Worship in beauty and truth

There is nothing to me more beautiful than the Orthodox liturgy. Here is an example from the Cathedral of St. Panteleimon the Great Martyr in Abkhazia, which sits on the eastern side of the Black Sea. The service is compressed down to 10 minutes here to give viewers a taste of things.

I can’t understand a whit of it, but I’m told the chanting is in both Abkhaz and Russian. Simultaneously arresting and soothing, it has the ability to transport — and you don’t need Rosetta Stone to get carried away.

Despite the great separation in language and place, I see aspects that mirror exactly what we do at my church in Franklin, Tennessee. Intellectually, I know to expect that, but I’m always amazed when I see it in practice.