Храм Успения Пресватой Богородицы в Вешняках

Today was a beautiful morning. I was somewhat worried about my plan to go to church this morning, since the Russian med students upstairs had me and four other girls in our group over yesterday. It was actually really cute. They made us tea, gave us bananas (which I'm guessing are far more luxurious in Moscow), and made us sing Beatles songs with them. Whilst (somewhat creepily) taking pictures. But anyway, they had us there until midnight.

So I went to bed at 2:30, and got up at 6:30 to make it to the 8 am liturgy 15 minutes down the street (the church is a little over a kilometre away).

It was beautiful, and I had quite a few surprises. Firstly, this is a 17th century church with a bishop in residence. That in and of itself gives it bonus points- I did not expect to see the staff on the iconostasis when I walked in. Secondly, I believe that it is normal in Russia to have liturgy every day. Or so the schedule they had posted implied. I suppose this is because it is an Orthodox country, and priests don't have to have second jobs- they can just be permanent liturgical junkies. And honestly... if I permanently lived a fifteen minutes walk from church, and there were liturgy and vigil every day? I'd be pretty hyped into that too. Also, it was ridiculously well attended. This was a non-festal 8 am weekday liturgy in a Moscow suburb. There were more people there than the St. John's English liturgy gets on a normal Sunday (but still less than Slavonic).

There was a small choir of three men with beautiful voices in the front of the church, the director of which occasionally emerged to conduct and encourage the people to sing as well. He did this on several occasions, including for several litanies, the Creed, the Our Father, and the Communion hymn. Did not fit the Russian stereotype of no congregational singing whatsoever. This highly endeared me to him.

The wine used in the Chalice was different as well... very dark, definitely not St. John's Commandaria. And my dead favorite part: the zapivka. Rather than employing the American standard of watered down manischewitz, they had tea. It was so exciting. I was handed a cup of tea after Communion, with the prosphora. I would be very pro lobbying for this variation of the practice at St. John's.

The only point about which I was ambivalent was the confessions. I grabbed a reader (people in cassocks are always useful) when he walked by, and asked for him to get the priest before liturgy started. He went into the altar and asked for me, and at the end of the second antiphon the priest walked out and led everyone who wanted to confess into a side chapel. There were five or six people in front of me, and I expected about a 45 minute wait. He went through all of these in approximately five minutes, after a very lengthy set of pre-confession prayers. I started off explaining that I'm an Orthodox from America, and my Russian isn't perfect (making sure, of course, to drop Fr. Victor's name). As soon as that hurried explanation ended, he asked if the paper I was holding was a written confession list. When I confirmed this, he just took it, read it, and tore it into little pieces while he was talking to me about God's forgiveness. Then ushered me off. The paper tearing was fun, but the confession quality seemed kind of sketchy. Though this is perhaps only their practice when pressed for time- I am unaware of what a Saturday Vigil confession experience is like here.

So, have I technically made a confession in Russian now? I'm not sure. It was written in Russian. Does that count?

Over all, it seemed to be a very beautiful church community. Everyone was comfortable, friendly, and happy... rather like St. John's, just more particularly Russian, in the sweetest way possible. I would not mind attending this church permanently, if I lived in Moscow. The bishop also seemed very loving, though I did not get to speak with him.

They also had an icon of St. John of Shanghai and San Fransisco, with a relic in it. This got me pretty excited. Reppin' it. Also very many beautiful icons of the Mother of God- I love the devotion to her here... everyone understands that she is their Mother.

There was a wonderful church kiosk, as well. They had oil from the relics of St. Seraphim of Sarov, water from the Jordan, oil from St. John of the Cross, and many other precious items. I think I'm finally stocked. Several people asked for specifically Orthodox items, rather than just matryoshki dolls.

Other than that, it's raining. Everyone else was going to go see the mausoleum today, but the girls decided it was too miserable. I'm surprised the guys managed. They were taking straight shots of absinthe last night.

Anyway... I'm happy. And I've communed in Moscow.