Readers' Services

Sorry it's taken so long to write this blog...I had the intention of writing it last week but one thing after the other came up and I haven't had time.

Last summer (2009), at CrossRoad, there were a few times that we didn't have a priest for one of the daily services. We did Readers' services, which basically means that you can do any service except Liturgy without a priest. The litanies/petitions are omitted, in some traditions substituting 3 or 12 Κύριε ελέισονs, depending on the length of the litany. Where the priest says "Blessed is our God," "For Thine is the Kingdom," or another short priest prayer, the Reader says "Through the Prayers of our holy fathers, Lord Jesus Christ our God, have mercy on us and save us. Amen."

Over the summer, on Project Mexico, I was talking to Demitra, a CrossRoad friend of mine who is a sophomore at Hellenic College this year. I was asking her all kinds of questions about life here. Once I asked her if they ever do not have a priest; if they ever do readers' services like we did at CrossRoad a few times. She said not, but sometimes there is no deacon so the priest takes the deacon's parts. I was excited, not having expected a deacon to serve for daily services...I would assume they would only serve on Sundays. Regardless, the point is that Demitra had not experienced a readers' service on campus during her freshman year. I haven't experienced one yet this year either.

So remember about the ecumenical people that were here for meetings last week? Well, they were here for Orthros the following morning, as well. We were all sitting in the chapel, waiting patiently for Orthros to start. Around 8:05, Deacon Jim (Demetrios) comes to the center of the solea and says "Good morning. My name is Deacon Demetrios. Our priest just called in sick." There were no priests floating around the sides of the chapel, as there usually are. Deacon Jim was getting ready to explain readers' services, and I was thinking, "Just great! The first time we don't have a priest is when we have sixty non-Orthodox visitors and they're going to wonder what's wrong with us!"

Just then the front door opens, Deacon Jim turns his eyes to the narthex, and says, "Glory be to God. we have a priest!" and walks back to the side of the church. Fr. Milad had just walked in, exhausted from a recent trip, but as a faithful servant, ready to serve Orthros.

That was an interesting experience that I wanted to share :)

By the way, we do readers' services all the time in the dorm chapel (e.g. Compline, Paraklesis), but as I said, we haven't done Vespers or Orthros as a readers' service since I've been here. Understandably, too...there are many priests on campus! If one doesn't show up, there's a zillion others :)