Home and Journey in Experiences of the Eastern Orthodox Divine Liturgy

Abstract

This paper explores the experiential reality surrounding the Divine Liturgy, a Byzantine rite in Orthodox Christianity that has remained central to Eastern practice globally since Late Antiquity. The article draws on multi-sited ethnography in the glocal context of the Orthodox Church of Finland (OCF), a national church of minority and a site of multicultural interaction. Our analysis shows participants articulate their experiences with the Liturgy in an epistemology of interiority by which (1) they constantly, if unevenly, and agentically engage with the Liturgy in a form of individual, vernacular artistry. This interiority is (2) both sensorial and interpretative, and (3) ambivalently grounded in motifs of being “at home” and, at the same time, “on a journey.” That is, participants from different backgrounds make a connection to the Liturgy both as a spiritual and a literal home, relating to different elements—Finnish, Karelian, Byzantine, and Church Slavonic—in its ritualistic aesthetics. At the same time, Liturgy emerges as a perpetual journey of new openings and glimpses, informed by past experiences and life trajectories, and participants relate to these two aspects simultaneously.

Keywords: :

• liturgy
• Orthodox Christianity
• vernacular religion
• material religion glocal
• Finland
• home
• journey
• religious experience multi-sited ethnography

Acknowledgement

We express our sincere gratitude to our interlocutors, who generously offered their time and efforts to share their insights into their experiences of the Divine Liturgy.

Additional information

Funding

This research was partly supported by Templeton Religion Trust (under Grant 30941).

Notes on contributors

Tatiana Tiaynen-Qadir

Dr. Tatiana Tiaynen-Qadir is Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Faculty of Social Sciences, Tampere University. She works in the planning for a Program in the Study of Mysticism (PRISM). As a social anthropologist (DSoc.Sci., University of Tampere, 2013) and historian (Candidate of Historical Sciences, Petrozavodsk State University, 2006), she has an abiding interest in research on material religion, art and symbols, especially in Eastern Christianity and Islam. She has over 30 academic publications, including in peer-reviewed academic journals and edited volumes with Routledge, Fordham University Press, Gaudeamus and the Russian Academy of Sciences. Her recent book “Symbols and Myth-Making in Modernity: Deep Culture in Art and Action,” co-authored with Dr. Ali Qadir and published by Anthem Press (2022), explores how cross-cultural symbols erupt in contemporary culture and religion and what work they do in transforming the self and society. [email protected]

Ali Qadir

Dr. Ali Qadir is Professor of Sociology at the Faculty of Social Sciences, Tampere University, Finland. He also holds the title of Docent at the Swedish School of Social Sciences, University of Helsinki. Dr. Qadir has co-authored two international, scientific books and published 50 peer-reviewed scientific articles, book chapters, and works for general and professional communities. His research and teaching have focused on global & transnational sociology, mysticism, intercultural dialogue, and sociology of religion. His latest book project, co-authored with Dr. Tiaynen-Qadir and published by Anthem Press (2022), develops new theorizing around “deep culture” to explore the cultural relevance of symbols. In addition to membership in various scientific associations, he is also President of the Westermarck Society – Finnish Sociological Association.[email protected]