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While clicking a few more links from this Orthodox priest who spoke in the opening post, I found this podcast. In it, he and another priest friend explore an Old Regular Baptist church, one of the oldest Christian denominations in the U.S., located in the Appalachians. He was searching for some sort of liturgical commonalities between this very simple country church with hardscrabble frontier roots, as contrasted with his Byzantine tradition that became greatly detailed and ornate over the 2000 years since its inception.

Of particular note in the Old Regular Baptist tradition is their a capella “line singing”, which I had never heard before until it was featured in the movie O Brother Where Art Thou from the year 2000, chiefly rendered by the late Ralph Stanley. The podcast also has reference to the old-time gospel tradition called “shape note singing”, which to the uninitiated may seem quite similar; but to the Old Regular Baptist member may be cause for a congregational split.

This is an hour-long audio podcast. It was slow getting going, and the approach of the priest initially had a somewhat dweeby air of a learned anthropologist going to examine a primitive tribe; but by the end, his heart had become opened by the Holy Spirit to a deeply sincere respect for the bedrock Biblical faith he found there.

As a natural ecumenicist, it may be because the old-time American traditions and religion are under such open attack right now that this podcast often dampened my eyes. I wish it had also been video. If you have time during this shut-down for an hour-long listen into the roots of Appalchian gospel, let me know how this struck you.

Out of Appalachia: Orthodox Christianity and the Old Regular Baptists