Ritual is Necessary in Worship
Ritual among Christians often gets a bad rap, and since the Orthodox Church uses a lot of ritual, that bad rap often is extended to us. In contemporary America one regularly hears comments denigrating its use; ritual is labeled “vain repetition,” “dry spirituality,” “meaningless gyrations,” etc. This suggests, by extension, that the Orthodox Church’s worship is “dry” “meaningless,” or even “vain.” This is far from true, but one gets the impression, from such comments, that ritual is something to be avoided. In fact, it actually is something which is extremely difficult, indeed impossible, to avoid.
Ritual generally involves the use of physical actions to accompany acts of piety and worship. As such, it is a necessary part of Christian worship and most Christians, whether they know it, practice some forms of ritual. Consider; can you imagine not bowing your head when the pastor of your church says, “let us bow our heads in prayer!” This gesture has become a conditioned reflex for many. The next time you hear those words, try NOT to bow your head; you’ll find how difficult it is and how much you need to perform that action when you pray. For those of you who lift your hands when you pray, try folding your arms instead. For those of you who stand when you sing hymns, try sitting while you are singing. For those of you who stand for the reading of the Scriptures, try lying down. Immediately, you will find yourself reacting; there are some postures which are conducive to good prayer and worship, and you know and do them instinctively.
This point brings us to the definition of ritual. Loosely defined, ritual is the use of the body in worship; strictly defined, ritual is a predetermined series of physical actions which accompany, inform and direct worship. In either instance, the body participates in worship, and this is the heart and soul of ritual.
Ritual is a necessary part of worship and this is because the body is an integral part of who we are. St. Paul admonished Christians to give God not just their souls but their bodies as well:
“I appeal to you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present
your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is
your spiritual worship.” [Rms. 12:1].
Indeed, to the Corinthians he said that they were to “glorify God in [their] body [1 Cor. 6:20].” This led him to call the body “the temple of the Holy Spirit [1 Cor. 6:19].” Thus, the body is the place where worship is manifested. Indeed, it is impossible to worship WITHOUT manifesting that worship in some physical form.
Look at the Scriptures. The Psalmist called for the people of God to “lift up your hands in the Holy Place and bless the Lord [Ps. 134:2],” and St. Paul urged the same [1 Tm. 2:8]. St. John the Divine informed us that the angels and saints in heaven highlight their eternal worship by falling down before God’s throne [Rev. 4:10]. St. Paul stated that “at the name of Jesus every knee should bow in heaven and on earth and under the earth [Phil. 2:9].” These are physical actions which accompany worship.
Where ritual predominates, one will find many such physical actions accompanying worship. In the Orthodox Church, for example, we stand for worship and the reading of the Gospel, we bow our heads at the name of Jesus or the Trinity, we make the sign of the cross at statements of our Christian hope or when we are informed of God’s forgiveness, we kneel in penitential seasons or at moments of awe in the services, we lift our hands [called the “orans” position in Latin] in prayer, we prostrate ourselves [an ancient Jewish action of worship which was inherited by early Christians], we process around the Church on certain holy days, the priests have a series of ritual actions which they do during services; each of these is a form of physical worship, or ritual, and they are rich and filled with spiritual meaning. In truth we perform ritual in its finest form.
Ritual may get a bad rap from the uninformed, but the fact is that everybody uses ritual in some form; the only difference is in the degree and intensity. Indeed, without some form of ritual, there would be no worship, just as without our bodies, we would not exist. Judeo-Christian history, and by extension, the Orthodox Church, is filled with examples of soul-stirring ritual and that is why we use it. Ritual enhances and directs our worship so that both our bodies and our souls are participating in it. The result is that we are WHOLLY drawn into the mystery of Christian worship.
So I would say this to those who have attempted to avoid using ritual; you can’t avoid some form of ritual in your worship, and the fact that you probably use some simple forms of ritual in your current worship patterns indicates that it is NOT vain and meaningless. Perhaps you should examine your Christian roots, learn about historic Christian rituals, especially as
they are still preserved in the Orthodox Church, and perhaps benefit to the joy of your souls.