As he was leaving the
temple, one of his disciples said to him, “Look, Teacher! What massive
stones! What magnificent buildings!””Do
you see all these great buildings?” replied Jesus, “Not one stone here
will be left on another; every one will be thrown down.” Mark 13:1-2
For we are God’s fellow workers; you are God’s field, God’s building. 1 Corinthians 3:9
In
Eastern Europe, the Eastern Orthodox church dominates the religious
landscape across the countries. The cathedrals are massive and I never
realized the incredible artwork and uniqueness about them until you
walk in on your own. Back at home I’ve always heard of the Catholic
and Orthodox church in Europe, and I’ve always wanted to understand it
more and now in Romania I have been able to get just a small
understanding of it all.
Our
teammates while on the streets of evangelism in Targu Mures walked into
the large cathedral that stands majestic of the city and noticed the
doors were open; so we decided to go in and our first response was
“Wow!� There is a continues amount of artwork in the whole church
building and such delicate painting. There are images of Bible stories
and saints, Jesus, and Mary. The same was true in the other Cathedral
down the square that’s a little smaller and later found out was the
Catholic one. I haven’t seen anything like this before. Golden
looking doorways and altars everywhere throughout the building while
little candles would burn.
But
amongst the incredible viewing and majesty of it all and all of the
golden crosses and “fanciness� of it all; there was also a sadness
mixed with peace. So I wanted to check out a real service and
experience it fully with the message. 
I
left the village early in the morning and walked through the cornfields
to the next town where I would pick up the bus to take me straight into
Targu Mures. When arriving I walked towards the square and passed up
the smaller cathedral to hear a choir singing in Latin and speakers
were over the streets. I was early as the Orthodox was starting at
11:00am so I decided to check out the smaller one that seemed to
already be starting. 
As
I walked in the front foyer had tons of candles with people sticking
them in lit as incense offering to saints and past loved ones. There
is a place inside the church that looks like a little shop kiosk that
you buy the candles and go out to place them. Then as I walked in the
church was crowded, but no one spoke a word. The choir, which I
couldn’t see from being behind me in the balcony, would sing songs
either in Romanian or Latin while the priest would sing at intervals
with them. Everyone was silent, sometimes praying very quietly to
themselves, saying a small “Amen�, and making the mark of the cross
with their hands over their chest every few minutes. The music was
beautiful and I just stood there with an incredible peacefulness of the
crowd but yet solitude of listening.
But
idolatry is a big issue and there’s a lack of “aliveness� in the church
when the priest does everything and people think he can really forgive
our sins and not Christ. And the priest, all in his white robe decor
brought out this large iconic plaque that then people would get in line
and kiss it as they walked by. There’s a lot of kissing of icons and
statues in the church and it’s hard to see this. It was so hard for me
to watch this and really broke my heart that my God is truly alive and
my Jesus is not on the cross anymore! But soon it was time to leave as
it approached 10:45 and I need to go to the main one. So I quietly
exited and back onto the streets in this solemn attitude. The streets
were completely dead as I walked alone and listened to the latin music
in large volume of the streets, and doves flew around; just like a
movie you would see.
So
I walked into a much bigger church a much bigger crowd finding out it
was already in process, one that had the women standing and sitting on
the left and the men on the right. There were many seats in the front
and sides, but all taken by the faithful elderly and even some of them
stood in the crowd with the younger people. There were no candles in
the foyer though I saw people buying them and wondered where they were
going. This time the priest was even more dressed up and I decided
that it would be interesting and better to observe up in the balcony
where it didn’t seem to be as crowded. So I was pointed to the way of
the stairs by a whisper of the person beside me while everyone was
silent and in prayer mood. I took a left and walk into this tall
circle room of a scary looking metal staircase in darkness and there
underneath where were the candles were being place and made the whole
tall room just become full of the incense scent.
I
opened this large creeking wooden door to the top of the balcony to
overlook at it all. To my right was a large choir of various ages and
it was much louder than the one at the other place. And back and forth
they would sing with the priest as I watched from top the large crowd
and the priests perform his duties. A large line formed where people
came up with children and received communion and then he would hold
certain relics and “bless� people with it. He took turns walking out
to the crowd and doing some sort of duty in honor of the people and
walk back to this large Jesus on the cross image and do movements with
that as if he was forgiving sins and speaking to Jesus & God on
behalf of the people. Then he walked out with a large book and made
his way up to this large podium and gave a fifteen minute sermon in
Romania while the crowd stayed sitting or standing. When he was done
the service immediately ended.
No
one in the crowd speaks the whole time, here and there they will stand
and kneel, and say small prayers but there is the whole time this
reverence attitude. I’m not here to write a for and against or some
theological debate though I can’t say anything positive about people
kissing images and relics and while this all was going on I just had
this weird spiritual feeling inside of me though the music and
quietness was so peaceful. I cannot and do no have the right to be the
judge of someone’s salvation; it’s really up to God. I cannot say that
these people aren’t having sincere faith and fully trusting Christ and
walking a life that backs up what they profess; whether tradition and
things that aren’t truly biblical may be taking place.
Salvation
while at the same time calls for childlike faith is a lot more complex
than just words, because God looks at the heart and sees things that we
cannot see as limited humans. But I do know that Christ is my priest,
He is THE Way, Truth, and Life, high mediator between God and I, and I
am able to worship him in passion and reverence, and that kissing
relics like they will get me closer to heaven doesn’t give the cross a
full appreciation for all that Jesus did for me; nothing else but grace
and Christ gets me to the Father; what a gift! So whether you are an
Orthodox for fifty years and have real faith in the gift of grace and
live it, or a baptist or pentecostal that’s been on and off for twenty
years in your desire for God; it’s the heart God looks at and He is the
ultimate judge and we are grateful that He has given us His Word to
know the “mystery of the gospel�. 
