I planned my Middle East trip with to Sundays in the schedule because I wanted to get some sense of Middle Eastern Christiandom was like. So Sunday morning I dressed up and went to the local church, right by St. George’s Hospital.
It was pretty amazing. The service was all in Arabic (I think) and almost all sung. Men and woman, apprently from all walks of life, some dressed up but mostly dressed casual. Very devout and very serious.
Here are photos I took before services started. For more photos, visit my Flickr page.
And it is this way in American Orthodox churches as well, whether Antiochian (Syria), Greek, Russian, Serbian, et. al. Although, as in all churches, some are more intent and serious in their worship than others. As a priest once told me, that’s what the icons are for - if your mind wanders, you are surrounded by the saints to bring your concentration back to Christ. The worship is about Him, not us.