[kosta50]

Kolo, with all due respect, Serbs don't even come close in politeness to the Greeks. Afterall, they almost pride themselves of the self-awarded title homo balcanicus. But when it comes to tradition and Orthodoxy, time stood still in reverence to Christ and the Holy Fathers. Only in America have I seen Serbian Churches with pews -- for they were acquired from other denominations, and because American Serbs, born generations in the U.S. just can't imagine standing for 90 minutes in reverence to God. Never have I seen a Serbian church with uniformed choir, electric musical instrument or electric candles. Much less have I ever seen Divine Liturgy interrupted for pig-and-lamb roast fund raising drive! It's almost profane.

[Kolokotronis]

" Much less have I ever seen Divine Liturgy interrupted for pig-and-lamb roast fund raising drive! It's almost profane."

Kosta, there's nothing "almost" profane about it; its just plain profane. I must say, however, that I have never seen such a thing. One of the problems we have in some areas, mostly what I call Greek Ghettos, is that the parish takes on the aura of an ethnic club where one Greek can outshine another with his "American success". Greekness and one upmanship within the community take precedence over the Faith. Its a terrible thing to see but it is also dying out very, very fast as second, third, fourth and even fifth generation Americans with Greek blood make up, with the American converts and Orthodox from other than Greek heritages, the large majority in any given parish. More and more people, myself included, feel strongly that the inculcation of old country traditions and language are personal matters for parents to attend to, not a job for the Church, especially when there are parishes with far less than 50% Greek membership. It makes no sense for Serbs or Russians or Arabs or American converts to support the passing on of the purely ethnic traditions, as opposed to religious traditions, of my grandparents old country. That's my job.