I am not sure where this is taking place, but it does not look like any Orthodox church that I know if. Maybe a Catholic conference center in Detroit? In any case, the video is special because the Mass is done entirely in Latin, which as far as I know is very rare in the Western Rite. Personally, I think that if the Priest is able, the Mass should be offered in Latin often, if not for the principal Sunday Mass. Latin is like the Old Slavonic of the West and should be preserved for cultural reasons, if not theological. Many of our traditionalist Roman Catholic friends get a little too fired up about Latin, but it is still very much important to our Western tradition.
I agree eentirely about the use of liturgical languages. I think they ought to be used in balance with the local language so that people can come to understand which Latin/Slavonic words correspond to the parts of the services that they know in English. This becomes difficult if it is entirely in the liturgical language but if it entirely in English, they are deprived of this opportunity. I know English people in the Antiochian church who will not go to their own cathedral because they have purely English at their parish and now they feel excluded if they find themselves in the middle of an Arabic service. They have never been given that opportunity. Because I have had the privilege of worshipping in part English and part Slavonic, I have a feel for the Slavonic, know exactly where I'm up to, and can sing some of the responses, hymns, and prayers in that language. I can now go to a parish of the Russian, Serbian, and possibly others church in France, Russia, Portugal, Canada, or just down the road, and because we have a common liturgical language, I won't feel excluded, provided they use at least some Slavonic. Ukrainian is sufficiently similar that I feel the same way in Ukrainian churches. I really have no time for congregational insularism. I have seen minor elements of the larger harm that it can potentially cause and think that it runs contrary to everything that is Orthodoxy.
ReplyDeleteAs for the location in the video, as it was a conference, could it perhaps be that it was hosted at a retreat centre? I don't know whether they're common in the US but in Britain, certain churches or church organisations, or even private individuals, will run retreat centres, a bit like conference centres but less business-like. They will often have a common refectory, meeting rooms or some sort of hall, a certain number of bedrooms and bathrooms for overnight guests, and often their own chapel. They're quite popular with church conferences.