Well, along comes Seraphim to inform us that in the time of St. John Chrysostom, it was indeed Entertainment!:
It was a longstanding custom for the congregation to applaud in church, or to shout out signs of their disapproval, when bishops preached to them.
(This from Fr. John McGuckin's book St. Cyril of Alexandria: The Christological Controversy: Its History, Theology, and Texts).
Applause, like a lot of things, is cultural, but Seraphim puts the "entertainment" of theology into its context in the glory days of the Golden Tongue.
I'm going to send his post off to my priest.
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