4 :: St. Nektarios Church

This morning I went to service at St. Nektarios Church in Charlotte. This church is way out in South Charlotte, in a neighborhood just past Charlotte Latin School. This particular church's roots go back to the much older Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Cathedral on East Boulevard, which was built in the 1920's. St. Nektarios Church was built in 2007.

I'll mention that this visit was an auspicious one in some interesting ways. Orthodoxy has come on my radar screen in multiple parts of my life in the last couple years in very noteworthy ways. Whenever seemingly disconnected parts of my life all start doing something similar, I anticipate that may be God at work. 

Whenever that happens, you can imagine that I take notice. 

Earlier this week, I called St. Nektarios and spoke to a woman named Evelyn. We chatted for a while and she said she would meet me at the front door of the church at 9:15 Sunday morning and help me get acclimated.

Below is some of what I saw when I walked up at 9:15. In short, I felt a deep appeal to my aesthetics as this majestic and sacred structure presented itself to me... and I hadn't even entered yet.

St. Nektarios Church, modeled after Hagia Sophia in Istanbul

Exquisite detail

The place evoked a Mediterranean aesthetic

St. Nektarios Church

Two men working on some iconography in tile

St. Nektarios Spiritual Life Center
(what Protestants might call a "Sunday School Building")

We met and she gave me a mask and took my temperature right away. 

Cleared to enter.

She pointed me to her husband Tim who stood nearby. Tim, a knowledgeable and gracious guy, told me that he had been raised as a Congregationalist in the Midwest. As someone raised as a Congregationalist in New England, I thought this was a very interesting turn of events at the start of the day.

Tim generously offered to help me experience Divine Liturgy, the name of the church service in Orthodoxy. He accompanied me to the balcony and provided me with a fascinating amount of detail on what I was seeing. 

There's too much to tell about what we discussed, but he offered insightful answers to my question about Orthodoxy. Tim knew Orthodox views on everything from transubstantiation of Communion elements, the spiritual gifts in the Book of Acts, the schism in 1054 between the Western (Catholic) and Eastern (Orthodox) Church, the Calvinist-Arminian debate on the nature of faith and finally - the subject of filioque. 

Filioque is of immense importance in this question of Orthodoxy, look it up if you are interested.

The Liturgy was beautiful. I learned that it mimics a Jewish worship service in many ways, including walking a silver-bound Bible (like Torah) out in front of the congregation, which is then brought into the altar (like Bimah) for the duration of the service. And there are bells, incense, a male and a female who sing sacred songs whose roles are as the "chanter" (like Cantor). The altar section also mimics the Holy of Holies in Jerusalem's Temple Mount.

These points of comparison really drive home the ancient nature of Orthodoxy. When you hear people speak about "the first-century church," well... this is that church.

To someone raised Protestant, this type of service engaged my senses in a way that I don't usually associate with worship. And I can definitely say it was very, very beautiful.

Liturgy

Mary, baby Jesus, the altar

Pantokrator

Thick fog of incense in the air -
light coming through

Video of Liturgy, you can hear Tim's voice

Toward the time when Communion was being served, which I was not permitted to take part in, I asked to see the narthex of the church. Tim showed me this, as well. It was filled with old artifacts and candles in sand and things of that sort. Again, to my personal sensibilities this was all very new. I had never seen anything like this before. 

Incredible.

I found out that there was also a relic in the church, a bone of St. Nektarios himself. And some shawls from the 16th century, on display for those entering the church. The elaborate wonders of the place seemed never-ending.

16th-century Orthodox art

Candles in sand

16th-century shawl once worn by an Orthodox priest

I enjoyed this experience very much. Thus far into my spiritual pivot, I have attended churches that are all outgrowths of The Reformation. Even though each of them were different from each other in theology and style, they have all been somewhat familiar to me.

This was different. 

This was a glimpse of the Church that sprung up right after Yeshua's life on Earth. This is the first-century Church in the modern day. These are the original Christians, a group that has rituals that evoke the Jewish spiritual heritage that is at the root of Christianity itself.

As I left, I felt light. And happy. Perhaps even satisfied in a profound way. This was a truly fascinating experience. It was one that I knew had been coming for a few years.

I don't know yet how this contributes to my spiritual shift and my deeper search for Yeshua. But I am certain it does.

One thing I know for sure, this won't be my last time visiting an Orthodox church.

Of this I have no doubt at all.