Church Services
August 1, 2004 - The morning of the Feast of the Procession of the Holy Wood of Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ (please refer "Cross Procession 2004" for a description of this Feast). This day is also the first day of the two-week fast which precedes the Holy Day of the Dormition of the Mother of God. This fast is one of the four great fasts of the Orthodox Church - the other three being Great Lent which precedes Pascha, the Apostles' Fast, and the Nativity Fast. The practice of the Lesser Blessing of Water on this day has its origin in the remembrance of the Baptism of the Russian lands on August 1, 988. Patriarch Philaret of Moscow, in the year 1627, explained the Feast as follows: "On the day of the Procession of the Venerable Cross there is a church procession for the sanctification of water and for the enlightenment of the people, throughout all the towns and places." In some Churches, honey is blessed as well on this day.
In the photo above left, parishoners arriving for Divine Liturgy see the Holy Cross adorned by flowers in the center of the Church on the Tetrapod. It was processed to place the evening before at Great Vespers. The morning liturgical service proceeds in the usual manner but at the conclusion of the Liturgy, Father David proceeds to the center of the Church for the service of the Lesser Sanctification of Water. Lengthy prayers are said over the water (above right) while the parishoners follow the service by reading the prepared text (below left).
Above right, Father Garretson elevates the Cross toward the conclusion of the blessing service and then immerses the Cross three times in the newly-sanctified water. Notice that he is wearing red-hued vestments. Red vestments are worn on all Holy Days pertaining to the Cross and on all Holy Days honoring martyred Saints who shed their blood for their belief in Christ.
In photo above left, Father David blesses the entire Church and all of her parishoners with the newly sanctified water. Above right, the Holy Water is distributed to parishoners as they depart Church for home. Here, former Church Warden Robert Kornafel distributes Holy Water to Deborah and Peter Silowka.
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Copyright © 2004, Saints Peter and Paul Orthodox Church, South River, NJ
