Saturday, March 29, 2008
Wednesday, March 26, 2008
Follow me... New posts
After much frustration and little time, I've found a couple of easier ways to edit and post.
Live Spaces is the easiest, and probably of choice, though I don't care for the layout as well.
http://dimitrad.spaces.live.com/
Multiply is the other, looks a little better, but doesn't behave when I try to lay the page out with pictures, which was the whole problem with Blogger.
http://dimitrad.multiply.com/
For the moment, I'm still comparing them, but will eventually choose between the two.
Come and see--I'm really still alive and (when I'm not working) doing things here!
Yours,
Dimitra
Sunday, February 24, 2008
Christ the Saviour, Part III
Emmanuel--the Divine Christ Child, God With Us.Visit the excellent Christ the Saviour website for a more complete history of the church:
I think this is the Nativity of the Mother of God...
Pentecost.
I managed to get a shot of His Holiness, Patriarch Alexii II...
...together with his Heavenly Protector, St. Alexii, Metropolitan of Moscow.
Sunday, February 10, 2008
Christmas Day at Christ the Saviour Cathedral Part II
Inside, the Cathedral is just simply--beautiful! Pictures can't do it justice, because of its grand scale--only a fish-eye lens could get in what your eyes see at once, and then it would look distorted.Anyway, the cathedral was reconstructed completely from scratch, and -- unlike most other churches -- exactly as it was before it was destroyed. That means the icons are a cross between "real" and "traditional iconographic" styles. They are not gushy Romantic, but are stylized in a dignified way.
The centerpiece of the church is, of course, the Altar. In this case it is a magnificent round structure-round in the middle, at least, then with the straight walls on either side. The picture here is only the very top of it (see below for the bottom). This round style, where the deacons' doors are actually on the sides at an angle from the Royal Doors, is quite common here. I guess it saves space, so you can get as many icons in in a small space as you would if they were all in a straight line. Important, because so many churches have three altars, that each one actually ends up being quite small. Click on the pictures to enlarge them.
Here is the bottom part, looking from the left-hand side. You can see the Royal Doors, but cannot see into the Altar, which is to the left. The grey part on the right is actually on the other side of the church. Notice the row of clergy--and that is not all: an equal number stretched out further to the left! I think this event is something that everyone goes to.
Here is one of the large niches to either side of the main altar, with a Nativity scene. They look and are meant to look quite 3-D--you feel as if you are stepping into the Holy Land, back into time....
(More to come. Sign up to be alerted when new posts are added, so you can follow my (very) erratic schedule :)
Friday, February 8, 2008
Well, here I am again…I apologize for the long delay--was looking for something to help me create a blog entry faster, but so far to no avail.So… back to Christmas Day... At about 2:30 my iconographer friend from St. Nicholas Church on Maroseika Street called and said, "The Patriarch is serving Nativity Vespers today at 4 PM—if you leave now you'll have just about enough time to get there by Metro." Talk about having to make quick decisions! I sort of wanted to stay home, but I hadn't seen Christ the Saviour Cathedral yet, and of course, it would be rather neat to see the Patriarch again (maybe a better view this time?), so I decided to go. I just about literally threw on my clothes, ran out the door, down the elevator, and down the street to catch a bus to the nearest Metro station.
When I emerged from the Metro station on the other end, there it was: unbelievably large and imposing. (Those are people at the bottom of the picture, and they are actually quite a long way from the church.) I looked at my watch: I had made pretty good time—it was only 4:20. So, I started to walk towards the cathedral. You couldn't just go straight up the main path; they had it blocked off so that you had to queue up in a round-about sort of way. I started walking through the narrow way formed by barriers and hadn't gotten too far when, to my surprise, an officer appeared who stopped me. "Wait here," he said. Pretty soon, several other people had come along and joined me. After about 10 minutes, there was a crowd of 50 people or so, pushing and crowding. No one asked "why" we were waiting (except me), nor was there an answer to the question. In the shoulder-to-shoulder crowd was a short, little woman all of about 4'10" or so, who couldn't even see over anyone's shoulders. I felt sorry for her, but she was very chipper and friendly. "You would think," I thought to myself, "that they would at least let people in one by one: one comes out of the church, one goes in. But no, we waited in a growing crowd just like cars held up at a Big Dig construction site. ("Big Dig": a hole in the ground in Boston into which tons of money was poured...)
After about half an hour in the 25-degree weather, the crowd was getting really antsy. They began saying things to the guards, who replied politely but still wouldn't let us through. I was afraid I'd miss the whole service… Finally, the guards said something, and the crowd, like a great tsunami wave, pushed past the barriers, past the guards, and down the path towards the Cathedral. I couldn't tell whether the guards had let us through or had simply not fought us when the crowd pushed through. But finally, there I was, on my way in.
Almost. First, in the middle of the square in front of the Cathedral you had to walk through an airport-type metal detector and put your purse, keys and stuff in a little bin. Considering that the Patriarch and lots of other high-level people come here, I guess it isn't an unreasonable thing as far as security goes.
When I got by this barrier, there before me on the path/square in front of the cathedral was an enormous Christmas tree—a kind of cross between the Nutcracker Suite and Las Vegas. I started to hurry by it when I realized I had dropped one of my gloves. I turned around and looked on the ground, but it wasn't there. It had to be by the guards at the metal detector. The last thing I wanted to do was get anywhere near guards again for another half-hour wait, but I got up my courage and asked in my best Russian if they had seen a glove like my other one, which I held up. One of them looked, found it, and politely gave it to me. Whew, I thought, and ran up the Cathedral steps.
Tremendous bas-relief sculptures by the doors stared majestically down, -- it definitely makes an impression on you... (The photo on the left is not mine, but from the Саthedral web site.)
(Правый угол Храма. Многофигурная композиция "Давид в собрании вельмож передает Соломону чертежи Храма". Автор воссоздания Ю.В. Александров.)
I successfully merged with the crowd and passed through the right-hand arched door. I was in--and what a sight!
To be continued...
Friday, January 11, 2008
Holy Nativity
CHRIST IS BORN! GLORIFY HIM! Greeting all of you, my dear family and friends, with the Nativity of our Lord and God and Saviour, Jesus Christ, and sending you my heartfelt love, with wishes for a peaceful and prosperous upcoming New Year, and for all God's blessings for you!
I missed you on Christmas and do miss you--and you can be sure that I am thinking of you--my family, and everyone at Holy Epiphany! I am there in spirit!
(Here is a view of my little crèche I brought over. The Wise Man and camel on the left are very old, from when I was a young girl.)
A view of the inside of St. Nicholas v Klyonnikakh on Maroseika Street, Midnight Liturgy, Holy Nativity. The church is decorated with whole Christmas trees--one on each side and more around the back. As you can see, in this parish virtually all the women cover their heads...
… even the "Little women." This miniature Babushka reminds me so much of Sasha when she was little!
This is one of the many "Elki" (Christmas trees) that decorated the church. It is in front of the fresco of St. John the Russian. You can see that the Russian "Christmas trees" are a little different from ours…. (i.e. thinner!) Unfortunately, I couldn't get any more pictures this time because the lady who was standing next to me stopped me as I was about to take a really good shot of the church, "It's not allowed to take photographs here!" One never knows whether it really isn't allowed, or whether someone is just being a little too zealous. Earlier, one of the iconographers of the parish gave me a tour and urged me to take lots and lots of pictures of this very same church! Granted, not during a service… But this is Russia, the land of absolutely irrational and inexplicable contradictions. (The kind of contradictions, in fact, that cause Russians to take "no" with a certain contradictory grain of salt sometimes…. -- but not always! ;)
After Liturgy, there was a rare common trapeza, around 2:00 in the morning. The Metro (subway) closes down around 1 AM, so it was lucky that I got a ride home from someone who had a car. Those who went to midnight Liturgy and couldn't catch a ride home were stranded at the church--waiting the whole night until the Metro opened first thing in the morning. Some kind of Orthodox film was being shown in the church house next door… some went to that, others talked with their friends, and yet others--a whole row of little old ladies--were snoozing on the back bench of the side chapel!
And the most amazing thing about this is that there was also a Liturgy at 9:00 in the morning (different priest and altar), so no one had to be stranded!
My iconographer friend had been mentioning something about some service at 4 PM on Christmas Day, but she couldn't get back to me right away to explain what it was. Stay tuned for the next entry…
Целую Вас всех!
Sunday, November 11, 2007
A Visit to St. Mitrophan's and NM Grand-Duchess Elizabeth
Today I visited the third church Matushka Irina had written down for me--the Church of St. Mitrophan of Voronezh. Here is his icon, near the top of the church, facing the main street.
This one was the most like Holy Epiphany so far, in that it has only one altar and so the shape of the church inside is cross-shaped, and larger than some with 3 altars. The altar area was newly-done in mosaics, and the ceilings and walls were all newly frescoed like a Greek monastery (also similar to Holy Epiphany's frescoes).
This is the church's last priest before the Revolution, the Holy New Hieromartyr Vladimir Medvediuk. When he was ordained a priest and sent to this church in the 20's, he zealously guided his flock against the rampant revolutionary spirit, Renovationism, and atheism that existed. The Renovationists, who supported the Bolshevik regime, were forcefully seizing churches right and left. They tried to take Fr. Vladimir's church by waiting until he had left the church. In those days--as now once again in Russia--churches were open all day, every day. But Fr. Vladimir would not give them the chance: when he left for the day, he locked the church and took the keys home with him.Failing this way, the Renovationists then invited him to their bishop. Fr. Vladimir went.
"Hand over the keys!" cried the bishop.
"I won't give them, Vladyka, I won't give them! answered Fr. Vladimir.
"I'll kill you! I'll kill you like a dog!"
"Kill me," answered the priest. "You and I will stand before the Throne of God together"
"Oh, look what a fellow we have here," said the bishop, but he didn't insist further. And the Renovationists didn't succeed in seizing the church.
In 1925 the authorities arrested him, and, showing him a far-fetched and invented accusation, they began to threaten him with imprisonment in a concentration camp. The only way he could be freed, they said, was to agree to collaborate with the OGPU. Fr. Vladimir agreed and was freed. The mission they gave him was basically regarding the locum tenens of the Patriarch, Metropolitan Peter, which he fulfilled; but the further he went the more his conscience bothered him and the more agonizing it was to endure his situation. Neither zealous serving in church nor pastoral conscienciousness could calm this burning spiritual pain. Finally Fr. Vladimir made up his mind to cease contact with the OGPU and went and confessed his sin to his spiritual father. In 1929 one of the OGPU investigators summoned him to an office in Great Lubianka and demanded an explanation. Fr. Vladimir explained that he was not going to work for them any longer. For 72 hours they tried to talk him into changing his mind, but Fr. Vladimir decisively refused, saying that it didn't matter anyway--he had already told the priest about everything in confession. On the 11th of December they arrested him for "divulging confidential information." On the 3rd of February 1930 the OGPU sentenced him to three years imprisonment in a concentration camp, which he served out in building the White Sea-Baltic Canal. In the meantime his family was evicted from their house, which is what he feared the most, but by God's providence they found refuge with another family. Fr. Vladimir was able to join them after his three years were up, but was arrested again and shot in December of 1937, and buried in a mass grave at Butovo Firing Range (Polygon). He was added to the number of the Holy New Confessors and Martyrs in the year 2000.
(Translated and/or summarized from days.pravoslavie.ru. There's more about two other New Martyrs in his Life, but I didn't have time here.)
________
Across the courtyard/garden from the church is another building, used for trapeza and clergy, and I think, church school. It's a very large brick building newly-built, and over just one place, there is a small onion-dome with a cross on top. One of the priests very kindly let me see inside, where there is a new chapel and baptistery dedicated to New Martyr Grand Duchess Elizabeth. Here is her icon in the corner, behind the Cross.