Stahlke Adoption

More Journal from Jonathan

JOURNAL

DAY 5 (28 September 2008)

AM: Breakfast, Church, and a 45-minute visit.

I told Kola that I had lit 8 candles, one for each member of our family, and said a prayer for each, naming each person for him. He repeated what I was saying in question format, as when we ask to confirm that we heard right. He was pretty thoughtful about the whole church thing.

AT CHURCH (Do Tserkvu): an interesting exchange. I was there from the beginning of the service (just before 10 am) through the offering, pretty much. After opening Kyrie and Gloria (maybe), I took the 8 candles I had bought and went to a side condlestand that was pretty much empty to give my 8 prayers and divest myself of my cargo, crossing myself before each prayer and lighting the candle and planting it, as best I could.

Now, there was a lady there, I'm sure part of the church staff (or a conscientious volunteer), who made it her business to keep all things as they should be. Luckily, she was friendly. She first told me not to drip the wax into the candle holder, rather heat the bottom of the candle and stand it in the holder. She had to eventually show me, since she was also saying all kinds of other things very quickly and probably in Russian. Then, she told me that when I pray, I should face the ican, cross myself and bow, then plant the candle. She was miming this all, so I'm sure that is what she was saying.

Then, she suddenly stopped herself and said (in clear Ukrainian), "Oh, you're just a Christian," (meaning, not Orthodox). That seemed to satisfy her, and she moved on. I proceeded to give several more prayers and condles to this fairly empty holder, but couldn't face the icon exactly because others were in the way, and I was crossing myself and bowing and doing the candle right, when she returned, clearly vexed, to correct me on one more point, which clearly couldn't be ignored, even if I WAS just a Christian.

I was giving all of my candles to the same stand (using them all on the same icon), which was either wrong, destructive, distracting, or (at the very least) ignorant. I was to give only one to each icon that I wanted, moving on to another and another, till I was done. For all I know, I was praying to a saint (if that's what Orthodox do) who only helps women or widows or some horrible condition. This particular candle stand WAS empty, and I was only going there so that I could fit all 8 candles on the same stand. Who knows what they thought I was doing. But, either way, I stopped before I damaged myself any further.

One more thing: There were two younger men circulating for offering. I gave a 20 gr. ($4 USD) (more than most of what was in there) to the first guy, who was dressed like a young priest. Then, the second (who looked like a seminarian, maybe dressed all in black) came around, right behind him, and people gave to him as well, making me think that we were giving to two different causes, or two different categories of church workers, or something. I believe the box in the church is either for the building upkeep or the poor or some mission. Hard to say.

posted by Stahlkes @ 8:36 PM