clipped from www.goarch.org
From: The Ancient Fathers of the Desert: Section 6 by V. Rev. Chrysostomos, trans.
A certain simple believer in our own times told the following: I once went to a beautiful church with some friends. The music was melodious. The priest was pious and learned. The faithful were orderly, very pious in their behavior, and quiet. My friends were very moved and spoke continuously of their experience that day.
Yet another time, I was in a small, humble church. The priest of the church was negligent in his spirituality. The Psalmody was not pleasing. The faithful constantly talked and moved about. They seemed uninterested, if not distracted. The friends I had with me were disgusted by these circumstances.
At the first service I felt a warmth and happiness in seeing my friends happy with the church. I felt proud. At the second service, I felt shame. I was embarrassed by the behavior of the faithful and I was deeply shaken by the disappointment of my friends.
Asking that God forgive me for this revelation, there were other differences between these two services. At the first, beautiful service, I had tears in my eyes, as did many others. I looked up and imagined that I could see angels above me. At the second service, my eyes were almost completely dry. I thought of nothing above me. Yet, at the second service, my heart was burning with tears and I felt the souls of those who worshipped with me. Truly on every side, in our midst, were beings so gentle and full of peace that I was lost in wonderment at God’s beauty. I did not see the external irregularities.
Such is the strange chasm which separates the beauty of men from the beauty of God.
Filed under: Chant, Christian Orthodoxy, Christianity, Desert Fathers, Liturgical Music, Orthodox Christianity, Prayer, Psalmody, Religion
