基督教会有三大支流：罗马天主教，东正教，新教。生活在北美的华人大多熟悉基督教（新教）的礼拜仪式，尤其是福音派华人教会的主日崇拜。笔者因修读神学，偶尔被教授要求观摩体会不同背景的教会聚会。以前去过罗马天主教的聚会，最近又去了一个东正教礼拜。下面是我的感受，作为神学作业的一部分。

Richard Foster's new classic "Stream of Living Water" sketches six traditions in the history of Christian church. I would like to categorize them into three sub-groups: (1) Word-centered evangelical tradition vs Spirit-empowered charismatic tradition, (2) Prayer-filled contemplative tradition vs. Service-oriented social justice tradition, (3) Virtue-focused holiness tradition vs. Sacrament-rich incarnational tradition. My own church tradition is inter-denominational, evangelical Chinese church. It emphasizes bible-preaching and prayer-led and virtuous life while shunning away from charismatics and social justice and often detaching the sacred from the secular. My spiritual formation would be enriched by a richer and more diverse experience in the overlooked traditions of charismatics, social justice and incarnation. 

Toward this goal, I decided to visit a church very different from my own. Thus I visited the Holy Trinity Orthodox Church, Diocese of New York and New Jersey, in Rahway, NJ on Sunday, Oct.14, 2012. It is my first ever visit to Eastern Orthodox Church. What a difference in worship style! The strictly structured Sunday service protocol follows the fourth century Divine Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom. In other words, I just witnessed a tradition of about 1600 years old! 

In the aroma of incense spread about by the priest in the beginning of the service, the worshippers came in, bowed before and sometimes touched or kissed many icons displayed in the sanctuary which was modeled somewhat similarly after the Jewish temple court. They bought and lit candles as a way to connect with the ethereal. They offered their alms which was then consecrated by the priest. The congregants were continually responsive to the priest and deacon by reciting the preprinted texts throughout the 90-minute service (such as "Lord, have mercy", "Grant it, Lord", "To Thee, Lord", and "Amen"). Priest and people literally sang-spoke (spoke by largely monotonic singing) their way through the service, except in standard spoken English only when the priest delivered a short sermon (on the parable of the sowers) which came after Epistle and Gospel readings (which were also sung-spoken).There were litanies of sorts, including the Great and Little litany, litany of Fervent Supplication (by names) and of (supposedly ordinary) Supplication (again by names), litany before the Lord's Prayer. There was even a litany of the Catechumens (seekers who would have to leave the sanctuary before the communion service in the ancient days, but not in modern times). 

Communion of the Faithful was the high point and was elaborately preceded by Hymn of Entrance, Confession of Faith, Eucharistic Prayer, The Remembrance, Hymn to the Theotokos (that is the Virgin Mary, Mother of God), Litany before the Lord's Prayer, and Communion Hymn. The communion service was celebrated regularly as one of the Holy Mysteries in a way more similar to that of the Roman Catholic Church than Protestant way. Orthodox christians lined up and were sequentially spoon-fed the red wine with a priestly blessing before they took the bread from the table and drank again from a separate common cup. To Orthodox christians, the bread is (really is, NOT symbolizes), mysteriously, the body of Christ, and the wine is, mysteriously, the blood of Christ. The visible and the invisible are a mysterious continuum to them. The priest asked the faithful, as if to orient me the non-Orthodox visitor, whether they worship icons. A resounding No is their emphatic reply. The priest explained that they worship the Triune God through the icons. As an observer from a non-Orthodox tradition, I was not to partake the communion. But after the service, a deacon graciously gave me two small pieces of bread from the table and the priest, about my age, warmly chatted with me.