Liturgy of St. James

Have you ever attended the Liturgy of Saint James? If not, I recommend that you do at least once. The full Liturgy takes about five hours. Most parishes do an abbreviated version.

The photos were taken after the Liturgy. I do have some taken during the Liturgy, but I can't use them for personal reasons.

One thing that I noticed about the Liturgy is that the deacon faces the people. All the petitions are done facing west, the people, and not east, the Altar.

In the Liturgy of Saint James, the people receive Communion in their hands, but in modern practice this is not done.

After the Liturgy at St. James Orthodox Church in Westminster MD, we had a really nice reception. The temple is located in a shopping center above a Mexican Restaurant.The wonderful community belongs to the Antiochian Archdiocese and it is under Bishop Thomas.

During the reception the pastor, Fr. Elias, blessed the newly painted icon of Saint James, the patron of the community.