liturgical elements not normally celebrated in parishes and in the diaspora are used at Russian and Greek cathedrals and Athonite monasteries. (I'm thinking of the hymns which are normally not sung in parish usage and in the diaspora). I wonder if that is true.
I have a friend -- a Filipino like me -- who visited Moscow last year, around Great Week and Pascha. He told me that he visited a Russian Orthodox cathedral and he was overwhelmed by the heavenly beauty of the singing, so much so that he wanted to stay there the whole day. However, he knew nothing about Orthodoxy aside from that experience and so was unable to articulate his impressions.