A Short Walk Through the Sea of Faith

The Anunciation Church of St Anthony, Lipscani, Bucharest

As a graduate of religious studies, founded on a lifelong fascination with comparative religions, I am always drawn with great interest to the religious practices and material culture of any place that I visit. This interest manifests itself in my compulsion, both here and abroad, to visit churches and cemeteries (my university studies were focussed on the rituals and rhetoric of death) - so it was with a great deal of delight that I approached my visit to Romania; I am particularly drawn to the theatricality of religious ritual - both in the actual practice of those rituals, and also the visual depictions of ritual and the religious texts upon which those rituals are founded. The Romanian Orthodox church has both in abundance; I was expecting this, getting excited over it and planning 'study visits' to several churches and cathedrals (one reason for my choice of hotel location - many old churches were within walking distance!)

What I did not quite expect, throughout the whole week, was to see so much 'faith in action'. A broad cross section of the population seemed to be actively practising their faith in a very matter of fact, en passant 'pop in and kiss an icon' way, integrated into their lives rather than set apart as a special event. Communism indeed laid its cold hand on this country in more ways than one, but it does not seem to have choked religious belief or  practice from at least a part of the body of the population.

Icon of the Theotokos, Church of St Paraskeva, Brasov

We were extremely fortunate to arrive in Bucharest the day before a major festival of the Orthodox Church. The Protection of the Theotokos (The Mother of God) commemorates and celebrates an apparition of Mary at a church in Blachernae (Constantinople) in the 10th century, at which, it is told, She removed her veil (the festival is also known as 'The Feast of the Protecting Veil') and placed it over the attending congregation. The festival celebrates the protection offered both by the Mother of God in her acts of intercession between Humanity and her Son, and the protection of the Christian Church.

Icons of this event often depict Mary with her cloak/veil held out with many people sheltering beneath it. (A convert to Orthodox Christianity, Sir John Tavener wrote one of his best known pieces 'The Protecting Veil' in honour of the belief).

Thus we ventured forth on Tuesday 1st October, intending a quiet wander around a few churches before a more active week got underway. Instead we were met, at every church we visited, by choral services attended by worshippers filling each interior, and in one church (The Annunciation church of St Anthony), streaming out of the doors, down steps and queuing in the surrounding passageways to light handfuls of votive candles in the twinkling shadows of the Pangaria (candle stations), to both the beloved living and the dead. Even many of those who were just passing by did not omit to vigorously cross themselves as they entered the environs of the church.

Candles - and prayers - for the Beloved Dead

Orthodox worship is a full-on experience. Even when no services are in progress, I am always drawn in to the vividly coloured events depicted in the frescoes and the glittering images on the icons (which are not in themselves intended to be worshipped, as is sometimes thought, but are seen as a 'channel' between the Human and the Divine - a 'focussing' mechanism  to aid the possibility of a moment of transcendence). Add to this background imagery the shimmer of candlelight on precious metals & stones, the smell of incense, the chant of the priest (and possibly choir) - it can be - and was - quite mesmerising.

The Interior of the church, following day

I rarely enter a place of worship when services are in progress - though it seemed acceptable to do so if one stood right at the back of the church (just inside the door, in the narthex) and behaved respectfully. On the 1st October, it was not possible so to do. Participants  were queuing to get in , and were pouring out in equal measure. The doors were blocked and it would have been impertinent to push through.

I did not need to - instead, I sat on a step and just looked…and listened.

Take just a minute to do so alongside me.

 

Comments

[Mad Englishwoman and Dog]

Thank you for clarifying the meaning of that overused word 'icon(ic)'. I found your film very moving. It must have been almost overwhelming to have been there.

[Lieselotte]

The "singsong" of the priest reminds me strongly of the way it is done by the "Pappas" in the Greek Orthodox church; also the habit of believers coming into the church and leaving during service seems to be similar. And they have their special huge icon which believers kiss on entering the church ( I attended some Greek services while my husband had to stay in a hospital in Volos, to watch in awe and to feel a kind of deep meditation - maybe the incense does work, after all ? )