Why no Pews in Church?
Question: "I currently go to a
relatively traditional parish, however, recently it has been suggested that we
add chairs to our parish, and I can't help but be deeply troubled by the
proposal. Am I making a mountain out of a molehill?"
Answer: Pews are certainly not traditional. No
Christians of any stripe used them prior to the Protestant Reformation. But you
often do find Orthodox parishes that use pews today, in the United States and
in other parts of the world in which Orthodox parishes were established, where
surrounding heterodox Christians have long used them.
Protestants
adopted pews, because they suited services that revolved around long sermons,
and such services tended to not have much left in the way of the traditional
aspects of Christian worship. But for most of Church history, such things were
unheard of.
We see in
Scripture that the normal attitude of prayer is standing. Christ said in the
Gospels:
"And
when ye stand praying, forgive, if
ye have ought against any: that your Father also which is in heaven may forgive
you your trespasses" (Mark 11:25).
In the
parable of the Publican and Pharisee, we find that when they went to the Temple
to pray, both the Publican and the Pharisee stood when they prayed:
"Two
men went up into the temple to pray; the one a Pharisee, and the other a
publican. The Pharisee stood and
prayed thus with himself, God, I thank thee, that I am not as other men are,
extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican. I fast twice in the
week, I give tithes of all that I possess. And the publican, standing afar off, would not lift up so
much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, God be
merciful to me a sinner" (Luke 18:10-13).
You also
have references to bowing and kneeling in prayer (1 Kings 8:54; Daniel 6:10;
Acts 9:40; Numbers 16:22), but you don't find many references to people sitting
during corporate worship. It is traditional to have seating along the walls of
churches for those who are unable to stand throughout the service, but nothing
like the pews we see in many churches today.
There are
parishes even in the Russian Church Abroad that have pews. These tend to be
older parishes that were established during either the pre-revolutionary
period, or during the period of the American Metropolia prior to the post World
War II wave of immigration (which is most typical of the older mainstream ROCOR
parishes). This is due, I think, to the pressure to assimilate (which was even
stronger during those periods than it is today). So obviously, the fact that
such parishes exist, and continue to use pews would suggest that our bishops do
not consider pews to be intolerable, but our bishops clearly do not encourage
them either, which is why you don't see them in most or our parishes.
If you
are in a parish that has had pews for generations, you probably are not going
to get any where by opposing them, and so you would need to come to terms with
them, if there were no better options to consider. But in a situation in which
a parish is considering pews (or rows of chairs, that amount to the same
thing), one should certainly express respectful opposition to the idea.
However, if those in authority decide to put them in, continuing to oppose them
would not be a very healthy position to be in... and so again, you would have
to either come to accept the facts on the ground, or look elsewhere, if there
were other options.
There is
a difficult balance one has to strike with such things. We want to be
traditional, but on the other hand, we do not want to be a source of scandal or
division in a parish. Obviously, there are some abnormalities that one could
not possibly come to terms with, even to tolerate them for as long as one had
no other parishes in the area to consider, but I would not put pews in that
category.
Pews do
tend to make the congregation feel like spectators in the services, rather than
participants. On the other hand, because we live in a culture in which people
are used to sitting through most of a service, there is a tendency in parishes
that do not have pews for people to congregate along the walls, and thus not
make full use of the worship space. One option I have seen that I think works
pretty well, is the use of movable benches with no backs (they seat about 3 to
four people, as I recall), that are placed in parts of the Nave of the Church.
I observed this in the Old Rite parish in Erie, Pennsylvania, and in my
opinion, it worked well, without the usual problems that pews bring, and I
don't think I have seen a parish whose services were more pious than that
parish.
On their
website, they explain when people should sit on these pews:
"Most
Old Rite faithful try to arrive on time for the services. The benches located
in the Church of the Nativity are placed there because the faithful usually
arrive several minutes before services begin, thus, allowing them a place to
sit before services commence. Also, it is still the practice of the Old Rite to
read the liturgically-appointed homilies during Matins and/or Vigils. During
the reading of these homilies the faithful sit and listened attentively. When
the services do begin, the faithful stand with arms folded with as little
shifting of feet and body as necessary."
Because
these benches have no backs, it is not very comfortable to sit in them
throughout the services anyway. However, they still have benches along the
walls for those who do need to sit throughout the services due to age or
infirmity.
By Fr.
John Whiteford
Source: fatherjohn.blogspot.com
