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Ilya,

At the Divine Liturgy with the ordination and enthronement of the new bishop you will have just participated in the Real Banquet. The fellowship that follows is a vital part of that banquet of thanksgiving. Rejecting such fellowship is a grave insult to the gathered Church. I know that the vigil at the OCA parish will be wonderful but your place on such an important day is with your father and your immediate and extended Church family.

Admin

Ha,

I have been to too many of these things, I pick church over food and speeches any day (especially good church). Even if I did go to the banquet, I would go nuts knowing that there is All-Night Vigil going on in the same city without me.

And anyways, I will be with my extended church family.

ilya

Dear Ilya,

Personally, and remember that I'm just a Greek Catholic, for you to want to attend an Orthodox service before the cheirotonia of your own Eastern Catholic bishop . . . well, that kind of isn't . . . you know what I'm talking about?

Alex

While I can understand the Admin's point, I have to agree with Ilya. These formal banquets are usually boring overall and, in my experience, include little fellowship. I'd rather to go to a liturgical service than sit in a stuffy room and stare at a dias of bishops while eating a wilted salad. Been there, done that. I'll bet that most of the priests would also prefer to be elsewhere too.

Maybe it's just something about being young...

Dave

Dear Chtec,

Boring or not, they are the stuff of which such events are made.

The Orthodox too have been known to have a boring banquet or two.

I sat through one a few weeks back.

I wanted to go home, but I was there to honour my newly ordained Orthodox priestly friend, so I stayed put.

And if you and Ilya want to become priests one day, which I hope you do, then you might as well, in addition to your ongoing liturgical formation, get used to boring banquets now.

When you are ordained and don't show up for them, you'll have more than hell to pay.

You'll have your angry parishioners.

And hell hath no fury . . .

Alex

Alex,

...I guess you could take my previous post to mean that I'd always skip banquets to go to church...

I don't disagree with you. I understand that sometimes you have to go. And they are not all incredibly boring. And I know quite well that boring banquets are known on both sides of the schism (I've been to both, and I can definately say that we have unity on this issue as well). However, when you're 20 and you can get away with running off instead of going to a banquet, I'd do it. Unless your presence is directly requested, or you have a personal connection to the person being honored, then I would stay. Besides, at this age, the ticket price can make or break the bank! Banquets don't come cheap!

I think they'd be a lot more fun if the mock-Victorian formality was chucked out the window and we just had a big Slavic-fest with a few dump trucks of pirohi and plenty of time to just talk and have fellowship.

Dave

I will be at the Chierothonia with great pleasure. I just don't see why I have to sit around at a banquet when I could be in church, where I should be the night before a Great Feast. Besides, it is probably better that I am not in the same room with lots of our bishops for a while. I may say something I can't edit.

As for going to Vigil, there is no doubt in my mind that that is where I should be.

I am assuming that all of the old calendarist priests and hierarchs will be saying vespers and matins privately later that night and not watching television.

"Orthodoxy is life; one cannot talk about it, one must live it."

-Elder Nektary of Optina

"On Sundays and feast days come to the church, and falling down with reverence before God, be mindful of all the mercies you may ever have received from Him. Thank Him for them with all your heart, and as a sign of your thankfulness, promise to live as He has commanded you. This is a sacrifice most pleasing to God."

-St. Tikhon of Zadonsk

Dear Gentlemen:

May I say that when you are young these sorts of things are just not important.

It is only when you are old and decrepit (like us) that banquets can seem uplifting.

I have been to a few myself and apart from doing honour to the guest most are quite inane.

I once went to a reception in the US for the Patriarch of Lisbon and actually felt sorry for him, many people there didn't even realize who he was.

Ilya, when did you say was the Vigil?

See you there.


defreitas

oh,

And if I ever get ordained (right), i will have a outdoor pyrohi, beer and fire fellowship, directly followed by either vespers or a molieben or something.

This would be cool,
much better than head table and speeches stuff.

And instead of expensive tickets, give the money to the church or to the poor.

ilya

7:oopm on wednesday evening.

Ilya,

With all due respect, your comments show an incomplete understanding of Church. The food and fellowship are an integral part of the celebration. To reject the gathered Church in fellowship in order to join another community for liturgical prayer is a horrible insult to the new bishop (who invited you), his eparchy and to your father. That you feel you �would go nuts� because you would be missing a Vigil is irrelevant. Life is not about what you want. The need for you to be with your immediate Church family at this celebration (even if the speeches are not interesting to you) far outweighs your personal desire to be somewhere else.

Your quote "Orthodoxy is life; one cannot talk about it, one must live it" speaks directly here. Fellowship with believers is an important part of living the Orthodox Life. You may still be too young to understand this. I strongly recommend that you seek your father�s guidance on this topic and follow whatever he tells you to do.

Admin

Dear Friends,

O.K., O.K., DON'T go to the banquet!

Like they're gonna cry if you don't show up!

I think Ilya should listen to the Administrator who is guiding him to listen to his father.

And if his father doesn't want to attend the banquet, then I give up!

Alex

Hey Kidd!

Of course get ordained.

I will certainly be happy to buy you a set of the finest vestments.

But we will have to disagree about the beer.

I found a nice Portuguese wine importer who will do much better.


Jose

I was not invited to the banquet. I do not know the man being elevated. I understand fully the importance of fellowship after the services being an extension of the liturgy. Unfotunately, I ask too many unwanted questions that get me into trouble. I think my father agrees that it's best for everyone if go somewhere else.

ilya

Dear All:

I think that the Ukrainian phrase that applies here is "treba znaty shcho vypadaje i scho ne vypadaje."

Still, we are not I-R's parents.

Yours,

kl