www.byzcath.org Forums General Discussions Town Hall Beauty of G-d's House

Hello all:

It's always quite inspiring to see Byzantine Churches (both Catholic & Orthodox) to have the fullness of Byzantine tradition. And what's even more inspiring is to make it such a beautiful place to worship the Lord.

What is your favorite parish to go to for such an inspiration? What parish is the most beautiful that you guys have been into?

As the saying goes: "Beauty is in the eye of the beholder."

My most favorite of all time is the Sts. Volodymyr & Ohla Church Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church in Chicago. I've been there couple times. And truly I tell you, I did NOT know whether I was in heaven or on earth. It was so beautiful and the Divine Liturgy was extremely beautiful. It is the most Orthodox I've seen in the Byzantine Catholic parish so far.

What's most interesting is that, just down a block or two, there is the Cathedral of St. Nicholas for Ukrainian Greek Catholic (Eparchy of St. Nicholas).

I asked somebody why are these two churches so close together (a block or two apart)? They said it's because there are LOTS of Ukie Catholics around. And each of these two churches have 3 to 4 Divine Liturgies each Sundays! The churches would be packed!

Please share with me your favorite places and would love to see a photo of the Church if there are any. Of course would love to see the beautiful Orthodox Churches as well.

G-d bless.

SPDundas
Deaf Byzantine

Sts. Volodymyr & Ohla Church [ukrainianchicago.com]

I love the Trinity Cathedral in the Trinity - St. Sergius lavra. For me its is the embodiment of Holy Rus'. It is solidand sober - the product of true Russian Orthodox spirituality instead of some nasty sugary, westernised Baroque. I feel the Lord especially blessed me here, in that the Gospel of a molieben meant that as everyone stood still I was left standing in front of the relics of St Sergei. It was then that I asked the blessing of St Sergei to become a monk.

This place is so special that I dedicated my monastic kellion to the Trinity and St Sergei.

Spasi Khristos -
Mark, monk and sinner.

Father Mark, bless!

I have heard many wonderful descriptions of Troitsa-Sergieva Lavra at Sergiev Posad. And I certainly agree with you about the embodiment of Holy Rus'. I hope that my health and finances would permit me to someday make pilgrimage to Sergiev Posad, to golden-domed Kiev, and also to Valaam Monastery.

I have an ikon of St. Sergiy Radonezhskiy with scenes from his life, in my ikon corner.

Kissing your right hand,

Timothy, servant of God

Dearest brother in Christ, Timothy,

May the All-Merciful Lord bless you.

I particularly love the Trinity cathedral because it is so rooted in pure Orthodox culture. The main cathedral of the Nevsky lavra in St Petersburg is elegant; St Isaacs cathedral and the Kazan Cathedral are impressive - yet, to this Old Ritualist, they are not sacred. Edifices such as these are sad symbols of an age when Orthodox Russia had a great inferiority complex. Imperial Russia was embarassed by a percieved crudeness and naivity in the great creations of Russian Orthodox culture. The Baroque creeps in and, in trying to compete with the west in its elegance and refinement, Orthodox art and architecture totally looses its simple, holy genius and the sheer 'other-worldliness'. The profound becomes trivial and spiritual depth is replaced by aesthetic shallowness. This is why I would rather have one wooden Carpatho-Russian Church than fifty Kyivan baroque cathedrals.

Spasi Khristos -
Mark, monk and sinner.

I guess you would have to divide that question between places you have actually been, or places you would like to go.

As far as places I have been, my first vote goes for St. Elias Ukrainian Catholic Church in Brampton, Ontario. Archpriest Roman Galadza has truly done miraculous work there with restoring Orthodox worship in the Kyivan tradition: www.saintelias.com [saintelias.com]

My second place is a tie between Alex's church, St. Nicholas in Toronto and Sts. Volodymyr and Olha in Chicago.

Sts. Volodymyr and Olha (V&O as it is called it in the Eparchy of St. Nicholas in Chicago) has a much more complex history than that indicated above by SPDundas. In the late 1960s Bishop +Yaroslav Gabbro introduced the Gregorian (New) Calendar at St. Nicholas Cathedral in Chicago.

This created quite a stir amongst the community, and a group petitioned Patriarch +Josyp Slipyj directly for permission to erect Sts. Volodymyr and Olha two blocks south near Superior and Oakley, which was promptly given. It made it to local and even national news during the most heated moments of the rift.

V&O has remained not only faithful to the Old Calendar, but to a more traditional parish liturgical life as well with Saturday night and feastday Vespers, Matins, etc. The current pastor of V&O, Father Ivan Krotec', is a wonderful and holy man.

Relations between the two churches of V&O and St. Nicholas Cathedral, located only two blocks apart in Ukrainian Village in Chicago, separated by Chicago Avenue, were not good for many years. But the rift has been healed over time and you can see people from either parish at functions at the other now, something that would not have happened in the 1970s or even 1980s. I have served at both V&O and St. Nicholas Cathedral, but I have to say that I prefer V&O. The iconography, wall mosaics, and carved wooden iconostasis at V&O are truly breathtaking.

In terms of places I would like to go, I think the Pecherska Lavra, St. Sofia and the churches of Kyiv would have to be included in those, the home of the ascetic and liturgical life of Kyivan Rus'.

The Cathedral of St. Louis, while technically not a Byzantine church, has many of the Byzantine architectural elements (central dome, etc.). Furthermore, the Saint Louis Mission Parish set up a portable iconostas and had Divine Liturgy there for several years before recently moving to a new home.

This church has the world's largest collection of mosaics, (Over 80,000 sq. ft. if memory serves), the majority in shimmering gold. Walking into this church from the hustle and bustle of the city is almost guaranteed to take the breath away from a first time visitor. The official website [http] of the cathedral doesn't do it justice.

-- Ed Klages

WOW! The Church in Missouri is breathtaking.

I've always been very inspired by the Christ Proctocrantor (sp?) Icon in the dome of any Churches. It's gives me a warm feeling that G-d is looking over me but at the same time I feel a watchful eye to make sure I fulfill my Christian duties.

Randy, thanks for a short 101 course on history of V&O. It's quite interesting. It's sad that there were rift over Calendars. We can't make calendars our "god" that the world revolves around calendars. So it is indeed sad. I don't care which calendar I use, just as long as we all worship G-d and follow the 3rd Commandment: Keep the Holy Sabbath Day. If we're at Julian, that's fine with me. If it's Gregorian, it's fine with me too. I'm not going to fret over it, so if the Eparchy ever changes back to Julian, I would have no problem with that at all. But wow, it's something new which I learned about the Eparchy of St. Nicholas, so if there are anymore I need to know....oh you know my e-mail address.

Now...Fr. Mark, bless!

Your church sounds so wonderful. Does your church have a website or photo that I could find online? I would LOVE to see what it looks like. Thanks for sharing your sentimental thoughts.

G-d bless.

SPDundas
Deaf Byzantine

Here are the most beautiful churches I have encountered (on the web or in real life):

St. Ann Byzantine Catholic Church, Harrisburg, PA
My home parish. Site: www.stannsbyzhbg.org [stannsbyzhbg.org]
Go to "Pictures" area on the site to see some shots of the interior.

St. Nicholas Orthodox Cathedral, Washington, DC
Beautiful OCA Cathedral in DC. Site: www.stnicholasdc.org [stnicholasdc.org] (I think), also look at OCA.org and go to "Events", scroll through the past year or two to see pictures of services held at St. Nicholas Cathedral.

St. Tikhon Monastery Church, South Canaan, PA
Monastery church for St. Tikhon Orthodox Monastery. Beautiful. Go to www.oca.org [oca.org] and look at "Events" to find photos of services at St. Tikhon's.

Nativity of Christ Russian Orthodox Church, Erie, PA
Old Rite Russian Orthodox Church in northwestern PA. Beautiful temple. www.churchofthenativity.net [churchofthenativity.net]

In Christ,

Timothy, servant of God

I heartily agree with the observation by Father Mark. I am much more moved by the beauty of a Carpathian style wooden village or monastic church than even the most striking "Byzantine Baroque" such as St. Andrew's in Kyiv and the numerous other churches designed by Rastrelli in Ukraine and Russia which were so popular with the tsars of the time. It's that old Hutsul thing in me to be a wooden church nut, I guess...

It is wonderful to see a Carpathian wooden church revival amongst the Ukrainians, Ruthenians, Carpatho-Russians, etc. in North America with such fine and beautiful churches as St. Elias UCC in Brampton, Ontario, St. John the Baptist UCC in Hunter, New York, Holy Trinity UCC in Silver Spring, Maryland, St. Nicholas Chapel at the Greek Catholic Union (GCU's) resort in Beaver, PA; and the Carpatho-Russian Orthodox's chapel at Camp Nazareth in PA; and others as well.

Here's some links for some wonderful wooden churches if anyone is interested, both Old and New World:
www.lemko.org/religion/perly [lemko.org]
www.saintelias.com [saintelias.com]
www.gcuusa.com/snc.html [gcuusa.com]
www.users.erols.com/klnorman/HTUCC [users.erols.com]
www.mojweb.sk/outdoor/drevene.html [mojweb.sk]
www.infoukes.com/culture/architecture/tserkvy [infoukes.com]
www.acrod.org/New_Church.htm [acrod.org]
www.rdsa.tripod.com/cerkwood1.html [rdsa.tripod.com]

Unfortunately many of the churches in Ukraine, Poland and Slovakia were destroyed, mostly by the godless Communists.

I have made several trips to Carpathian-Rus' (Transcarpathia, Eastern Slovakia and Southeastern Poland) and have visited my grandparents' Rusyn Greek Catholic & Orthodox Churches which were built with subsidies from the Austro-Hungarian government. These were built in the early 19th century and replaced the originial wooden Rusyn churches built in the 15th-17th centuries. They are humble village churches but all contain full-tiered iconstasis and served the local Rusyn people for generations. There are a few of these wooden churches built in the native Lemko Rusyn and Boiko Rusyn styles that still stand and are truly architectural gems in their own right. While the monumental Eastern churches built by Holy Emperors and Czars are full of gold and splendor , I prefer the "temples of the common villagers". These wooden churches were their most teasured possession.

Ung-Certez

Dear Diak
thanks for the link to the site showing all the old churches. Now I see why they say our little church down here in Roswell, Georgia, looks like a little country church from the old country.

www.byzantines.net/epiphany/temple.htm [byzantines.net]

the drawing does not show that the church is actually surrounding by tall southern pines, so we really are "in the woods". Our iconostasis is very modest compared to most of the older churches. We just completed it last Palm Sunday, 2002.

Thank you everyone for sharing all the sites for your favorite Byzantine churches. I have actually been in only one Byzantine church -- my own parish! So it was awesome to see so many other beautiful churches. I especially liked St Elias, Toronto. The architects were very clever to place clear-story windows up at the top of the wall to let in all the natural light (since you use only candles and no electric lights). Very impressive. They are all very impressive.
Thanks
denise

This link seems to work better for more recent pictured of Holy Trinity UCC in Maryland:
http://users.erols.com/klnorman/HTUCC/churchpicts6.html

Denise, you all have started a new church architectural wave - "Neo-Lemko" (or maybe "post-Lemko"?)

Diak -

Many thanks for the links!

Somewhere in England there is a Carpatho-Russian style Church, built after the war in a dp camp. Sadly, we haven't found it yet.

Spasi Khristos -
Mark, monk and sinner.

Oh what a topic... a MUST (I've been there...but I recommend you visit it if you can!) is the Church of St Sophia in Sofia. It is a simple yet profoundly mystic church built by the Emperor Justinian in the 6th century - plus, they have almost prepared it after a century or so. Opposite is the Patriarchal Cathedral of St Alexander Nevski - its not everyone's cup of tea but I think it is a wonderful example of a Byzantine Church - plus the service at Easter is a WONDER).

Closer to home, in London...I do like the RC cathedral at Westminster but there is a current trouble brewing between people wishing to move the alter and what not. The Russian one is a good one as well - a converted Anglican one..it is suitable sombre dignified and with none of your western decadence of chairs or pews. I went on a history trip to Canterbury Cathedral and that is also quite wonderful (even the various headless angel statues....thank you Puritans! )Sounding tourist'y' - St Basil in Moscow is one...very onion like.

Back on the Bulgarian front, the Monastery of Rila and its Church of the Theotokos is...to me, at least...very spiritual. Also recommend the Boyana Monastery, as well as those at Dragalevski and Bachkovo monasteries.

Anton

Diak
I had to go to the Lemko site to understand what you meant! Well, I guess since our parish is Ruthenian, then it is definitely Lemko. We are very proud of our little church. We are a real mish-mash of ethnicities, though. I actually come from a French-Canadian background, grew up Roman, but have transferred rites to Ruthenian since attending Epiphany BC. Our priest grew up Episcopalian. etc. etc.

The weird thing is, although I've only been in one Byzantine church my whole life, I've been in three Orthodox churches. One, the Greek cathedral in Atlanta. Then, when in Alaska (I had to go all the way to Alaska!) we went into a tiny, tiny Russian OC in Juneau. I tried to find a web-site on it but couldn't. It is an octagonal shape, no more than 45 feet by 45 feet, if that; maybe only 35 feet by 35 feet. Icons everywhere. But very beautiful. (St Nicholas)
Then, I think the Archangel Michael Russian OC in Sitka, Alaska. THis was larger, considered their cathedral. Also icons up everywhere.

My husband has a way of bribing me to go on trips by promising me a visit to some church or other. He knows my soft spot. He got me to New York by promising we'd go to Mass at St Patrick's!

When I told him about the beautiful St Elias in Toronto, he said he'd take me there if we went up to Canada.
denise

My votes (in no particular order) are for:

* Sts V&O UGCC in Chicago (but the pews gotta go!)
* St Sergius of Radonezh ROC in Seven Hills, Ohio (just the interior)
* St Michael "Zolotoverkhyi" UOC-KP in Kyiv.

Andrij

I like St. Michael the Archangel's UCC in Baltimore, Maryland. I am no Eastern church architectural expert, but isn't that considered Baroque style?

ChristTeen287

Certainly, among my choices of lovely Eastern Churches would be

The Cathedral of the Holy Virgin-Joy of All who Sorrow- San Francisco, Ca

The Cathedral of St Seraphim of Sarov in Dallas, TX

and closer to home:

Church of the Holy Protection-Santa Rosa, Calif

Annunciation Cathedral of the Melkite Greek Catholic Eparchy of Newton.

In particular, I am awed by the fresco in the Holy Place. It depicts Our Lady of the Sign.

God's house is beautiful!!

Paul

Now I'm going to join a travel club to visit all these beautiful churches

Paul

St's Volodymyr and Olha is the most beautiful Eastern Rite Church I've ever been in. Some years ago I met a parishioner, and I told him I had photographed numerous churches around Chicago, I mentioned I had taken pictures inside St Nicholas (Ukrainian Rite)and that I thought it was quite impressive, when he told me that SVO was even more beautiful, I had a hard time believing him, mainly because it was built around 1970. When I saw the interior on Good Friday for the first time, it was breathtaking, it seemed like a sea of icons, and it gave me that feeling I only get in the most beautiful Latin Rite Churches, "I just wanna stay here and never leave".

Nativity BVM in Chicago's Back of the Yards area (now moved to Palos Park) was also impressive.

Is the liturgy at V&O in Slavonic or Ukrainian?

Andrew

Ukrainian. Incidentally, they have both good congregational chanting and excellent choirs (note the plural).

Fr. Serge

Andrew

Saints Volodymyr and Olha only does Ukrainian liturgies, but St Nicholas, almost a stones throw away, does one in English on Sunday. I was at SS V&O last year for week day liturgy during Lent, and even with my understanding half a dozen words in Ukrainian, it was still incredible. I think I need to visit there more than once a year.

I always wanted to visit there, but never got the chance. I did attend liturgy at St. Nicholas and St. Joseph's. Actually my vote for prettiest church is near the village, namely Holy Trinity Cathedral.

My favorite RC on the inside was St. Alphonsus, though it had unfortunately the requisite tackiness that seems to be such a fixture in so many RC churches.

Andrew

Saints Volodymyr and Olha used to have a website with many photos. Sadly, it has been offline for several years.

Manoli

Andrew

You don't mean St Alphonsus on Lincoln Avenue in Chicago do you ? I don't want to come off sounding like an architectural snob, since that's what I am, but I can recommend some much more impressive Latin churches in Chicago than St Alphonsus.

At least your honest!

What are your favorites, I might have visited some.

I was speaking of the same St. Alphonsus. I seem to remember it had some really good rib vaulting.

Andrew

Here Andrew, here's a good start for you.


15 Best Latin Rite Churches In Chicago in no particular order.

Holy Cross (Back of the Yards)
St Joseph (Back of the Yards)
St Mary of Perpetual Help (Bridgeport)
St Mary of the Angels (Bucktown)
St Michael (Old Town)
St John Cantius (West Town)
St Hedwig (Bucktown)
Holy Family (Near West Side)
St Adalbert (Pilsen)
St Barbara (Bridgeport)
St Gabriel (Canaryville)
St Michael the Archangel (South Chicago)
Holy Trinity (Polonia)
St Hyacinth (Avondale)
Our Lady of Sorrows Basilica (East Garfield Park)

All definitely worth a visit, and I've photographed them extensively.

Yes, some of these I'm familiar with.

Holy Cross I attended a weekday mass in. I really liked it as well, though it was definitely in need of repair at the time. I believe it was Lithuanian originally, but had changed over to be predominately Mexican. St. Joseph�s, I remember where it was, but never went inside. There was also a small Czech church nearby that I believe had been suppressed.

St. Mary of Perpetual Help in Bridgeport I never got to visit, or St. Anthony�s.

St. Mary of the Angels I only saw from the outside, but like St. Mary�s in Bridgeport it looked ginormous.

St. Michael (Tarzan�s church IIRC) was definitely pretty on the inside. I still prefer St. Alphonsus to it myself.

St. John Cantius, I only drove past. I�ve heard the liturgy there is about the best you can find in the Roman rite.

St. Hedwig, I attended mass there once. It was a nice church as well.

Holy Family, I only drove past. Never made it inside there or Old St. Pat�s.

St. Adalbert (Vojtech�s), ahhhhh I forgot all about that one. Yes, that was a beautiful building. They had a Pieta in there as I recall.

St. Barbara, I can�t remember. Was it near the old Daley parish?

St. Gabriel, I believe that was the Burnham church. Wish I had visited that one.

St. Michael of the Archangel I don�t recall.

Holy Trinity, St. Hyacinth and St. Stanislaw�s I only saw the outside of.

Our Lady of Sorrows, I think I remember where that was, and it was in a really scary area west of the Ukrainian village. Only saw it from a distance if that�s the one I�m thinking of. It was huge.

A couple you left off that I thought were interesting as well were St. Ita's and St. Paul's. St. Boniface is a nice edifice as well.

Andrew

Holy Cross is in good shape now, and has always been a personal favorite, all the statues, alcoves and St Bernadette at the grotto make it a place I never want to leave. St Joseph nearby, has the most incredible Pieta I've ever seen, and probably the most impressive stations of the cross. The altar is magnificent too. The closed church in the area your thinking of, is Sts Cyril and Methodius. It was a Czech parish, but interior was done over poorly after V2. All 3 churches were built by the same architect, Joseph Molitor. Kitty corner from SS Cyril and Methodius was the very impressive Ukrainian Rite church Nativity. Still standing but now, who knows what.

St Mary of Perpetual Help in Bridgeport is a must see. 3 domes, statues everywhere, and very impressive stations of the cross.

Yes, I knew Johnny Weismuller was an altar boy at St Michael's in Old Town.

St John Cantius is ABSOLUTELY the best place in Chicago to attend mass. It's truly like getting into a time machine and going back to a time before everything fell apart.

St Hedwig's has a beautiful altar and stations.

Holy Family is yet another must see. Statues everywhere constantly reminding you of the communion of saints. Probably the most impressive crucifix in Chicago, and of course the haunted statues of the altar boys, who paid a nocturnal visit to Father Arnold Damen the church's founder. They led Fr Damen to there mother who needed the last rites. He mentioned it in his memoirs. Don't even bother with Old St Patrick's, it's been horribly remodeled.

Yes, St Adalbert has an impressive Pieta.

St Barbara's is over a mile from Richard J Daley's parish Nativity. It's octogonal, and features the best Christ in the Garden of Gethsemane I know of, plus a very impressive large crucifix, and several other nice statues.

St Gabriel's was built by Daniel Burnham. It's very Celtic, and has a beautiful altar, crucifix, and statue of St Patrick.

St Michael the Archangel is at 83rd-South Shore, and it's right down the street from where the gates of US Steel stood until 1980. It has a magnificent wooden altar, with spires, the longest communion rail in Chicago, and outstanding stained glass windows.

Holy Trinity only has Polish masses, but it's definitely worth seeing for it's 5 altars. St Hyacinth is one of the largest churches in the city, and also one of the most beautiful with a large number of statues and paintings. St Stanislaus Kostka, unfortunately always seemed a bit plain to me.

St Ita's and St Paul's (the only church I ever saw with a statue of Moses in the vestibule) are lacking in statues and other religious art for my taste. Sadly, St Boniface has been closed for several years, but it was very impressive inside. St Anthony of Padua at 28th-Wallace was also outstanding, but was pretty much ruined after V2.

I must agree with Father Mark, although I love the Churches of the north, especcially at Kizhi!
[Linked Image]

Alexandr

As far as churches in North America go, St. Elias in Brampton is the best I've ever been to.

As far as a local church here in Ohio, St. Theodosius(OCA) in Cleveland is by far the most beautiful place to worship. Beautiful architecture and amazing choir. Their annual Christmas concert is coming up in a couple of months. Anyone who wants to hear a great choir in a beautiful setting should check it out.

Here is a link:
http://www.sttheodosius.org

They have photos all over the place on their site. As you'll see at the site they just celebrated 110 years.

I think I'm going there for Vespers tonight.

Monomakh

I'm still trying to pick my jaw off of the ground!

How beautiful!

How majestic!

What is the significance of the 22 domes?

Is it still a functioning parish?

Of course, this was the Church where the Wedding Scene in the Deer Hunter was filmed!!

The priest in that film is an an actual OCA priest-now retired. I see him regularly when there are lectures at St. Tikhon's seminary (just saw him last night, as a matter of fact). He says that his parish, at the time of the film, made a lot of converts amongst those who worked on the film (mostly Hollywood types-if that can be imagined).

Dn. Robert

Andrew

Holy Family is open and doing quite well. Unfortunately though, I've heard the congregation has taken to aping some Evangelical Protestants with hand holding and rythmic clapping. Not my idea of a reverent mass. Here's a link to some pictures of the church, which honestly don't do it justice http://www.religiousarchitecture.org/buildings/holy_family.html You've just got to see it in person.

Keeping it Eastern, I'd also recommend Holy Trinity OCA (Ukrainian Village) and St Simeon Mirotivici Serbian Orthodox (East Side).

Talk about Orthodox churches...well here's one.

http://www.bluffton.edu/~sullivanm/wisconsin/milwaukee/wrightgrkortho/grkortho.html

Okay, okay! So it's not traditional...but it's beautiful.

They did stuff like that at my college church, which was also a pretty building which had really good Zettler windows IIRC.

Have they kept the altar rail in tact? One of the worst things I've seen done is where the altar rail is removed and a holy table pushed out in to the nave. I saw that in a lot of parishes.

One parish you might like is St. Mary's Assumption in New Orleans

http://www.neworleanschurches.com/stmaryasum/stmaryasum.htm

and St. Alphonsus across the street from it. St. Mary's was/is a German Redemptorist church that reminds me a lot of St. Michael's in Old Town. I like Old St. Augustine's as well.

http://flickr.com/photos/97675277@N00/tags/oldstaugustineschurch/

Yes, I mentioned Holy Trinity, it's a beatiful building. When I visited they also had an awesome deacon. I never made it to St. Simeon's or Holy Resurrection out by the airport.

Andrew

Quite a few churches in Chicago still have there communion rails, like confessionals though, most have no use anymore. Sadly V2 opened the door to the iconoclasts who absolutely wreaked havoc on sacred art. Around 1965 Cardinal Cody, literally had all the stained glass windows at Holy Name smashed, and all the statues and paintings removed. The soldiers of Oliver Cromwell couldn't have done worse. At St Anthony of Padua on 28th-Wallace, sledge hammers were used to destroy the side altars of the Blessed Mother and St Joseph. I could go on, but it's too sickening. I guess that's why I've always like the Traditional Latin joke about Pope John XXIII having to stay in purgatory until he finishes closing all the windows he opened.

St Mary's Assumption in New Orleans looks magnificent. That's my kind of altar. Funny how it was said that too many statues caused a distraction during mass, yet in those old churches, anyway you turn your head you see an instant reminder of why you're there.

St Simeon Mirotovici has a very impressive chandelier. I hope that's what it's called, and a beautiful iconostasis http://www.emporis.com/en/wm/bu/?id=205842

I guess standing and receiving in the hand does rather obviate the need for the rail.

I only went in to Holy Name once, but I remember it feeling very sterile. I had not heard that story about Cardinal Cody, though I have heard others.

Indeed, and how ironic that in the case you mentioned that it was a prelate of Irish ancestry wielding the hammer (so to speak).

Who in the world would consider such things a distraction?

I believe St. Simeon's is modelled on the Katholikon of a monastery either in Serbia or Kosovo.

Andrew

An Eastern church in Chicago I would love to have seen in it's day, was Saints Constantine and Helen Greek Orthodox. The first two church buldings unfortunately are no longer Orthodox, but I'd still love to see some old photos of the interiors. Here's SSC&O at it's first location at 61st-Michigan http://ecuip.lib.uchicago.edu/diglib/social/cityofneighborhoods/grandwash/con_tour_k.html The church was mentioned in my favorite American novel "Studs Lonigan" by James T Farrell. SSC&O was right across 61st-St from St Anselm, and around the time of WW1, Father Gilmartin of St Anselm's had a sitdown with his Eastern counterpart after a number of after school fights between Catholic and Orthodox boys (the Orthodox had a school as well) The two priests ended up becoming live long friends. Unfortunately you'll notice by the pictures, that the second location of the church has been legally desecrated http://www.noi.org/national_center.htm Now the church is in suburban Palos Hills.

St Basil at 733 S Ashland is another Greek Orthodox Church worth seeing. One of it's interesting claims to fame is that it was once one of the largest synagogues in Chicago.

Now tell me all, have you ever seen an inside of a church that can equal this? Scroll down from the Pantocrator.

http://www.ouranoupoli.com/athos/church.html

Zenovia