Orthodox church brings traditional Easter celebrations to the mountains

From the WNC Sentinal

There are screens, projectors and cameras. Stages, lights and sound systems.

Churches that seem to double as concert halls. It’s an increasingly common sight.

In an age of technological enhancement, St Nicholas Orthodox Church may seem a bit untraditional, but only because it’s so deeply rooted in… tradition.

Incense. Saints. More candles than seats. And chanting… verses and prayers.

“It’s connected to the historical stream of Christianity, theology, belief and practice that has changed very little,” Fr. James Blomeley explained. “It’s entirely consistent now with what it was 1,000 or even 2,000 years ago.”

Before St Nicholas opened in Peachtree last August, the few Orthodox believers in the mountains would have to travel to Marietta or Chattanooga to attend services, Blairsville resident Van Crikis said.

Blomeley, the church’s priest, served as a deacon in an Atlanta parish for several years before being ordained last May. During the week he practices law in Murphy.

“I didn’t really know if there were orthodox up here,” he said. “The first Sunday I didn’t know if anyone would show up.”

He said he was surprised to see 20 locals attend the opening service. “They all thought they were the only orthodox in the area,” Blomeley explained. “They had no idea there was anybody else.”

For Holy Week the church held eight different services, actually fewer than the traditional full range, Blomeley said. “It is a lot of work, but for us Holy Week and Easter is just complete emersion,” he said. “When we actually get to Easter it really is the greatest of all feasts.”

Concluding a selective fast, the congregation gathered for bar-b-que at 2 a.m. Sunday morning.
“It was your usual church potluck,” Blomeley said… except for the time. About eight people attend on an average Sunday, Blomeley said, noting that it ranges to 20 on occasion. While most of the congregation is older, one family and some locals in their thirties attend.

“Yes, there is an emphasis nowdays on technology and immediacy and cultural relevence…but what I find is that for a lot of people there is a search not for the surface, but for the depth,” Blomeley said. “The candles, the incense… it speaks to a lot of people.”

Blomeley said that he hopes the parish could one day leave behind the quaint compartment it currently occupies at Peachtree Place and construct a standalone church.

Before that happens, however, the parish has to become financially sustainable. At this point contributions cover the basics and utilities, but Blomeley is serving without a salary.

“We have more people now than we really thought we would at this point,” he said. Fifty to one-hundred families is what you shoot for to become a real parish… If we could get to that point over five to ten years I’d be tickled.”

But no matter how much it grows, the services will stay the same.

“We’re not for everybody,” Blomeley said. “Some find their fullfillment in the technological aspect of services, but others find it in the timelessness.”