OOD,
I think I am in somewhat of an oasis for the GOA as we have vespers about 90% of Saturday and Orthros every Sunday morning. My priests urges frequent confession and communion - although he does not rigidily demand confession before every communion. He recomends once a month for most people, but more or less frequent depending on a person's spiritual state. Also only an hours drive away is the monastery... Attendance at vespers though is low, but Father keeps trying to get people to go. Alas there have been weeks when it was just Father and I at vespers
I had a discussion with monk about the topic of cutting out parts of the liturgy. He told me the Litany of the Catechumens was made a silent prayer of the priest back in Greece because there simply were no catechumens in Greece. Obviously in America where there is a plethora of catechumens it is ridiculous to leave it out! He did say when this happened in Greece, but he did say that it orginated there before spreading to the GOA.
I'm curious if the other things I mentioned (censing during the epistle, reading the beatittudes ) are done are your church - if it is just a difference in Greek practice from Slavic or if it is more GOA style shortcuts.