Religious sacraments and dance in the Greek Orthodox Church

© 2019 the authorThe article analyses the Dance of Isiah as performed during the sacraments of Marriage and Holy Orders in the Greek Orthodox Church. The paper is concerned with ritual process merging both biblical text and sacramental dance. The paper explores sacramental ritual and dance that is institutionalised through the patriarchal cosmology of the Greek Orthodox Church. The performance of the Dance of Isaiah will be analysed during Holy Matrimony and Holy Orders defining “rites of passage” that move initiates toward a religious change of status — out of one religious status and in to another. The Church perpetuates these religious performances through ritual in order to define changing religious identities rooted in the institution of the Church. The paper is concerned with the coalescence of ritual process — biblical text and sacramental dance — in order to understand ritual initiation settings of the Church