As an Orthodox Christian, I knew finding a church here would be difficult. Before I even applied for my Fulbright, I researched the Christian community in Phnom Penh. Catholicism is the dominant expression of Christianity here. I'd visited one Catholic Church before and I'm on their mailing list. In addition to a large ex-pat Catholic community, there are many Vietnamese Catholics and some Cambodian ones. This past summer my students taught at a summer program housed at a Cambodian Catholic Church. There are two large English Catholic services each week. One is held on Sunday morning and the other is on Saturday night so the priest can serve at the Vietnamese churches on Sunday morning. In addition, there is a smaller Wednesday night prayer service (that is sometimes liturgy) at the MaryKnoll house. The Wednesday night service is followed by a meal which is a good time to get to know people. There are also a number of small protestant churches around town. In 2014, the Russian Orthodox church sent its first priest to Phnom Penh. The Russian Orthodox Christians had been meeting in a small chapel inside the Bulgarian embassy. Prior to the arrival of Hieromonk Paisie Ipate the Russians had one liturgy per year in Phnom Penh - Pascha (Easter). I figured I'd at least be able to celebrate Pascha which is my favorite service. With the arrival of a "permanent" priest, Orthodox Christians in Phnom Penh are able to attend services more regularly. There is a large Russian community in Sihanoukhville so the priest alternates Sundays between Phnom Penh and Sihanoukhville. This made figuring out the schedule a bit difficult at first. Below are my diary entries for the first Sundays I went to (or tried to go to) the Orthodox Church.
Orthodox Church Try #1 (9/6/15)
I'd read that the priest speaks no English so the services are entirely in Russian but I love Russian music so I was really looking forward to liturgy. Turns out the Bulgarian embassy is only 3 blocks from our apartment so an easy walk. There are no signs so it wasn't clear which building was the embassy. I asked a Cambodian guard and he pointed me to a door in the wall with a door bell. I rang the bell and another Cambodian guard opened the door. He spoke no English so didn't understand my question about church. A Bulgarian man came to greet me. He said there was no service but the church opens every Sunday at 9 AM. He showed me the way to the church and explained that it was built in memory of 12 Bulgarian soldiers who died in Cambodia in 1996-1997.
It's a small church that maybe comfortably holds about 20 people. The iconostas is richly carved wood and there are three icons of St. Gregory - one of which is over the door to the church. However, the icon to the right of Christ is not St. Gregory so I'm not sure who the church is dedicated to. I said a few brief prayers, spoke a little more to the Bulgarian man who pointed out the service schedule by the door and then went home.
Orthodox Church Try #2 (9/13/15)
Went to church this morning. I was a bit late and it was pretty full when I arrived. I forgot that Russians are more conservative than Americans so all the women had their heads covered and I did not. The priest has a lovely baritone voice and while I didn't know the words, I recognized some of the melodies from St. Elias back home. There were about 20 people in the little space and interestingly about 1/3 of them were Cambodian. Even more impressive was the number of Cambodian men. It was pretty obvious that many of the Cambodian women had married Russian men but the Cambodian men were converts of their own accord. One of the Cambodian men acted as a subdeacon during the service. He read handed the priest the incense, hot water, and commemoration lists. He also read the Epistle and Gospel in Khmer. The Cambodians also said the Nicene Creed in Khmer. Aside from that, the entire service was in Russian. Two Russian men chanted and the priest also sang the responses that the parishoners/choir are supposed to sing. Right before communion, the service stopped and the priest heard confessions in front of the icon of Christ. The Russians whispered in his ear and then he prayed with them. The Cambodians didn't say anything. He just prayed over them. After communion, it seemed like a lot of people disappeared and pretty much everyone disappeared right after the service ended. I've never been to a church where people don't speak to each other after the service. Very strange.
Orthodox Church Try #3 (9/27/15)
So today is elevation of the Holy Cross for Russian Orthodox Christians. A Catholic friend of mine wanted to go to an Orthodox service so I invited her and we headed out from my apartment for the 3 block walk to the Bulgarian embassy. The gate was locked when we arrived but it was only 8:45 and church starts at 9 so I figured they would just unlock it right before church. My friend wanted some coffee and there's a cafe across the street so we ducked in to get some refreshment. Normally I wouldn't imbibe before church but there's not been an opportunity to speak to the priest and I'm not sure he speaks any English so I won't be taking communion soon. It was great to get to know my friend, Judy, over tea. She's a biologist who works as a volunteer professor at RUPP. She's been coming to Cambodia for 5 years just like I have and we have a lot in common. After tea, we headed over to the church which was remarkably quiet. We were a bit late at that point so I figured, they might be out processing with the cross (part of the service involves walking around the church with a cross while you sing hymns. SInce the chapel is so small I thought they might have processed outside someplace but didn't see where they had gone. We waited about an hour inside the church for them to come back and then another half an hour outside but no sign of anyone. I guess the feasts will all be in Sihanoukhville. The elevation of the cross is one of my favorite feasts so I was sad to miss it. I invited Judy over for lunch as a consolation prize for no church. We had grilled cheese made with Tillamook sharp cheddar that I brought with me from the States. Finding good cheddar here is rather rare and cheese is also expensive so it was a treat for all of us. We talked about our spiritual journeys, life in general, and the Church for hours. One thing we talked about was whether the Orthodox and Catholic churches would re-unite. I think Pope Francis is the best hope for that as he has the humility to work in an Orthodox style heirarchy (greatest among equals, church councils, etc.,) and he's popular enough among Catholics (and everyone else) that he could probably get Easter moved back. My feeling is that other doctrinal issues could be worked out as long as neither (Orthodox or Catholic) imposed on the other. We have basically the same creed (except 3 words) so the core beliefs are the same but I'm no theologian.
Orthodox Church Try #4 (10/4/15) I was pretty pessimistic when I left for church this morning. I've been three times previously and only had success in finding a service once. Last week was the Elevation of the Cross but I guess special services will be in Sihanoukhville even if it's Phnom Penh's week for services. I figured that they'd have services in Phnom Penh this week since the last two were in Sihanoukhville but no such luck. The guards didn't even unlock the gate (which they're supposed to do so people can pray). I was early for the non-service so I sat on a bench in the shade across the street from the gate in the wall. As I waited, an American guy approached the gate, saw me and came over to speak to me. He's an Orthodox Christian from Santa Rosa, California. He married a Vietnamese woman and they had trouble with his visa in Vietnam so they moved to Phnom Penh. He has two small kids that he'd like to bring to church but he doesn't know how to handle them on his own (his wife is Buddhist). We talked for about half an hour about our journeys to Orthodoxy and the Church (all Christians) in Cambodia. I told him about the Catholic services so maybe he'll be able to take his family there. He told me that the Orthodox Church in Cambodia has a website (I hadn't seen it) so when I got home I looked it up. It was all in Russian and the English side was blank so I sent a note to the system admin asking why there is no service schedule (or anything else) on the English side of the site. I also suggested that putting info on the English side of the website might help them attract more than just Russian Orthodox and then they might be able to build a larger church in Phnom Penh. After a bit of random poking on the Russian side, I found the calendar which was in both Russian and English so I was able to confirm that church will be in Phnom Penh next week.
Orthodox Church Try #5 (10/11/15)
This morning Judy (a biologist from Minnesota) and I went to the Bulgarian church for liturgy. We arrived a bit early and there was quite a crowd. We went inside for orthros and the service. Like the last time I was successful, the service was largely in Russian with some Khmer. Surprisingly, this time the priest said part of the service in English as well. It was very crowded with about as many Cambodians as Russians. At one point everyone knelt but there simply wasn't enough space for me to get to the floor so I stood. People hung around after church and many asked us where we were from. The Russians seemed surprised that there could be Orthodox Christians in America. As we waited for the priest to come out, we were offered watermelon, chocolate mousse cake, and wine (Russian coffee hour). Father Paisie was very friendly. He greeted us and asked if I was the one who e-mailed about the schedule. I had no idea the priest was maintaining the website. He said he included English because of my e-mail. It was really very kind of him to do that. He introduced Judy and I to the rest of the group and said he wanted to have tea with me to find out how I became Orthodox. He also said he's working with a Cambodian who studied in Russia to translate things into Khmer. The Russian Orthodox Church in Sihanoukhville will be consecrated on October 25. If we can get a late bus on the 24th, Becky and I will go.
Orthodox Church Try #6 (10/19/15)
This Sunday I went to church again. When I arrived, everyone was by the pool (the Bulgarian embassy has a very nice pool). A Cambodian man was being baptized, Tikhon. I missed the beginning but it didn't look like he got dunked in the pool. The baptism was done in Russian but afterwards, one of the Russians asked a Cambodian to translate for him. It was clear that he welcomed the new convert to the church. The priest asked me to read the Apostle in English and the Nicene Creed. It was kind of funny because he asked if the Creed was in my prayer book. I told him I know it by heart. He did the service in three languages - Russian, Khmer, and English. Cambodians read the apostle, Gospel, creed and Lord's prayer in Khmer, Russians said these in Russian, and I said them in English. I went to confession for the first time in months (which was good for my soul) and received communion for the first time since I left the States. The Russians close their mouths around the spoon whereas our church dumps the spoonful in your mouth. I didn't pick the difference up until after communion which made it a bit awkward. After church one of the Russians approached me and asked where my cross was. I left almost all of my jewelry at home as I never bring anything precious with me when I travel. He didn't seem to understand why I would do that. He showed me his cross which was knotted by monks at Mt. Athos (cool). After church he invited me to lunch. Many of the Russians work at the Russian embassy. Evidently this man works closely with the Russian Ambassador so he had to leave suddenly because something came up. At lunch I found out that the man who had been baptized was his father-in-law. Tikhon had been an atheist. His daughter converted to Christianity when she married and her mother and brothers followed her. He was convinced by the changes he saw in his family. He and his wife own a large restaurant which is where I (and a large contingent from church) went for lunch. It was all on the house which was very nice. Heiromonk Paisie is amazing. I asked him if he wanted to come to Cambodia and he said simply that his Bishop sent him so he came. He entered the monastery at 18 and he said the monastery is his life but he's here to serve the Cambodian people. He's worked hard to learn the language and is translating matierlas into Khmer. There are two Cambodians that will go to seminary in the next couple of years so the Cambodians will have their own priests. He's looking forward to the day when he can return to his monastery. I hope it comes soon for him.
No comments:
Post a Comment