[Canticle_of_Deborah]

I've almost got it. So, the Russian Orthodox Church holds services in Russian, even in English speaking lands and the same for Greek Orthodox (etc), Greek language liturgy even in America?

:-)===

I like the Japanese goatee on the Japanese Orthodox sage;-)

[katnip]

That seems to be up to the community itself.

There are Greek Orthodox churches in my area that have the liturgy in English and/or Greek.
The Orthodox Church of America, which I have joined says the Liturgy in English.

[The_Reader_David]

Yes, almost. But in English speaking lands most of the different ethnic jurisidictions have some parishes which hold services in English (or, very often English except for a few parts of the service in some old-country language--when wiser heads prevail, the fixed parts that everyone knows in Greek or Slavonic or Arabic. . .---when less wise, the variable parts like troparia and kontakia which one is supposed to learn the faith from), while other parishes use the old country's language.

My own priest can serve in English, Greek or Arabic, but serves our mission (and its mother parish) in English (except for the priests private prayers, which he says in Greek). Of course, 'Lord Have Mercy' comes out in English, Greek, Slavonic, Arabic and Romanian in turn! (Especially when I'm serving as Reader.)

[Chancellor Palpatine]

My southern/midwestern parish is Antiochian, and my Patriarch is His Beatitude, Ignatius IV, with residence in Damascus. 98% of our liturgy is in vernacular, with a few of the simpler responses in Greek, Russian and Arabic, as a measure of respect to the ethnic traditions of the parish (which is probably the most racially diverse in my city).

[MarMema]

For the Russian church it depends as well. The local Russian (rocor) parish here has gone really Russian with a new priest but in the past had services in both Slavonic and English.

I don't know which churches you visited but I admit that some of the more ethnic parishes can be unwelcoming. It is something we are working on. We began at a Serb parish once where most of the parish spoke Serbian only and felt very unwelcome for many months. We stuck it out and came to love the church, attended there for 5 years. But the best bet for Americans is really the Orthodox Church in America. Which is where we have landed and been most happy in the end.

There are ethnic issues within our church that need to be corrected. Too much emphasis on nationality is a problem, with many of the ethnic parishes in our area. Though I must admit the Romanians don't seem to convey this, I have seen it at Serbian, Russian, and Greek churches.

And while it has been a joy to learn a great deal of church Slavonic over the years, it breaks the liturgy ( for me) rythym to have something first said in one language, then in another.

Anyway a good site to visit for more info is www.oca.org and they have parish listings for each state. In case you ever want to visit us again. Many people do! Quite a few of my protestant friends have asked to come and visit, just to see and hear the liturgy.