The Sunday of Orthodoxy

Today is officially the first Sunday of Great Lent, and we were able to find a local Orthodox Church. It was actually St. Nicholas Cathedral and the Bishop was present. (Because of language difficulties, we're not sure which Bishop it was, we just know he had a staff. We just googled the Metropolitan of Korea and it wasn't him. Should you google a Bishop? It sounds inappropriate.) In catechism we were taught that the Church is united through her liturgy - the order of services, the sacraments, the Church calendar, etc. While we can't be all together physically, even an ascetic alone in a desert can be united to the Church temporally and spiritually by participating in her liturgy. Never before was this truth as evident as this morning; it was like coming home. The service was primarily in Korean, with small parts repeated in English. However, liturgy in Seoul is the same as the liturgy in Iowa City, as in East Moline, as in Chicago; so even though we didn't know the language we could pray along with those around us, and know that we were praying along with our Church family at home.

This first Sunday of Great Lent is called "The Sunday of Orthodoxy" or "The Triumph of Orthodoxy." It commemorates the return of icons into the life of the Church in 842, after an iconoclastic Imperial edict had removed them. It does so by reenacting a procession that occurred on that date, carrying icons into the Hagia Sophia. More than simply the return of the icons, it celebrates the power of the Church to withstand the persecutions which have often threatened her. After Church we went to coffee hour, or as it should be call here, "bee-bim bop hour." This is the same thing they do at the Korean United Methodist Church in Bettendorf, so we can only assume that sitting down for lunch after Church is a very Korean thing to do. While we were enjoying the "eighth sacrament," we were also enjoying what we later realized was our first conversation with native English speakers in days. While the congregation was mostly Korean, with a sizable Russian segment, there were a handful of us Americans. We met a couple teaching at the International School, and another gentleman who has been teaching English in Korea since August. We also ate with a very friendly Russian fellow who is an engineer for Samsung. The five of us Americans all happened to be "converts" to Orthodoxy, having grown up in different Christian traditions. The Russian gentleman shared that he, too, was baptized into Orthodoxy as an adult, after the Soviet collapse. He recalled the times "when to go to Church was to betray your country." This seemed an appropriate story to share today. As it was 1100 years earlier in Byzantium, so it is today, the state is still unable to prevail over the Church.

That's all for today. When Thomas wakes up from his nap, we're going to go to Starbuck's (per Thomas' request, honestly!) and then probably do some shopping. Here's the pictures of the boys we promised. We'll see them again tomorrow for their physicals, so we'll get some fresh pictures in new outfits. Until then, have a blessed day!