St. Paul Antiochian Orthodox Christian Church

[umaara100]

Thanks Megakrishan123,but are they open to African Americans.Ive found out that some orthodox churches are sadly ethnic churches.Not wanting anyone outside of their ethnic group coming.Is their a Greek rite catholic church in Tuscaloosa.Im in Tuskegee and the one oca mission in Montgomery is so small i cant get the fullness of worship out of it and the priest only comes once a month. 

[umaara100]

I like this.I could join a church like this.Its to be in between Catholic and Eastern and i love it.As far as the wafers concerned.I like that also.Alabama is almost dead as ear as this tradition is concerned but there are some here.Keep up the good work you are doing

[MegaKrishan123]

@umaara100 I'm a Greek Orthodox rite Catholic living in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. On Sundays, I run from Catholic to Orthodox Churches. On special holy days I attend the Greek Melkite Chuch in Birmingham. There are some here indeed!

[StealthGoblin1]

When the video started playing, I thought, hey that's Gregorian chant not Byzantine chant! Then I heard it was a WRO church under the Antiochian archdiocese.

[serbocroat]

i thought he was suppose to havea  beard ...:S its weird to see a preist without one

[forth1102]

What did they mean when they said the music was western but the theology was orthodox, I thought the entire orthodox had the same liturgy? Where did the western influence come from I thought the antiochian rite came from syria?

[rstvz1]

i live close to this place walking distance hahaha

[SBDthom]

"And were those wafers for the holy bread? We use levened bread for theologically significant reasons too. I like the Western rite idea, but I will not attend a Western Rite Church if they don't hold fast to those practices which preserve the Orthodox Tradition."

The Western Rite Vicariate has mandated that all parishes using the western liturgies use leavened bread, according to proper Orthodox practice. What you see there are leavened wafers, which my parish in Whittier also uses.

[EverythingZen14]

That's good to know. I feel better about the use of leavened wafers. I still dont like the crossing without making some sort of sign with the fingers, but, then again, I like the Russian Old Believer style of crossing much better, and yet I remain Eastern Orthodox and have no problem crossing myself in the Greek fashion.

And you are right, God looks at the heart, not the externals. Well put, brother.

I didn't know the Presanctified Liturgy came out of the West. Interesting.

[E3Harrison]

I visted your parish in whittier a few months ago, very nice. =)

Parishoner of St Andrews in Riverside

[IAmScotto]

Orthodox Christianity is not about 3 fingers up/two fingers down or leavened bread. These traditions have (taken on) meaning to us, but that does not mean the Western tradition in which they are absent is/was not Orthodox. The Pre-Sanctified Liturgy is from the Western tradition, after all.

Orthodoxy is about living the true faith of the Apostles and adhering to the guidance of the Holy Spirit in the Ecumenical Councils -- period! May God bless the Western Rite and all Orthodox Christians.

[E3Harrison]

And living the Orthodox faith also means to make the sign of the cross correctly which obviously is a theological expression of christ dual natures and the holy trinity.

[EverythingZen14]

It worries me, that I saw the priest in this video cross himself without making the proper sign with his fingers, and I thought he went the wrong direction too. A lot of theological meaning is lost when you start crossing yourself improperly.

[EverythingZen14]

And were those wafers for the holy bread? We use levened bread for theologically significant reasons too. I like the Western rite idea, but I will not attend a Western Rite Church if they don't hold fast to those practices which preserve the Orthodox Tradition.

[HVACSoldier]

Nice video.

[MarthaRRLeBlanc]

maybe Pope Benedict will get sick of dealing with all of the liturgical abuses since vatican 2, and just become Orthodox western rite. Maybe? :)

[kd5tmu]

He has way too much to give up. But if the See of Rome ever did become Orthodox again, I fully expect it to retain its Western Practice.

[NihilNominis]

I hope it would...I wish Orthodoxy had a vibrant West.

[kd5tmu]

AMIN! And it seems that we meet not only on Desert Calling, but also on YouTube!

[EverythingZen14]

There is Orthodoxy in the West, most of it is just according to the Eastern traditions (little t). Despite the fact that the eastern practices are so strange and foreign to us here in the West, people still convert because Orthodoxy is the Truth. I think the Western rite is good - it helps eliminate the unnecessary barrier some people meet when they enter an Orthodox Church of an eastern rite.