On this, the 18th Sunday after Pentecost, we commemorate the Prophet Joel (800 B.C.), the Martyr Varus and six Monk-martyrs in Egypt (307), the Blessed Cleopatra (327), and her son John, in Egypt, Hieromartyr Sadoth, bishop of Persia, and 128 martyred with him (342)., St. Leontius the Philosopher (624), St. Frideswide of Oxford, Abbess (c. 735), the translation of the relics of St. John, abbot of Rila in Bulgaria (946), St. Prochorus, miracle-worker of Pchinja (Serbia, 10th c.), St. Gabriel, abbot of St. Elias Skete (Mt. Athos, 1901), and the Russian New-Martyr Priest Alexis (1918).
Through the intercessions of Thy Saints, O Christ God, have mercy on us and save us!
Tirzah Fassett, 3, from Selah gets a closer look during Sunday's service at Holy Cross Antiochian Orthodox Church. Parishioners can move about during the service. There are no pews, and people stand, sit on chairs or on the floor. In the beginning, there was but one Christian church -- the Orthodox Church.
"It was the church of the apostles, and that was the only (Christian) church for a thousand years," said the Very Rev. Joseph Copeland, pastor of the Holy Cross Antiochian Orthodox Church in Yakima.
It is a summer weekday afternoon, and the church at 706 Stewart St. is quiet. Bright sunlight breaks through the clerestory windows in the church dome, illuminating the nave, a spacious, cruciform-shaped room where Copeland, 55, and his wife, Denise, 54, sit on two folding chairs.
Come Sunday, this quiet room will fill with worshippers. Many, like the Copelands, were once Protestants. For them, converting to Orthodox Christianity has been a milestone in a personal journey of faith.
"For me, it was like this huge relief," said Bill Hinkle, who, with his family, makes the drive to Holy Cross each Sunday from Cle Elum. "I was an evangelical for 28 years. I studied theology. I taught Bible studies," said Hinkle, a former Kittitas County commissioner and now a state legislator from the 13th District.
It was after reading two books, "Becoming Orthodox" by Peter Gillquist, and "The History of the Church" by Eusebius, a fourth-century bishop, that Hinkle saw an important difference between Orthodox and Protestant Christianity.
Protestants interpret the Scriptures to fit their individual needs, said Hinkle: "They sort of make it up as they go along," he said. The result is confusion, leaving many Christians asking, "What does the church really mean?" Hinkle, asking that question, found Orthodox Christianity means what it has always meant: "This is the church as it was 2,000 years ago -- for the first time, I thought, 'This is the real thing.'"
In the Yakima Valley, the "real thing" is a growing, if low-key, presence. Some 60 families -- about 200 people - belong to Holy Cross, which is housed in a 9,000-square-foot, Byzantine-style structure built in 1997-98. Much of the work was done by the congregation.
Nationwide, membership is 6 million. "The Orthodox Church is considered to be the fastest-growing mainline Christian church in the United States," said Copeland.
Worldwide, 225 million people belong to the faith, which dates to 34 A.D. in Antioch, the capital of ancient Syria (now southern Turkey). It was there that Saint Peter founded the See of Antioch. It was there that the followers of Christ were first called "Christians" and persecuted for their beliefs.
The church remained intact until 1054, when Rome, a center of early-day Christianity, split from centers to the east -- Constantinople, Alexandria, Antioch and Jerusalem.
These Eastern Orthodox churches did not -- still don't -- recognize papal authority over their activities. Today, Orthodox churches are divided along mostly national lines -- Russian, Greek and Antiochian. But their services are the same. They've been the same for nearly 2,000 years.
"I went to Russia in 1994 and even in a language I didn't understand I knew exactly where I was," said Denise Copeland, referring to the Russian Orthodox service she attended.
Added Joseph Copeland: "Orthodox Christians, whether they are Russian, Greek or Antiochian, all believe the same thing. They are devoted to the sacred traditions of the church, including the sacred Scriptures."
Those traditions, established by the apostles and formalized at the Council of Nicea in 325 A.D., remain the same today, he said.
That is not the case with Protestantism, which has splintered into many sects and denominations over hundreds of years.
"I grew up in the Protestant faith .... and Protestant churches believe in a thousand different things -- it's self-serving," said Copeland.
Copeland points to his heart: "Faith isn't just doing whatever you want with that faith, because everything has a meaning," he said. "Nor does the church explain itself. You begin to understand it from the context of your heart. ... It has to be experienced."
At Holy Cross, that experience is most evident on Sunday morning, which begins with Orthros (Morning Prayer) at 8:30 a.m., then segues into the Divine Liturgy, the main service, from 9:30 to 11 a.m.
There are similarities to Western Christian services -- Communion, for instance, and hymns of praise. There are differences, too. The congregation is closer to the action, so to speak, since the priests and deacons conduct parts of the service in their midst.
For the novice, it is a feast of the senses. The smell of incense freights the air as Copeland and other priests periodically wave a gold censer on a chain around the altar to honor the presence of the Divine.
The priests wear full beards and are garbed in richly hued robes. They move in stately strides. Sometimes, they sing their prayers and are answered by an a cappella choir. The effect is mesmerizing.
The room is a blend of Old Europe, New World and Ancient Middle East. People stand. People sit. Children wander through the room. There are no pews. Here and there, young mothers have spread blankets on the white-and-maroon tile floor for infants to lie or play on.
Some women wear head coverings. Some men wear full beards like the priests. The atmosphere is mystic with incense, the icons of saints and the chanting voices of priests.
Everywhere, there are intimations of the past.
"That's the thing that draws us to this faith, that it's unchanging," whispers Denise Copeland, as the Rev. Timothy McCoy, an associate priest, begins the Homily, or sermon of the day.
"Prayer and fasting -- those words are extremely important to us in our faith," says McCoy. He discusses the three levels of prayer -- reading the words, understanding them, finally feeling the prayer in your heart. Same with fasting -- too often, people get hung up on mechanics, he says.
"The reason we pray and fast is not just praying and fasting -- it's to renew and heal our lives, to have a closer relationship with God," he says.
It was getting closer to God that drew Joseph and Denise Copeland to Orthodoxy in the first place. That was in 1976, two years after the Copelands, childhood sweethearts from King County who married 35 years ago, moved to Wapato to grow apples.
"That was when we began the journey," said Joseph Copeland, who became a serious student of Orthodoxy. He was ordained in 1987.
Today, the Copelands, who have four grown children, still live in Wapato, still have the orchard, but now their lives revolve around the church. Denise is also a teacher in the Yakima School District.
The Copelands weren't alone in their search. Perhaps it was the social turmoil of the 1960s and '70s, the Vietnam war, and the shifting state of Western Christianity.
"It was frustrating to even know what was truth," said Joseph Copeland, recalling that time. "If it's just me and the Bible, then what is truth?" Orthodoxy provided an answer. "We saw we could be part of that, and not have to make something up."
In the 1980s, there was a surge toward Orthodoxy. Some 20 churches across the United States and Canada joined the Antiochian branch of the faith, which has its North American headquarters in Englewood, N.J., and its world headquarters in Istanbul, Turkey (formerly Constantinople).
Today, there are a half-million Antiochian Orthodox Christians in North America. There are even more Greek Orthodox and Russian Orthodox.
More often, Greek and Russian Orthodox are born into the faith - so-called "cradle Orthodox." They, too, attend Holy Cross, which serves an area extending from Cle Elum to the Tri-Cities.
Ethel Tschida, 76, a first-generation Greek from Tacoma whose given name is "Aphrodite" (it was changed by her first-grade teacher), attended a Greek Orthodox church in Tacoma.
"This (Holy Cross) is exactly the same service," said Tschida, adding that she does miss singing the prayers in Greek the way she did in Tacoma. "When I sing along here, I'm thinking in my mind I'm singing in Greek."
Tschida, who moved to Yakima to be closer to her children, calls herself "one of the few old-timers" at Holy Cross. "There are a lot of younger people with children, which is a beautiful thing to witness."
The growth has been quiet, but steady, said Joseph Copeland: "A lot of people will read a book about Orthodoxy and come looking, and we do advertise our services during Christmas and Easter.
"We don't blow a lot of trumpets about ourselves, but people are welcome," he said.
+ "The faith which I was taught by the Holy Fathers, which I taught at all times without adjusting according to the times, this Faith I will never stop teaching. I was born with it and live by it."
- St. Gregory the Theologian (4th century)
+ Blessed is he who bears affliction with thankfulness.
- Abba Copres