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Ship of Fools: St Anthony's Monastery, Florence, Arizona, USA

The Mystery WorshipperThe Mystery Worshipper Shipmate
edited January 2021 in The Mystery Worshipper
imageShip of Fools: St Anthony's Monastery, Florence, Arizona, USA

Very special and very holy - and the abbot gets the MW calling card!

Read the full Mystery Worshipper report here


Comments

  • boston_irishboston_irish Shipmate
    I have never found Orthodox or Byzantine Rite churches to be overly welcoming. Most churches of these rites in the Boston area trace their origins to the Balkan lands, the Middle East (Lebanon and Syria), and Armenia. There are a few Slavic ones here as well. There is a large and beautiful GO church near me where I live. On my way to Mass one Sunday at Holy Cross Cathedral I popped in to see it’s beautiful iconography. I was treated with suspicion at best by an elderly woman draped in widow’s weeds. I’m not one who needs to be welcomed by trumpet blasts either but geeze. Maybe she thought I was casing the joint.
  • Amanda B ReckondwythAmanda B Reckondwyth Shipmate
    Reminds me of the old woman who, I'm convinced, gave me the "evil eye" on a visit to an Ancient Church of the East.

    With one or two exceptions, my experiences in an Orthodox church have been like yours, @boston_irish.
  • Terry TeeTerry Tee Shipmate Posts: 15
    In terms of English language accessibility, and friendliness, I can recommend Holy Resurrection Antiochian Orthodox church in East 5th St in nearby Tucson. Lovely liturgy, friendly people.
  • Bishops FingerBishops Finger Shipmate
    Welcome @Terry Tee!

    There are, I believe, a few Antiochian churches here in England, and the (possibly now retired) priest of one was once a Shipmate. I received the impression that *lovely liturgy, friendly people* was also the case in the UK.
  • Ex_OrganistEx_Organist Shipmate
    The non-Antiochian church that I attend seems to have acquired a reputation for being friendly to visitors: https://www.facebook.com/pg/OrthodoxChurchBristol/reviews/?ref=page_internal

    The number of newcomers (both Orthodox and outside enquirers) who survive past aninitial visit over the last year or so seems to be consistent with that.
  • venbedevenbede Shipmate
    When I lived in North London I often attended Orthodox churches. Thank heaven nobody tried to chat to me and left me in peace. I would sink through the floor.
  • Augustine the AleutAugustine the Aleut Shipmate
    edited February 2021
    I generally get a positive and friendly reception from local Orthodox churches, possibly because I look vaguely like somebody they may have seen somewhere. One of my Orthie friends say that I look like one of those people who married one of theirs (a major source of converts here). I once attended a Ukrainian Orthodox service with a Ukrainian speaking friend and she told me later that one of the babushkas asked who was that nice white man with young Oleksandra-- I looked confused as I am quite melanin-challenged as are the Ukrainians, and she said that some of the older people called English-speakers white as they were not serious farmers like Christians.... It's all perspective, I suppose.
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