Back at last
While I've only been gone 72 hours, it seems longer than that. Or shorter - I can't decide. The funeral was ... well, it was a funeral. I've realized that not only does the Greek Orthodox tradition of repeating every prayer three times make for long services, but also that when the service is done bilingually, that means everything gets repeated six times. Plus, the blessings they do over the body prior to the funeral are pretty much identical to the blessings they do at the service, and the ones they do at the grave site. Plus, they did basically the same blessings at the grave site not only for my great-aunt, but for my great-uncle who died in 1995, and my great-aunt's parents, who died years and years ago. Plus (and fortunately I can avoid these), they will do memorial prayers on the 40-day and 1-year anniversaries of her death.
I have also found out more than I wanted to know about the intransigence of the Anglican and Greek Orthodox churches, which put a big downer on the whole funeral (as if it wasn't already bad enough). You see, the Anglican and Orthodox churches are much more closely allied than most people think; their theological doctrines aren't too far apart, in fact. Because every little town in Ontario has an Anglican church (often with low attendance), but there are only Orthodox churches in larger cities, most Greeks who live in small towns attend Anglican services, and this is true of my great-aunt, who lived in Fergus, Ont. (pop. 7000). While she went to Orthodox services occasionally, she attended (and financially supported) the Anglican church for the most part.
Now, for the funeral, the hope was that the Anglican church would allow the service to take place in their building, with a primarily Orthodox service in which the Anglican minister also participated in. This is often accepted as a compromise by many Anglican churches, and it was the way it was done at my great-uncle's funeral a few years ago at this very church. Unfortunately, this time around, the Anglican minister wouldn't let the service be in his church unless he could be the primary officiant, and the Orthodox minister wouldn't do a service in which the Anglican minister had any role at all. Neither side would compromise on this, citing 'church rules' which don't really exist. There certainly haven't been any doctrinal controversies that have arisen in the past half-dozen years. It's just a giant pissing contest over where an old lady who had supported both churches for the past 70 years will be laid to rest, and by whom. This clash of personalities forced us, eventually, to hold an Orthodox funeral in the funeral home's chapel, a solution that satisfied no one.
To top it all off, I know for a fact that both churches are getting a considerable endowment in her will. Whatever else can be said about my great-aunt in the past few years, she was incredibly overgenerous, and in this case, I don't think either one deserves a cent of what they will be getting. My father, who is the executor, is furious about this, and openly criticized the churches' bickering in the eulogy he delivered at the reception afterwards. He said to me that he had toned it down from what he intended to say, which, given what he did say, was probably a good idea.
It is times like this, when church hierarchy and pig-headedness stand directly in the face of simple human decency, that make me glad I'm agnostic.
I have also found out more than I wanted to know about the intransigence of the Anglican and Greek Orthodox churches, which put a big downer on the whole funeral (as if it wasn't already bad enough). You see, the Anglican and Orthodox churches are much more closely allied than most people think; their theological doctrines aren't too far apart, in fact. Because every little town in Ontario has an Anglican church (often with low attendance), but there are only Orthodox churches in larger cities, most Greeks who live in small towns attend Anglican services, and this is true of my great-aunt, who lived in Fergus, Ont. (pop. 7000). While she went to Orthodox services occasionally, she attended (and financially supported) the Anglican church for the most part.
Now, for the funeral, the hope was that the Anglican church would allow the service to take place in their building, with a primarily Orthodox service in which the Anglican minister also participated in. This is often accepted as a compromise by many Anglican churches, and it was the way it was done at my great-uncle's funeral a few years ago at this very church. Unfortunately, this time around, the Anglican minister wouldn't let the service be in his church unless he could be the primary officiant, and the Orthodox minister wouldn't do a service in which the Anglican minister had any role at all. Neither side would compromise on this, citing 'church rules' which don't really exist. There certainly haven't been any doctrinal controversies that have arisen in the past half-dozen years. It's just a giant pissing contest over where an old lady who had supported both churches for the past 70 years will be laid to rest, and by whom. This clash of personalities forced us, eventually, to hold an Orthodox funeral in the funeral home's chapel, a solution that satisfied no one.
To top it all off, I know for a fact that both churches are getting a considerable endowment in her will. Whatever else can be said about my great-aunt in the past few years, she was incredibly overgenerous, and in this case, I don't think either one deserves a cent of what they will be getting. My father, who is the executor, is furious about this, and openly criticized the churches' bickering in the eulogy he delivered at the reception afterwards. He said to me that he had toned it down from what he intended to say, which, given what he did say, was probably a good idea.
It is times like this, when church hierarchy and pig-headedness stand directly in the face of simple human decency, that make me glad I'm agnostic.