Centennial Year Church Services

September 14, 2005 - The Feast of the Elevation of the Holy, Precious, and Life-Creating Cross of Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ (Festal Icon immediately below) was observed at SS. Peter and Paul Orthodox Church with Great Vespers with Litiya and Procession of the Holy Cross on the Eve of the Feast and with Divine Liturgy on the Feast Day. It is a day of strict fast. Both services were celebrated by our Pastor Emeritus, V. Rev. Sergius Kuharsky. Our Rector, Rev. David Garretson, was away for the Feast for a cause worthy of a blessing, namely, his service of mercy to the victims of Hurricane Katrina in the southern portion of the United States. Below are scenes from Great Vespers and the Divine Liturgy, accompanied by the Epistle and Gospel readings for the Feast Day.

For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. For it is written, "I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and the cleverness of the clever I will thwart." Where is the wise man? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For since, in the wisdom of God, the world

did not know God through wisdom, it pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save those who believe. For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. (1 Corinthians 1:18-24)

A trio of men (photo below right) formed the choir for the evening and they sang the responses to the Vesper service. They also shared in the reading of selected passages for the evening service. Above left is Nikolai Sicko; above right is Reader Joseph Shaluha; below left is Choirmaster Basil Kozak.

When the chief priests and the officers saw him, they cried out, "Crucify him, crucify him!" Pilate said to them, "Take him yourselves and crucify him, for I find no crime in him. The Jews answered him, "We have a law, and by that law he ought to die, because he has made himself the Son of God." When Pilate heard these words, he was the more afraid; he entered the praetorium again and said to Jesus, "Where are you from?" But Jesus gave no answer. Pilate therefore said to him, "You will not speak to me? Do you not know that I have power to release you, and power to crucify you?" Jesus answered him, "You would have no power over me unless it had been given you from above; therefore he who delivered me to you has the greater sin." When Pilate heard these words, he brought Jesus out and sat down on the judgment seat at a place called The Pavement, and in Hebrew, Gabbatha. Now it was the day of Preparation of the Passover; it was about the sixth hour. He said to the Jews, "Behold your King!" They cried out, "Away with him, away with him, crucify him!" Pilate said to them, "Shall I crucify your King?" The chief priests answered, "We have no king but Caesar." Then he handed him over to them to be crucified.

Above left, women of our parish listen to the prayers intoned by Father Sergius in the center of our Church. Above right, Rev. Kuharsky blesses the wheat, wine, and oil.

So they took Jesus, and he went out, bearing his own cross, to the place called the place of a skull, which is called in Hebrew Golgotha. There they crucified him, and with him two others, one on either side, and Jesus between them. Pilate also wrote a title and put it on the cross; it read, "Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews." Many of the Jews read this title, for the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city; and it was written in Hebrew, in Latin, and in Greek. So the soldiers did this. But standing by the cross of Jesus were his mother, and his mother's sister, Mary the wife of Cleopas, and Mary Magdalene. When Jesus saw his mother, and the disciple whom he loved standing near, he said to his mother, "Woman, behold, your son!" Then he said to the disciple, "Behold, your mother!" And from that hour the disciple took her to his own home. After this Jesus, knowing that all was now finished, said (to fulfil the scripture), "I thirst." A bowl full of vinegar stood there; so they put a sponge full of the vinegar on hyssop and held it to his mouth. When Jesus had received the vinegar, he said, "It is finished"; and he bowed his head and gave up his spirit. Since it was the day of Preparation, in order to prevent the bodies from remaining on the cross on the sabbath (for that sabbath was a high day), the Jews asked Pilate that their legs might be broken, and that they might be taken away. So the soldiers came and broke the legs of the first, and of the other who had been crucified with him; but when they came to Jesus and saw that he was already dead, they did not break his legs. But one of the soldiers pierced his side with a spear, and at once there came out blood and water. He who saw it has borne witness - his testimony is true, and he knows that he tells the truth - that you also may believe. (John 19:6-11,13-20, 25-35)

Above and below - toward the conclusion of the service, the Holy Cross is brought forward in procession from the Sanctuary to the Tetrapod in the center of the Church. Here, Church President James Kornafel precedes Father Sergius in the procession of the Cross. Priest and parishioners then make three full prostrations before the Cross as the service draws to a close.

At the dismissal, parishioners again make full prostrations before the Holy Cross, venerate both the Holy Cross and the Festal Icon, and then receive the inscription of a Cross with Holy Oil on their foreheads. Above left, Thomas Kurdonik venerates the Holy Cross. Above right, (right to left), Rev. Kuharsky awaits to anoint Reader Shaluha and Church President Kornafel (photo below left), respectively, after their prostrations and venerations. Below right is the center Tetrapod after the completion of the Vesper service.

Below left is the interior of our Church fifteen minutes before the beginning of Divine Liturgy on the Feast Day itself. Below right, prior to the beginning of Divine Liturgy proper, Father Sergius censes the entire Church and all parishioners who are present. Here he censes the center Tetrapod upon which are the Holy Cross and the Festal Icon, present from the Vesper service as explained above.

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Above and below are scenes from the Divine Liturgy.

Above left, Rev. Kuharsky reads the Prayer before the Ambo. Above right, in his sermon, Father Sergius spoke about wood. He contrasted the downfall brought forth from the wood of the tree of knowledge of good and evil in the Old Testament (that is, the tree from which Adam and Eve ate) with the redemption brought forth from the wood of the Holy Cross in the New Testament (that is, the Resurrection of Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ). He also exhorted a challenge to those present - that they encourage their friends, family, and relatives to accompany them to Church on Feast Days.

Above left and right, parishioners venerate the Holy Cross and Festal Icon as they depart Church for work and home. Below are photos of the Holy Cross and Festal Icon for the Feast Day.

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