A sense of heaven in Audley

Our Faiths by Matt Pointon

FROM the outside St. Michael’s Orthodox Church in Audley looks much like any other small Methodist chapel, the large Orthodox Cross on the side being the only indication that the building’s use has now changed. Pass through the small wooden door however, and one enters into a whole different world. Beautiful icons line the walls, candles flicker with the prayers of the faithful and in front of the visitor stands a stunning
iconostasis with images of the saints and archangels in dark wood and gold leaf.
“The icons and images help bring the worshipper closer to heaven,” explained Fr. Samuel. He showed me one that was specially painted on Mt. Athos in Greece, the Holy Mountain of Orthodoxy, but much of the church furniture is much more local, with the reading desk and parts of the iconostasis being rescued from St. Paul’s in Burslem before it was demolished.

It is not just the setting, however, that surprises the visitor to St. Mark’s, for the service too is most unlike any found in other churches. Three hours in length, it is chanted and sung throughout in a display of ritual unmatched by even the Roman Catholic Mass. When I asked Fr. Samuel about such elaborate ritual, he told me that the Orthodox of today are merely following what the original Christians did and that it is the other churches that have simplified. Indeed, historical continuity seems to be the key factor of Orthodoxy. Fr. Samuel explained that it is the oldest Christian Church and the only one that can show an unbroken lineage back to the Apostles. Some Catholics may perhaps disagree, but it is this factor that has caused Fr. Samuel and many others to embrace Orthodoxy after disillusionment with the Anglican Church.

I for one do not wish to get involved in deep theological arguments, but as I gazed at the heavenly images, smelt the incense, let the Byzantine chanting envelop me and prayed with St. Michaels’ diverse congregation of Romanians, Greeks, Americans and English, a sense of the divine was truly present.