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Swimming the Bosporus 6: Angels in the Architecture
Last week, I finished the narrative portion of my swim from the Megachurch to Orthodoxy. I could have drawn it out for a year, but readers were getting impatient — as was I. Several details were left out, so let’s follow those rabbit trails to add some context.
Over the course of my life, there have been several elements of modern American Protestantism that didn’t quite make sense to me. Some questions involved deep theology, while others were … more pedestrian. Architecture, for instance.
All the Swimming the Bosporus posts here.
For years, I annoyed evangelical friends with my rant about church architecture, so I thought it time to annoy a larger audience. You’re welcome! (Years ago, a Greek guy overheard my criticism and said, “are you sure you aren’t Orthodox?” Perhaps it was fated.)
Let’s start with the standard layout of most megachurches.
The Church at Rocky Peak Worship Center (Chatsworth, CA).
Up front, you have the elevated stage for the worship band and pastor. Video screens display song lyrics, videos, and offer close-up views. There are lighting rigs on the ceiling and the aisles are off-center so foot traffic won’t block the sightlines. The rest of the sanctuary has pews or chairs for the congregation and an audiovisual area for the soundboard and cameras.
There is no ornamentation whatsoever. If you want to see a cross, head to the bookstore off to the left. If religious imagery is desired for a specific segment, it will be temporarily projected on the screens.
The design is strictly horizontal. Like a theater, the space focuses the audience’s attention on the band or speaker onstage. This architecture perfectly aligns with the evangelical understanding of church services. The primary goal is to transmit information from the preacher to the audience. The secondary goal is to create an inspirational “worship experience.”
A horizontal, theater-style design matches the theology, and thus, is totally appropriate for a modern evangelical church. You’re there to learn the right things, so you’ll think the right things, and hopefully do the right things.
Now let’s look at a mainline Protestant church.
St. Paul’s Lutheran Church (Sassamansville, PA)
Instead of a low, flat ceiling, you have a high peak along the center. The congregation’s attention is directed upward to the elongated cross, which hangs over the minister and anyone else on the raised altar (stage). Religious ornamentation is slight but apparent and the pulpit is off to the side. The communion table is center stage, just below the cross.
This architecture is more vertical. It draws the worshippers’ focus upward instead of just to the people in front. The center of this church is the cross and communion, not the preacher or the band. Many mainline churches have a balcony for the choir behind the congregation so you hear them but don’t see them.
The old Protestant and Catholic cathedrals in Europe add several stories to the vertical element, making the priest look like a speck compared to the ginormous cross, stained glass, and vaulted ceilings. Walk into one today and all your fellow visitors will be looking up, way up, usually with their jaws on the floor.
The sermons and hymns are important, but the architecture creates a sense of reverence. This is more apparent in Catholicism, of course; Protestants didn’t like the trappings and distraction of images and statuary, choosing instead to focus on Christ alone. This is apparent in the Lutheran church’s cross and communion table above.
Good architecture is not just about cool-looking buildings but ensuring a space serves its intended purpose. For religious structures across time and space, theology informs the design.
Though megachurch architecture serves its purpose well, I always thought we lost something in the process. There was no sense of wonder or awe in any of the churches I frequented — certainly no beauty. If I mentioned it, the answer was, “why waste money on decoration when that could fund Vacation Bible School?”
So, I spent the hour or so each Sunday morning with my eyes trained on the spotlit pastor and musicians. It was horizontal, man-to-man, rather than vertical, man-to-God. This bugged me but I didn’t get why.
A theater works for an evangelical church, a cathedral for the Catholics, but where does Orthodoxy fit in?
St. John The Baptist Greek Orthodox Church (Craig, CO).
Looking at the height, you definitely have vertical alignment, but instead of jutting straight up, it’s capped with a dome. Orthodoxy loves their domes, not just because they look cool but because it represents the sky. When you enter into the liturgy, you are entering the continuous worship of heaven.
“Let the Christian consider well when he enters the church that he is entering another heaven. That same majesty of God which is in heaven is also in his church, and on this account the Christian must enter with reverence and awe.”
In this example, the icon of Mary and Christ is top and center, immediately above the communion altar. Icons are everywhere, especially on the iconostasis (wall) in front of the altar. Most Greek churches have pews, while Russian parishes expect congregants to stand. My church is about half and half.
The beauty throughout the spaces is intentional. God expresses Himself through the material world, and His people craft the wood and stone to offer it back to Him. All five senses are activated: sight (beauty), sound (singing), smell (incense), taste (Eucharist), and touch (physical activity).
Via Wikipedia.
The architecture also represents an entering into greater and greater holiness like the Jewish temple of old. The narthex is the entrance area; catechumens used to remain there during the liturgy. Today, it often includes icons and a table filled with sand where you can light a candle as a silent prayer. The large central area is the nave where the congregants and, usually, the choir stand.
The most sacred part is the sanctuary which is reserved for the clergy and their attendants. This area is visible but separated from the nave by the iconostasis. The central focal point is the altar where the bread and wine are offered to the Father. These Eucharistic gifts are then brought out for the people to receive.
For more detail on Orthodox architecture, @SkipSul covered it wonderfully here. I just hit the highlights to present the differences in architecture and how that affects worship. Each style is an excellent representation of the theology that particular faith holds.
Looking back, it seems my ultimate issue with evangelicalism wasn’t the architecture, per se, but the theology that informed it.
Chapter 7.
This is sixth in the series “Swimming the Bosporus,” on my journey from the megachurch to the Orthodox Church. Installments every Sunday morning. Click here to see all the posts.
Published in General
Very enlightening. Thanks!
Any thoughts on where that huge structure on the campus of Catholic University in DC fits in architecturally and theologically?
Excellent observation. This is a point I’ve been talking to people about for years.
The seating area of modern churches tend to be wide, auditorium-style seating with a “stage” set lower than the audience. The stage might be raised slightly above the first row or two, but for most of the audience, it’s below them. So your attention is drawn outward to the sides, and downward toward the stage.
Contrast to the more traditional style of churches with a long, narrow area for pews and a raised altar. Combined with very, very high ceilings, your attention cannot help but be drawn forwards and upwards.
I can’t say the auditorium style is really a new thing or limited to protestants or megachurches either. Our church was built in the 1970s and definitely has the auditorium style. I’ve been in a few Catholic churches from that era that were the same. Most recently, I attended a funeral (pre-WuFlu) where the seating was arranged such that it might as well have been “theater in the round.” It was strange, my attention was all over the place, and half the time I couldn’t even see what was going on.
A good solid church body can make up for these architectural flaws, but I still find my soul is more easily quieted and focused when I walk into a church with the “vertical” architecture.
I didn’t want to address Catholic spaces because I’m utterly unqualified. I’ve visited several — some beautiful and traditional, others very modern — but I haven’t spent enough time in any to get any sort of feel for them.
This is the inside of the Catholic cathedral which dominates the center of my town. I gotta give them credit, them Papists know how use architecture to illustrate the majesty of God a whole lot better than we heretics do…
I believe it’s the largest Christian church in the US. It’s done in Byzantine Revival style with a touch of Romanesque Revival thrown in. To my untrained eye, it looks pretty Orthodox.
I’m originally from Pittsburgh, lots of Orthodox churches there. Lots of gold domes. Greek , Russian and Ukrainian and probably some other I don’t recall. Although the Polish churches are Roman Catholic some of the architecture leans towards what is seen in Orthodox churches.
I was a homeless Christian attending Catholic University in Reagan’s first term and regularly ate lunch in the Shrine cafeteria and met with my advisor for my senior projects there on a weekly basis. I knew next to nothing about Catholicism going in and what I experienced of it directly was not confidence inspiring so I left barely more knowledgeable on that front than when I arrived. I attended two services in the Crypt Chapel, including a mass for the Feast of Saint Thomas Aquinas, whose acquaintance I had made. At that time, I had no idea of the massive and ornate worship spaces above that I just toured online. I knew there was an upper sanctuary, but, yah know, I got 300 pages to read by Monday and midterms are next week already and Jean-Paul Sartre is dense but useless and the Jesuits were plotting against me again. But the food in the cafeteria was affordable and better than the alternatives and cute undergrads sometimes decorated the place.
I would call it a modernist blend of Roman and Byzantine traditions. I note that there are saints lives in gold letters on marble walls and, surprise, Saint Patrick is featured prominently. There is also a beautiful worship space with an alabaster Madonna and baby Jesus seated on a bench. The baby joyously greeting arrivals. Very well done.
I haven’t been to church in a long time, but I’m thinking about starting up. I would never, ever consider attending a church that had a band.
I’m surprised nobody mentioned Frank Lloyd Wright – he built an Orthodox church in Wisconsin, and it is still in use.
It basically says “Hey! You Orthodox like domes? What if we just make the church ALL DOME!!!!!!”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Annunciation_Greek_Orthodox_Church
Looks like the inspiration for The Gobbler.
FLW’s staff at Taliesin West designed the Lutheran Church I attended as a kid.