Orthodox music is dynamic and its style varies, depending on the liturgical cycle, the liturgical calendar and the text being sung or chanted. It also varies according to the culture from which it developed! Some music is written to lead us to repentance and is therefore somber. Other music is celebratory and joyful. Orthodox music expresses the Orthodox “ethos”, which has been described as “joyful sorrow”. Like The Psalms from which much of our musical text derives, there is a full range of human emotion expressed in Orthodox liturgical music.

For a sample of Orthodox liturgical music click here...

For a sample of Orthodox chant click here...

Some of the first words that Jesus spoke are recorded to be, “Repent, and believe in the gospel." (Mark: 1:15). Many Christians today seem to focus exclusively on “believe”, without remembering that Our Lord says first we must “repent”! Just as His command to “believe” is not understood by Orthodox Christians to be a one-time act, in the same way Orthodox Christians understand repentance to be a continuing command as well. The Orthodox attitude towards spirituality, its very “ethos”, reflects the attitude of the tax – collector, the sinner, as extolled by Christ Himself (Luke 18:10-14). You will hear a lot of “Lord Have Mercy”, in Orthodox services!
 

You will see candles burning before the icons and on the altar, signifying the light of truth given by the Lord, illuminating the world with spiritual radiance. Candles also represent the non-created light of the Holy Trinity, for the Lord dwells in an unapproachable light. They also represent the fire of Divinity which destroys our ungodliness and sins. Candles also symbolize our soul's burning love of God and the spiritual joy and triumph of the Church. The candles before the icon of Christ signify that He is the True Light which lights every man that comes into the world.

The incense spreading in the church symbolizes the prayer of the faithful sent up to God and at the same time it is a symbol of the Grace of the Holy Spirit mysteriously embracing them.Before every censing a priest reads a secret (quiet) prayer: "We offer onto Thee, 0 Christ our God, this incense for an odor of spiritual sweetness which do Thou accept upon Thy most heavenly altar, sending down upon us in return the Grace of Thy Holy Spirit." Listening to this prayer we understand that the smoke visible to everybody denotes the invisible presence of the Lord’s Grace, which is sanctifying the faithful.
 

Wall icons and artwork appeared in Jewish temples early in ancient history (note: Duros Europos Temple destroyed in the mid 200’s) even before their use in Christian churches.  Because the Son of God took on human flesh and became incarnate as man in Jesus Christ, the Church decreed (not without much debate!) it was appropriate to portray the glory of God incarnate visually through icons. Icons are NOT idols or graven images (which depicted images of false gods), and their place in Christian worship and piety was clearly articulated, defended and approved at the Seventh Ecumenical Council of the Church in the 8TH Century. Byzantine icon style may seem austere and strange at first. They are not meant to depict the natural beauty of the material world, but rather the spiritual beauty of the Kingdom of Heaven and its inhabitants (Saints). Icons are venerated, but not worshipped, by Orthodox Christians. This is a misunderstanding by some in modern Christendom, especially those who have been influenced by Puritan and Anabaptist traditions, and the Islamic tradition, which rejects any and all images.
 

In our services and in our piety we praise those who were with Christ on earth and whom we know to be “alive” in Christ’s presence now although departed from the body (the saints)! Hebrews 12:1 writes, “…we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses…”  In God and His Church there is no division between the living and the departed. As we pray for one another and ask for one another’s prayers, so we ask the faithful departed to pray for us and we continue to pray for them out of love.
After the Holy Trinity, we especially venerate the Mother of God (Theotokos in Greek), the Blessed Virgin Mary. This praise has a biblical basis (Luke 1: 28; 42-43; 48) and is due her because of her unique role as the “birth-giver” of God. By giving honor to the Mother of God we honor the Son whom she bore. We never forget that Our Lord was truly incarnate, that He truly had a human Mother, and a real family history! We reject any notion that Our Lord simply passed through Mary as water through a pipe, to be discarded after being used! Mary the birth-giver of God was specifically chosen by God before all time to bring forth, nurture and raise the Son of God! She was the first follower of Christ! She is our model of faith! She is with Him now in the heavens! Having said this Orthodox Christians do not blur the line between God and the Mother of God, and worship is offered only to the Holy Trinity through Christ.

For more on piety towards the Mother of God click here...

This is done out of reverence and respect for the Holy Eucharist, not for the man. Saint John Chrysostom (one of Christianity’s greatest church fathers) wrote if one were to meet an Orthodox Priest walking along with an Angel, he should greet the Priest first and kiss his hand, since that hand has touched the Body and Blood of the Lord.
 

Orthodox understand the "call no man father" passage (Matthew 23:9) specifically in the context of our Lord contending with certain rabbis of His day who were using these honorific titles to accomplish their own selfish, prideful and hypocritical ends. Had these same apostate rabbis been using other titles, like "reverend" and "pastor," Jesus might as easily have said, "Call no man reverend or pastor." His condemnation was not of the use of “father” (or any specific title) but of the hypocrisy and pride of the Pharisees and rabbis in their use of it. St. Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 4:15.  "For though you might have ten thousand instructors in Christ, yet you do not have many fathers…"  St. Paul seems to claim to be the ‘Spiritual Father' of the Corinthians! St. Paul, an Apostle of Christ Jesus obviously did not interpret our Lord’s words to mean that only our Heavenly Father can be called “father”. In Luke 16:24 Jesus tells us that the rich man cries out “Father Abraham, have mercy on me...” Abraham did not correct or criticize the rich man by saying, “call no man father”! Are we saying that the Apostle ignored Jesus? Are we saying our Lord Jesus Christ contradicted Himself and violated his own statements? We think not! Rather the passage must be understood in its specific context of condemning hypocrisy, self-aggrandizement and pride, rather than a universal condemnation of the use of “father”.
 

The faith-works divide, especially in the Protestant West, reflects a decisive (and Orthodox believe regretful) innovation in Christian theology beginning in the 16th century. It was largely a reaction against the use of “indulgences” by the Roman Catholic Church and their proper rejection by Martin Luther and the Reformers. The Orthodox Church believes the Reformers’ theology went too far however, by driving a wedge between faith and works. The faith-works dichotomy does not exist biblically, or in the eastern Christian spiritual tradition. We are clearly called to “Have faith in God” (Mark 11:22). But we are also exhorted to “work out your own salvation with fear and trembling (Phil. 2:12)”. And we are reminded that “…faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead” (James 2:17). Perhaps the most sobering warning comes from Saint Paul who warns us of “the righteous judgment of God, who ‘will render to each one according to his deeds’” (Rom. 2: 5-6). Orthodox theology and spirituality therefore emphasize a balance between faith and works.
 

Since "…without faith it is impossible to please Him" (Heb. 11:6), a Christian who wants to please God and be assured his works will be accepted by God, must first have faith in God and then form his life and activity accordingly. It is on the basis of our faith and our works that we will be judged!