The story of the tenth-century Prince Vladimir of Kyiv is fairly well-known among liturgical historians. Desiring to discover the true religion and the best way to worship the true God, Vladimir sent out emissaries to assess religious worship in regions near and far. The emissaries sent to Greece offered this report to their sovereign:
So we went into Greece and were taken to the place wherein they worship God—and we did not know whether we were in heaven or on earth, for nowhere else in the world is there so beautiful a sight. We cannot describe it: we only know that it is there that God tabernacles among men.
Vladimir subsequently embraced Orthodox Christianity and there followed the widespread Christianization of the Kyivan Rus.
As I write these words, believers gathering for worship in Kyiv might more fairly wonder whether their country is on earth or in hell. Whatever other responses may be appropriate and just under conditions of unprovoked military aggression, worship, too, is called for. We urgently need prayers for peace. We urgently need to give voice to lament before God. In time of war, the joy of worship needs moderation. In time of peace, too, joy needs moderation. Peace is all too often precarious and even in the absence of war there is pain and suffering in the world which, as Matt 25 reminds us, we ignore at our peril.
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