Thanks for the ping. Yes, the services of Holy Week are very moving -- even if one is only able to understand the liturgical movement. If one is able to understand the hymnology and Scriptural readings fully, it is infinitely more moving.
After Matins of Holy Friday, at which the 12 Passion Gospels are read (our service took about 2 1/2 hours, and we abbreviated it a fair amount), our priest told us the story of having one of his parishioners being amused at the water fountain at work some years back. She overheard a Protestant colleague complaining that at their Good Friday service, their preacher had insisted on reading the entire story of the Crucifixion from the Gospel of Mark. We couldn't help but chuckle out loud -- as you would, too, if you had just heard the 12 appointed accounts from all four Gospels read.
An interesting point that he made was that these extensive public readings of the Scripture appointed in the Orthodox Church were terribly important in the days before the printing press. (If the Holy Week services are served fully, the book of Psalms, all four Gospels and the book of Acts would be read in their entirety in church.)
This is of course commonsense. His truly interesting point, though, was that he felt that in the modern age, the public reading of Scripture has become more important than it has been since those pre-printing press days. We in the 21st c. are so married to our TV and computer screens that we read less and less (and chatter more and more on-line about what little we do read.) I thought it was an insightful point...
I agree. I think we are reading less and less, partly because there is so much more competition for our time than there used to be. I'm glad to say that I read much more now than I did 15 years ago, except that I gave up the NYT ("All the news that might be true"). I wish my church was more like yours in public readings of scripture. How can you lose when you stick with the 'A' material? :)