Church Events

October 12, 2004 - Our Church has been without the chandelier which hangs from the central cupola for several weeks now inasmuch as it had been sent out for restoration (above left). Refurbishment of the chandelier, equal in age to our present Church, was undertaken by the Senior R Club (Fellowship of Orthodox Christians in America) (above right). On this day it was returned for reinstallation - in time for the beginning of the observance of SS. Peter and Paul's Centennial Year Anniversary - and the following photoreport shows how that was accomplished.

Work began a few minutes after 9:00 a.m. with the arrival of two workers who erected two levels of scaffolding above the Tetrapod in the center of the Church (above). In the two photos below, two additional workers remove the top portion of the chandelier from their truck on Whitehead Avenue and carry it into the Church.

Were it possible for the workers to raise the entire completed chandelier by way of a winch, the process of reinstallation might have taken as little as thirty minutes. However, to facilitate restoration, transportation, and reinstallation, the chandelier had been taken apart weeks earlier and was now being reassembled painstakingly on site.

The photos immediately above and below show the reattachment of the upper portion of the chandelier to the pipe which hangs from the central cupola.

If one looks carefully in the photo above right, one can see the Crucifix which sits atop the uppermost portion of the chandelier. This Crucifix is generally not well seen under normal circumstances due to its high position and the presence of the crystal glass which hangs from the chandelier. Below right, while work proceeded above, two workers were busy about the process of restringing portions of glass crystal. The workers labored without plans or instructions as though they had memorized the relationship of the multitude of pieces several weeks earlier during disassembly of the chandelier. To their credit, few words were spoken among the workers while this reporter was present. Truly, there was a state of "Holy Silence" in our Church while they labored.

The work continued (photos above and below) as the workers reinstalled the strings of newly-polished crystal glass. The chandelier received new candles as well with white cylindrical tubes representing the "wax" portion of the candles and new small transparent light bulbs representing the "flame" portion of the candles.

Some of the photos (above) may give the viewer the illusion that the photos were taken from atop the scaffolding. Your reporter was not that brave! Rather, these photos were taken from a much safer perch in the choir loft.

Photos above left and below left show the third and lowest portion of the chandelier having its candelabra reattached. Photo above right shows South River R Club Trustee Walter Deerson pointing out the Crucifix atop the chandelier to South River R Club Member and Church President Emeritus Michael Burak. In the photo below right, the electrical wiring of the upper portion of the chandelier is wisely subjected to a "light check" before additional portions are added. The time was 2:00 p.m. The work was far more involved and time-consuming than this reporter had anticipated and other commitments unfortunately precluded the recording of the chandelier reinstallation to its completion.

The chandelier was readied in time for Divine Liturgy on Sunday morning, October 17, 2004. As the following block of six photos shows, from whatever angle and whether lit or unlit, the refurbished chandelier is a beautiful addition to the interior of our Church!

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Copyright © 2004, Saints Peter and Paul Orthodox Church, South River, NJ