DescentBB

How would you describe your feelings when you are inside different churches?

None really. I'm an atheist.

not sure what you're asking, sigma. Are you wondering if I feel different in my home church(Methodist) compared to visits to Baptist, Lutheran, Episcopal, Presbyterian,Universalist, Catholic, Orthodox, synogogue or mosque(the ones I can remember being in)? If so, I am struck in other churches more by superficial stuff like design and artwork, along with music and the flow of the service(worship). None negative, some puzzling as an outsider, but nothing terribly deep here.

I dont pray to, or worship the church, or the religion. They are just buildings. Some are ornate, some like barns. They have no power.

ThunderBunny wrote:None really. I'm an atheist.

As you know, I'm also agnostic and atheist. But I will never believe that you do not feel anything in the church. Maybe you just have not visited the old church. I do not feel anything in the new churches, but in the old churches that have an age of several centuries, I feel appeasement, breathing history of my country and the voice of my ancestors and surge of vitality. And I can not explain this effect from a scientific point of view.

callmeslick, I mean the ancient Orthodox Christian churches. I've never been in a mosque, a synagogue and churches of other religions.

sigma wrote:callmeslick, I mean the ancient Orthodox Christian churches. I've never been in a mosque, a synagogue and churches of other religions.

specific to Orthodox churches, I've only been in 3 that I can recall. A Ukrainian church in the coal region in PA, Russian in Philadelphia and Greek up in Connecticut. Obviously, none would be ancient, compared to most of those in your nation. Some of the artifacts and icons were, apparently brought over from the home nations of the local people. I found the service similar to Roman Catholic to some extent, the interiors of the structures(one of which in a rather poor region of the nation) to be beautiful and ornate. Can't say as I felt any more or less spiritual, as I agree with CUDAs assessment. The synogogues and mosques were the most radically different to my usual experience, as both are radically different in both conduct of the worship and the way the parishioner fill the place. The Christian churches tend to have families sit together, not so in the Jewish or Muslim churches, where there is gender separation or other unfamiliar constructs.

also, and thanks for triggering this memory, Sigma, the most memorably different experience I EVER had in a place of worship was in a Friends Meeting House, attending the funeral(memorial) service for a member of the congregation who was a friend of mine. First off, the place was a rectangular building with seating around the outside and an open area in the middle. The leader, located in the middle of the room, spoke a few words, and said a prayer. After that, he called forth for the attendees to bring forth thoughts of/for the deceased woman. This went on for roughly one hour, until, finally, the room grew silent. The leader then arose, thanked all for attending, asked God's blessing for family and all in attendance and sent us on our way. It was probably the most moving memorial service and most personal, which I've ever attended.

callmeslick wrote:

sigma wrote:callmeslick, I mean the ancient Orthodox Christian churches. I've never been in a mosque, a synagogue and churches of other religions.

specific to Orthodox churches, I've only been in 3 that I can recall. A Ukrainian church in the coal region in PA, Russian in Philadelphia and Greek up in Connecticut. Obviously, none would be ancient, compared to most of those in your nation. Some of the artifacts and icons were, apparently brought over from the home nations of the local people. I found the service similar to Roman Catholic to some extent, the interiors of the structures(one of which in a rather poor region of the nation) to be beautiful and ornate. Can't say as I felt any more or less spiritual, as I agree with CUDAs assessment. The synogogues and mosques were the most radically different to my usual experience, as both are radically different in both conduct of the worship and the way the parishioner fill the place. The Christian churches tend to have families sit together, not so in the Jewish or Muslim churches, where there is gender separation or other unfamiliar constructs.

You can sit on a chair in the church? Maybe you mean the established Protestant church? I will tell you great news. In the Russian Orthodox Church all have the right only to stand. If you are tired, old and feel unwell, you should tell others to help you get out of the church, but you have no right to sit in the face of God. Russian believer will going to faint, but he did not try to sit in the church.

another old memory jogged, Sigma. You are correct. I do remember standing through both the Russian and Ukrainian services. The Greek service I attended in New England was over 30 years ago, so likely the same, but really can't admit honestly to remembering.

feel free to put the thread back on track, sigma. I for one, would love to hear what folks think about the topic. So far you've heard from two others and haven't really given about the topic yourself.
what feelings do you have in churches and temples? Have you ever been in one OTHER than an Orthodox church?

callmeslick wrote: Have you ever been in one OTHER than an Orthodox church?

sigma wrote: I've never been in a mosque, a synagogue and churches of other religions.

No, I did not visit the temples of other religions.
But I was in many abandoned Orthodox churches. I do not know whether there is an abandoned church in the United States, but in Russia they are a huge number. And I can even say that in these churches I feel a special feeling. Perhaps it can be compared with the feeling that even if the church is destroyed, there is even more dense feeling of the presence of our Creator and our ancestors.

By the way, near from my country house, there is one of these churches. The church has long abandoned. But sometimes there comes a real priest to conduct the service, even in the ruins of the church and even for a few people from our village.
Around this church has a present cemetery. I saw there tombstones, on which date the burial there in the 17th century.

Today the church looks so:








In 1951, the church looked so:

That's a shame it was abandoned; it looked really pretty. But you're right, there's still kind of a quiet serenity to it. Reminds me when I was visiting my brothers at school out in Pittsburgh, and we went to a microbrewery that was located in a former Catholic church. It was the strangest thing walking in and seeing the marble holy water fonts still on the walls at the entrance, and an entire brewery setup where the altar once was. But the nice part was that the original artwork and stained glass windows were still there. If a nice-looking church has to close, at least it's a good thing that the space was able to be preserved and reused.

thanks for the pics, sigma. Beautiful and peaceful looking place.