A number of visitors to our parishes have asked why Orthodox churches are often quite dark for evening services. There are several answers for this:
- Services are READ aloud, so we can PRAY (not read);
- We can concentrate on PRAYER, not other people;
- Electric lights can't match NATURAL LIGHT;
- Low light reminds us that early Christians worshiped in the CATACOMBS, and that we must always be ready to return to them in times of persecution.
If darkness in church is new to you, spend some time in the Orthodox Church, and sooner than you know it, you'll be praying in a new, and yet ancient and timeless way!
- FrG+
"Ours must be an orthodoxy of the heart, not just the mind."
-St.Tikhon of Zadonsk