Indiana-based artist paints traditional icon at St. Elizabeth Orthodox Church in Poulsbo

Artist and iconographer, Brian Matthew Whirledge, is spending the next few weeks far away from his family and his Goshen, Indiana-based studio. Instead of standing behind his easel with his paintbrushes and paints in their usual places, he’ll be poised on a scaffold high above the floor at Poulsbo’s St. Elizabeth Orthodox Church, using the wall as the canvas and creating traditional icons, the larger-than-life sacred paintings of ancient Christianity.

Father John Strickland, rector at St. Elizabeth’s, said, “We’re blessed to have someone of Brian’s talent come here and do this. His work is the culmination of a multi-year renovation of our temple, which, located behind the Breidablick Cemetery, once served as a place for voting booths and marriage receptions.”

The icon Whirledge is painting now shows the mother of Christ, the Virgin Mary, with the infant Jesus in her arms and angels on either side. When he is done with this, he will paint a second icon below (immediately behind the altar table) showing Christ distributing communion to his disciples. The largest image in the group will be about 15 feet tall.

The use of icons in Orthodox worship is a sacred tradition with roots that go back to the earliest days of Christianity. Before widespread literacy, icons were used to depict Biblical stories, events, and characters. They also serve to remind Christians that in the person of Jesus God truly became a human being.

Whirledge is an officially recognized iconographer who follows practices stretching back more than a millennium to the Byzantine Empire. In addition to studying under contemporary master iconographers, he has visited ancient churches such as one in modern Bulgaria where the prototype for his Poulsbo icon of the Virgin Mary is to be found. Whirledge holds a Bachelor of Science in Art Education and a Master of Education from Indiana Wesleyan University. A Lilly Endowment Teacher Creativity Fellow, he also conducts workshops on how to paint a traditional Byzantine icon from start to finish.

You can learn more about his work by visiting his website: https://www.brianwhirledge.com/

New eastern wall iconography by Brian Matthew Whirledge, in progress.

The Sunday Divine Liturgy (Republished from Five Months ago)

Today we celebrated the Divine Liturgy of Saint Basil the Great, though with only four of our people according to the instructions of our bishop. Nevertheless, what a joy many of us felt both in the temple and at home listening to an audio streaming of it. A section of the Liturgy was filmed that included the scripture readings, the homily, and the litanies for the catechumens and the faithful (as well as a prayer for deliverance from the Coronavirus). However, the video has so far overwhelmed our uploading capacity, and so for now we will have to wait before it can be posted.

In the meantime, the photos above and below show the paten at the proskomedia. Above is how it looked before commemorations of parishioners and their loved ones were made, and below after that.

Saint Elizabeth Day

Statue of Saint Elizabeth on the Anglican Westminister Abbey in London

Today the Orthodox Church celebrates the feast of Saint Elizabeth the New Martyr. If you do not already know about her wonderful life and death, you can read a brief account on our website under the Who We Are tab. Below is the homily from this morning’s Divine Liturgy for the feast.

All Saints of North America

Photograph of Saint John Kochurov, who served in Chicago and after returning to Russia was the first priest martyred by the Communists in 1917.

Tomorrow, the third Sunday of Pentecost, we commemorate All Saints of North America. This evening at Great Vespers at 6:00 we will sing hymns about those who went before us in the American Orthodox Church. Herman and Innocent of Alaska are remembered prominently. So are those who were sent from Russia and returned to their homeland to undergo martyrdom under Communism like John Kochurov and Alexander Hotovitsky. Especially well remembered is Tikhon of Moscow, who came here as a bishop and commissioned the translation of the divine services into English, a legacy in which we at Saint Elizabeth Church are particularly grateful to participate. The most recent member of this growing "cloud of witnesses" is Sebastian of Jackson and San Francisco, who labored as a missionary in California and was only canonized five years ago.

Particularly beautiful is the hymn we will sing this evening about the saints—both known and unknown—who have sancitifed our lands with their faith in God:

Rejoice, mountains of Pennsylvania, leap for joy O waters of the Great Lakes, rise up, O fertile plains of Canada, for the elect of Christ who dwelt in you are glorified. Men and women who left their homes for a new land, with faith, hope, and patience as their armor, they courageously fought the good fight.Comforted by the beauty of the Orthdoox faith they labored in mines and mills, they tilled the land, they braved the challenges of the great cities, enduring many hardships and sufferings. Never failing to worship God in spirit and truth, and unyielding in devotion to his most-pure Mother, they erected many temples to his glory. Come, O assembly of the Orthodox, and with love let us praise the holy men, women, and children, those known to us and those known only to God, and let us cry to them: Rejoice O saints of North America and pray to God for us.

This feast day comes one week after the commemoration throughout the world of All Saints of the Orthodox Church. Like All Saints Sunday, All Saints of North America Sunday extends our joyful celebration of Pentecost (celebrated two weeks ago) by reminding us that the Orthodox Church has been established here in America, and that the gates of hell will never prevail against her.

Homily for the Sunday of the Paralytic

Below is the video of the homily from the Liturgy for the Sunday of the Paralytic. During our live stream the signal was interrupted temporarily during it, and so this provides an opportunity to hear it in full for those who desire to do so.

Homily for the May 10, 2020 Sunday Divine Liturgy, the Paralytic. trs

For the Healing of Soul and Body

Christ is risen!

Today at Saint Elizabeth Church water was again sanctified according to the Orthodox rite called the Lesser Blessing of the Waters. It is a somewhat shorter version of the Great Blessing of the Waters that Orthodox parishes serve on the feast of Holy Theophany (January 6).

Since our parishioners are shut in by the current pandemic and unable to attend services, this holy water is being made available to take home and keep there as a physical reminder and manifestation of God’s presence with us, especially in times of affliction. It is not the Eucharist, but it is consumed as a life-giving sacrament of health for both soul and body.

The prayer below, with which the service at our church today concluded, reminds us of this.

Bow down Your ear and listen to us, O Lord, Who deigned to be baptized in the river Jordan, and there sanctified the water. Bless us all who by the bowing of our heads do show forth our apprehension that we are Your servants. Grant that we may be filled with Your sanctification through the partaking of this water, and let it be for us, O Lord, for the health of soul and body.

Let Us Call Brothers Even Those that Hate Us

As we reach the conclusion of Bright Week, the holy week of Christ’s Resurrection, we are reminded of the transformation that our faith has brought into the world. No longer are we bound by death. No longer are we confined to the ways of this broken and sin-ridden age.

This evening our parish will again serve Paschal Vespers as we did on Bright Monday. It concludes with a beautiful hymn about the transformation of the cosmos that Christ has made possible through faith in him. It speaks of forgiveness and brotherly love, even for those who hate us:

This is the day of resurrection. Let us be illumined by the feast. Let us embrace each other. Let us call brothers even those that hate us, and forgive all by the resurrection, and so let us cry: Christ is risen from the dead, trampling down death by death, and upon those in the tombs bestowing life.

CHRIST IS RISEN!

Midway through Bright Week

On the Sunday of Pascha we served the Divine Liturgy and live streamed it to our parishioners at home. After the Gospel our priest read the famous Paschal Homily of John Chrysostom, usually assigned for Paschal Matins but since we did not serve that this year it was done at the Liturgy.

The Paschal Homily has long been one of the most beloved elements of the Orthodox celebration of the Resurrection. For any who are not familiar with it, or have never taken the time to read through it, its text appears below.

If any man be devout and love God, let him enjoy this fair and radiant triumphal feast. If any man be a wise servant, let him rejoicing enter into the joy of his Lord. If any have labored long in fasting, let him now receive his recompense. If any have wrought from the first hour, let him today receive his just reward. If any have come at the third hour, let him with thankfulness keep the feast. If any have arrived at the sixth hour, let him have no misgivings; because he shall in nowise be deprived thereof. If any have delayed until the ninth hour, let him draw near, fearing nothing. If any have tarried even until the eleventh hour, let him, also, be not alarmed at his tardiness; for the Lord, who is jealous of his honor, will accept the last even as the first; He gives rest unto him who comes at the eleventh hour, even as unto him who has wrought from the first hour.

And He shows mercy upon the last, and cares for the first; and to the one He gives, and upon the other He bestows gifts. And He both accepts the deeds, and welcomes the intention, and honors the acts and praises the offering. Wherefore, enter you all into the joy of your Lord; and receive your reward, both the first, and likewise the second. You rich and poor together, hold high festival. You sober and you heedless, honor the day. Rejoice today, both you who have fasted and you who have disregarded the fast. The table is full-laden; feast ye all sumptuously. The calf is fatted; let no one go hungry away.

Enjoy ye all the feast of faith: Receive ye all the riches of loving-kindness. let no one bewail his poverty, for the universal kingdom has been revealed. Let no one weep for his iniquities, for pardon has shown forth from the grave. Let no one fear death, for the Savior’s death has set us free. He that was held prisoner of it has annihilated it. By descending into Hell, He made Hell captive. He embittered it when it tasted of His flesh. And Isaiah, foretelling this, did cry: Hell, said he, was embittered, when it encountered Thee in the lower regions. It was embittered, for it was abolished. It was embittered, for it was mocked. It was embittered, for it was slain. It was embittered, for it was overthrown. It was embittered, for it was fettered in chains. It took a body, and met God face to face. It took earth, and encountered Heaven. It took that which was seen, and fell upon the unseen.

O Death, where is your sting? O Hell, where is your victory? Christ is risen, and you are overthrown. Christ is risen, and the demons are fallen. Christ is risen, and the angels rejoice. Christ is risen, and life reigns. Christ is risen, and not one dead remains in the grave. For Christ, being risen from the dead, is become the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep. To Him be glory and dominion unto ages of ages. Amen.

The Feast of Feasts and Holy Day of Holy Days

CHRIST IS RISEN!

Today Saint Elizabeth Church celebrates with all of the Orthodox churches on earth the radiant feast of Pascha. According to Ode 8 of the Paschal Canon, sung during the Paschal Vigil, this is the “feast of feasts” and the “holy day of holy days.”

There are many wonderful resources on the internet for watching divine services, reading reflections on the holiday, and listening to the beautiful music it has inspired.

For one, Ancient Faith Radio has a good music streaming service:

https://www.ancientfaith.com/radio

Here on our parish website we have a few recordings that one can listen to.

1) The Paschal Procession with wonderful bell-ringing (listen for the bass bell especially) from Holy Trinity Monastery north of Moscow is first.

2) The opening of Matins, with the troparion and verses (“Let God arise,” etc.) follows immediately on the previous recording.

3) We sing the paschal hymn Having Beheld the Resurrection of Christ at every Saturday evening vigil after hearing the Gospel of the Resurrection (it is also said by the priest at the end of the communion of the faithful at every Divine Liturgy). Its origin is the Paschal Canon, sung just before Ode 7. Here is a recording of it by Saint Vladimir’s Seminary Choir.

4) Finally, the beloved Angel Cried is also from the Paschal Canon, sung during Ode 9, and it is also sung at every Divine Liturgy during the forty-day season of Pascha.

CHRIST IS RISEN!

The Paschal Vigil

Tomorrow Saint Elizabeth Church will offer a streaming of the Paschal Divine Liturgy at 10:00 AM.

We will not, however, serve the Paschal Vigil tonight. Anyone who would like to hear a recording of the service can do so below. The recording was made in 2004 at Saint Vladimir’s Seminary in New York. It was very beautifully and majestically served. It includes the Paschal Procession and Paschal Matins. The Liturgy is not included in the recording.

Do Not Lament Me O Mother

Our church this evening after Great Vespers with Entombment. The Tomb of Christ with the cloth icon called the epitaphion on top of it now stands in the middle of the temple.

Though we are not able to serve Matins for Holy Saturday this evening, below is a recording of its beautiful canon, sung at Saint Vladimir’s Seminary in New York. It culminates in the ninth ode, the concluding hymn of which, Do Not Lament Me O Mother, consists of the following text:

ODE NINE

Do not lament Me, O Mother, Seeing Me in the tomb, The Son conceived in the womb without seed, For I shall arise And be glorified with eternal glory as God. I shall exalt all who magnify thee in faith and in love.

REFRAIN: Glory to Thee, our God, glory to Thee.

“I escaped sufferings and was blessed beyond nature at Thy strange birth, O Son Who art without beginning. But now, beholding Thee, My God, dead and without breath, I am sorely pierced by the sword of sorrow. But arise, that I may be magnified.”

REFRAIN: Glory to Thee, our God, glory to Thee.

“By My own will, the earth covers Me, O Mother, but the gatekeepers of hell tremble at seeing Me clothed in the blood-stained garments of vengeance; for when I have vanquished My enemies on the cross, I shall arise as God and magnify Thee.”

REFRAIN: Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, now and ever and unto ages of ages. Amen.

“Let creation rejoice! Let all born on earth be glad! For hateful hell has been despoiled. Let the women with myrrh come to meet Me; for I am redeeming Adam and Eve and all their descendants, and on the third day shall I arise!”

Do not lament Me, O Mother, Seeing Me in the tomb, The Son conceived in the womb without seed, For I shall arise And be glorified with eternal glory as God. I shall exalt all who magnify thee in faith and in love.

The Banquet of Immortality

This evening our church will be serving Matins for Holy Thursday, in anticipation of the feast of the Mystical Supper tomorrow. Its canon is particularly beautiful and noteworthy. Sung in Tone 6 to the Lesser Znamenny melody we use for the Canon of Holy Saturday, it concludes with the hymn Come O Faithful (to be repeated tomorrow during the Divine Liturgy) about the Master Christ’s hospitality to his disciples in the upper room. This is the same chamber where they will be assembled in some fifty days to receive the Holy Spirit at Pentecost. Mystically, it is where all Orthodox Christians assemble for the “banquet of immortality” that is offered by our Lord at every Divine Liturgy.

A translation of this hymn (which was distributed today to our parishioners to be sung as home) is the following:

Come, O Faithful, Let us enjoy the Master’s hospitality, The banquet of immortality In the upper chamber with uplifted minds, Let us receive the exalted words of the Word, Whom we magnify.

Listen for it at the end of the canon during this evening’s streaming service from our church.

For those who would like to hear it sung in the original Slavonic, earlier today one of our many sister parishes in Russia that are streaming services recorded it. The recording at the link below will begin exactly at the point when Come O Faithful begins during Matins. You can listen to the whole service by starting the recording from the beginning. (Note the parish is in the same closed door mode we are in.)

https://youtu.be/Nu1MlGcAjCs?t=4200

I Have No Wedding Garment

Today on Great and Holy Tuesday we serve the final service (by anticipation) of Bridegroom Matins for Holy Wednesday. In addition to other beautiful hymns such as Behold the Bridegroom (see Sunday’s post) this service includes the one known as an exapostelarion and entitled Thy Bridal Chamber.

This is the text (in the translation used in our parish reader’s packets distributed by email):

Thy Bridal chamber I see adorned, O my Savior, And I have no wedding garment that I may enter, O Giver of light, enlighten The vesture of my soul, and save me.

This, along with the Gospel readings and other hymns, has a strongly eschatological element. We have completed the Forty Days of fasting to prepare ourselves to encounter the crucified and risen Lord of our salvation, yet now especially, perhaps, we realize how unprepared we are. We “have no wedding garment.” This is an allusion, of course, to the gospel reading of the wedding banquet to which the Master calls all, but at which one careless guest appears without a proper garment (Matt. 22:8-14). That garment is repentance.

May our Lord who is merciful grant to us even now at the eleventh hour that garment of humility, gratitude, love, and awe that comes through repentance!

Services for Passion Week and Pascha

The remaining services for Passion Week that a small number of us will serve at Saint Elizabeth during Passion Week and Pascha is given below. The link to use for watching online through Zoom is:

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/9477199466?pwd=ZFNlSkNZTnhZZFFBbWFMWkdDTWU2UT09

• Holy Wednesday: Matins for Holy Thursday at 6:30 PM

• Holy Thursday: Divine Liturgy of Basil at 1:00 PM

• Holy Friday: Vespers with Entombment at 6:30 PM

• Holy Saturday: Divine Liturgy of Basil at 11:00 AM

• HOLY PASCHA: Paschal Divine Liturgy at 10:00 AM

• Bright Monday: Paschal Vespers at 6:30 PM

Behold the Bridegroom

As we enter Monday of Passion Week tomorrow, below is a recording of the main hymn of the service of Bridegroom Matins, which we will serve at our church at 6:30 and stream online.