Recently, Mrs Coldwarrior and I went to the Festival for The Holy Trinity Orthodox Church (Greek) just north of Pittsburgh. This is the first festival at their new site. They were on the North Side in Pittsburgh and have grown so much that they needed more space for the congregation and for events and education. This church does not belong to the Orthodox Church in America, founded in 1794 and granted autocephaly in 1970. The OCA rules itself and is not beholden to Rome, Constantinople, or Moscow. It is an American Church that can trace direct lineage back to St Peter throw the churches of the Middle East, Asia Minor, and Eastern Europe. The Liturgy and Canon is the same as in Constantinople, or Moscow , here it is in English.  At Holy Trinity, they will use some Greek. At my church, Holy Ghost, we will occasionally use church Slavonic as the Parish was founded as a Russian Orthodox Church.

While the Church continued to grow in Alaska, immigrants began arriving in what we today call the lower 48. In the 1860s a parish was established in San Francisco by Serbians, Russians and Greeks. [Today this parish is the OCA’s Holy Trinity Cathedral.] Gradually other similar parishes were established across the territory of the United States and, with the great waves of immigrants from Central and Eastern Europe, the Middle East, and Southern Europe at the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century, the headquarters of the North American Orthodox Diocese was moved to San Francisco and later to New York. By the early 1900s almost all Orthodox communities, regardless of ethnic background, were united in a single diocese, or jurisdiction, which was under the Russian Orthodox Church. In fact, the first bishop for Arab-Americans, Bishop Raphael Hawaweeny, was also the first Orthodox Christian to be consecrated to the episcopacy in North America. He and the parishes under his direction were an integral part of the North American Diocese. [Bishop Raphael was glorified as a saint in May 2000 by the Orthodox Church in America.]

In 1917 the Russian Revolution broke out. As a result communications between the North American Diocese and the Church in Russia were greatly hindered. In the early 1920s the Patriarch of Moscow, Saint Tikhon for ten years he had served as Bishop of the North American Diocese issued a decree calling on dioceses outside the borders of Russia [by then the Soviet Union] to organize themselves autonomously until such time as normal communications and relations with the Church in Russia could resume. Shortly thereafter, at a Council of all hierarchs and clergy and parish delegates, it was decided that the Church in North America could no longer maintain strict administrative ties with the Church in Russia, especially since Patriarch Tikhon had been arrested. [He subsequently died in 1925, and glorified as a Saint by the Russian Orthodox Church in 1989.]

Concurrently, various ethnic groups which had been an integral part of the single diocese organized separate dioceses, or jurisdictions, and placed themselves under their respective Mother Churches. This gave rise to the present situation of Orthodoxy in North America, namely the existence of multiple, overlapping jurisdictions based on ethnic background, rather than following the canonical principle of a single Church entity in a given territory.

This Parish is part of the The Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America. They “All recognize the spiritual preeminence of the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople who is acknowledged as primus inter pares, first among equals. All share full communion with one another. The living tradition of the Church and the principles of concord and harmony are expressed through the common mind of the universal episcopate as the need arises. In all other matters, the internal life of each independent Church is administered by the bishops of that particular Church.”

This subtle difference, and other minor issues,  are being addressed by the American Bishops of the Orthodox Churches at this time. The goal is to unify all of the Orthodox Churches in America under one organization, That’s the Greeks, Russians, Coptics, Serbians, Ukraninas, et ecetera. Right now, there is very little difference. If a Russian Orthodox goes to the Greeks for Liturgy, he can take the sacraments without any problem.

Holy Trinity managed to buy ten acres from the Sisters of Divine Providence (at quite a discount) and have built a church that resembles the Hagia Sofia in occupied Constantinople.

The festival was, of course, fantastic! Much Uzo and wine and gyros and music and dancing! There was true joy in their faith and their accomplishment of building this beautiful House Of God.

Now, about ‘Writing the Icons’. Please watch these videos of the new church being built:

Do Note: The Icons are not idols, they are not worshiped. They are representations of the history of the Church and scenes from the Bible. They originated before the printing press. They tell a story.

The Greek team that wrote the Icons were led by Dr. George Kordis. They brought over 5 colors of pigments, some brushes, spices, incense, and wine for the paints and got to work. They used 3000 eggs as the binder for the pigments.

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Day 2

April 4, 2013: Dr. George Kordis and his iconography team continue work on the Pantokrator icon of Christ and the Holy Angels at the top of the dome of the new Holy Trinity Church in Pittsburgh, PA. In the dome, the heavenly realm, There is Christ holding the Bible. The book is closed. It is Judgement Day. On the altar he is holding an open Bible. The ring below the dome is between heaven and earth, this is occupied by icons of the prophets. Below the ring is the Earth. The icons there are scenes and persons from the bible.

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April 10, 2013: Dr. George Kordis and his iconography team complete their work on the Pantokrator icon of Christ and the Holy Angels at the top of the dome

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The Lower Dome. April 22, 2013: The Dr. George Kordis iconography team continues progress on figures in the lower dome iconography.

Please visit the Holy Trinity Website and You Tube Site for more on their efforts. Its well worth a few hours of interesting viewing.

Enjoy the Rest of your Sunday!