I have been soooooo Orthodox deprived, it is not even funny! But I had a free weekend for once and a set of directions, so I made my way to the closest Orthodox Church for a strong dose of Vigil (vespers and matins one after the other). Yet, by “close” what I really mean was…..not….close. The not-so-close-church was the Russian-Japanese Cathedral of Tokyo (score!!) and is an hour and a half away from my dorm. If I ride my bike to the train station, it would only cost me $4.50 to ride the train from Musashi-sakai to Ochanomizu. I was pretty worried about finding my way there, though. I knew how to get to the city, but the Japanese aren’t too big on street names so once I arrived, I would have to just go by arrows and city maps. Also, the Japanese Christian population is only around 1 or 3 percent, so if I stopped for directions, would anyone even know what I was talking about? And the church was 200 meters away from the station; that sounded so far off! Would I make it in time for the service?!
Luckily for me, I don’t know a thing about the metric system! All my worries were unfounded. It turns out, 200 meters is about 1 city block. As for directions, someone stuck this helpful sign up in the train station’s main exit and the street was covered in arrows pointing me towards the church. And, even in Tokyo, a cathedral is still a cathedral, so once I got close, the onion dome and iconography gave it away. Yahoo, Orthodoxy!!
(Side note: I got in a bicycle accident on my way to the station. But it wasn’t my fault! Anyway, I’m fine, just a few scratches on my right arm, but my basket is this really funny shape now. At first I was a little miffed, but it actually holds stuff better now, so all is well.)
The church was actually in a complex, but the main building wasn’t hard to spot. The Japanese man who went in before I did was obviously a little lost and seemed to be exploring for the first time. One of the stewards noticed, though, and was able to help him out. Now, I’m pretty foreign looking, so most people would guess that I’m Ortho, but I decided to not take any chances, put my veil on outside, and walk in like I was a regular.
This. Church. Was. Stunning! In true Russian style, everything was intricately carved or molded, decorated in gold and silver, there were hardly any chairs, and there were candles everywhere. The icons were big and all in the older, Russian style (a lot different from the Greek, Jerusalem, and Antiochian ones I’m used to). The dome itself was plain white, but in the center of the dome hung a huge chandelier right above a raised platform where the bishop would stand. Besides having the main iconostasis, there were two smaller ones on either side, each with a set of royal and deacon’s doors. In front of one of these smaller iconostasis is where two of the priests held confessions between the vespers and matins parts. The choir stood on the other side and contained mostly sopranos and tenors, I feel. The songs were all the Russian ones I knew, but were done in Japanese, sung high-pitched, in an echoing room, so I couldn’t really catch the words. The main alter-man (I’m guessing 25 at the youngest) was also the designated reader and, let me tell you, he knew his stuff! He just read those psalms like it was his job, which it was, but went so fast that, once again, I couldn’t catch the words. The main priest’s Japanese sounded so much like Chinese to me that I couldn’t understand what he said either.
“Um, Alexandra, if you didn’t understand what was being said, what was the point?”
Good question, I can see why you’d ask that. All orthodox services are the same in any language. The priest does the exact same thing at the exact same time in an English service as every other priest does in a Greek, Arabic, Russian, Japanese, Ethiopian, Spanish, etc. service. The actions, equipment, songs, and prayers are all the same, but the style and language is the only difference. So even though I didn’t know exactly what they were saying, I knew, “At this point we are doing a litany and praying for there to be peace and prosperity.” Also, I knew what I was supposed to do because protocol for the laity is the same everywhere as well. So, I knew what they were doing and what would come up next, it was just that they were doing it all in code. Not only was it Japanese, but it was honorific keigo Japanese! Go back a few posts for a short rant about keigo, or just wait for a few more posts after this; I will complain about it again.
Anyway, there were a few things I’d like to point out about. 1) There are a lot of foreigners there! Besides my wonderfully exotic, America self, there were several other foreigners and one of the three priest that night was Caucasian, too. So, if I need a priest who speaks English (which I’m pretty sure he does), I’ve got one in Ochanomizu. 2) There is a strict no camera rule inside Orthodox Churches in Japan. When I was first researching about them, I couldn’t find any YouTube videos or internet photos of a typical Japanese-Ortho service or the interior of a Japanese Church. It turns out that for some reason or another, the Japanese-Ortho are really protective about taking photos/videos inside the church. Outside is fine, but not inside, so I won’t be able to show you what the inside looks like, I’m afraid. 3) They were training a new altar boy! He wasn’t young, but he was clueless – probably his first Vigil, I think. He kept getting in trouble for not placing the candle where he was supposed to, how he was supposed to, or when he was supposed to. Also, he kept forgetting to kiss the priest’s hand. Every time he messed up, he’d just do a lot of little bows and the older altar guys would give him this understanding look. It was very cute and I’m sure he’ll get it right the next time. Do your best, Alter Lad!
For more information about this particular church, you can visit this website. Or this website. It is your choice, really.
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