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Vigils, postscript

Posted on March 9, 2007 | Filed Under antiochian archdiocese, vigils 

The preceeding conceded, I can take some time to reflect back on my experience trying to introduce vigils into normal Antiochian parish life.

When I first began planning everything out, I had hoped to rotate between churhes in the diocese. However, we always ended up drifting back to St. George, Norwood. This was for a few reasons, not the least of which was the good raport we had with the gracious pastor there. I was always afraid I’d receive a hostile reaction from other parishes, and other clergy. I’m not saying it would have been so much as could have been a very unpleasant exchange. The intensity of this style of “liturgical piety” has the potential to stir up bad reactions today just as it did a century ago for St. Nicholas.

So we always kept a low profile. The head of the local chapter of the fellowship criticized us for our surreptitiousness. For the last vigil, the commemoration St. Raphael of Brooklyn, we invited him to put the word out through the diocese. He sort of got around to it; I don’t recall any of the fellowship (aside from him) showing up.

The response from those attending was ambivalent. One attendee remarked that we seemed to be having vigils just to hear ourselves sing our favorite pieces. Feeling quite deflated, I considered doing another vigil without chanting a single piece (just reading or intoning everything). We opted instead not to do another vigil. Thus ended the synodeia.

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