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To all who could not attend:

The funeral Liturgy today was quite a beautiful and inspiring one. The Cathedral was packed to overflowing with hundreds of faithful from all over the Metropolia as well as over a hundred priests and a few dozen bishops including hierarchs from the Byzantine, Ukrainian, Melkite, Romanian, Slovak, Maronite, Syriac, and Roman Catholic Churches and the Greek Orthodox Church and Orthodox Church in America. Truly a fitting tribute to our beloved Metropolitan.

Lance --

Was there an OCA hierarch present? I thought only Metropolitan Maximos (GOA) and Archbishop Nicholas (Johnstown) were present?

Brendan

I was privileged to be there yesterday, with a bird's eye view from the choirloft.

Random impressions:

We arrived at about 9am, and already the Cathedral was filling up. The Cathedral is of no great size, so several hundred chairs had been set up on the lower floor (basement??) with a huge screen TV which got feed directly from the camera which was immediately on my left. Most layfolk ended up in the basement. I understand that there were also speakers outside - I can't vouch for whether there were, or whether they were needed.

The procession began at 10:15am. as a seemingly endless parade of hierarchs, priests & deacons came in, the Cathedral choir softly hummed the melody for the Beatitudes. It was quite lovely.

A Liturgy book had been produced especially for the day - I believe (subject to usual errors) that Sister Margaret Ann Andrako OSBM had a major hand in it, and I think the GCU helped - probably with the printing & such.

Bishop Andrew presided. Behind the iconostasis were all of our own Ruthenian bishops including Bishop Michael, and Bishop George who was in a wheelchair - and a HOST of other bishops Eastern & Latin, as well as Fr. Leo Schlosser, OSB, hegumen of Holy Trinity Monastery, and Fr. Nicholas, hegumen of Holy Resurrection. Of the other bishops I only recognized a few (sorry!), including Romanian Bishop John Michael Botean. From the Latin side, Cardinal Bevilacqua (sp?) was present, and maybe a dozen RC bishops. I thought maybe I spotted the RC bishop of Columbus (my hometown) but I'm not sure - I was pretty far away, and these bifocaled eyes are none too reliable. I was curious about one of the hierarchs - his vestments looked more or less eastern, but he wore a black hood with what appeared to be a silvery star or "asterisk" on it. Would anybody here know who he was & from what jurisdiction? An entire section of the "cheap seats" (i.e. in the main body of the Cathedral) was filled with priests & deacons. I recognized our priests from all over - some of our folks did an awful lot of driving or flying - as well as probably 25-35 RC priests. Another section was taken up with Sisters - mostly OSBM, I think.

At one point a priest (sorry, didn't know who he was) read a letter of condolence from the Oriental Congregation (I can never remember the correct designation) which seemed to me to be much more than just a form letter. There are folks in Rome who are truly grieving the loss of our Metropolitan, including the new Cardinal in charge.

The Liturgy proceeded - the only odd thing I noticed was that while there were plenty of deacons present, none of them were vested or "used." The deacon's parts were taken by priests. Go figure. Communion was distributed efficiently - reminded me of how they handle it on pilgrimage at Uniontown - priests set out to various distant parts of the cathedral led by an usher to take care of the folks in that "zone" - it seemed to proceed with reverent dispatch, and a minimum of disruption.

Toward the end, there was a panachida. To me, that seemed to be the part of the whole service that belonged to the people. When the troparia were sung (in Slavonic) the Cathedral was filled with a swell of sound - the people praying from their hearts. Following the panachida came the pouring of oil. After the oil was poured, the Metropolitan's face was covered by the veil, and his hands by the chalice & diskos veils.
I know that many people wept at that point. One by one, the bishops and concelebrating priests sprinkled the Metropolitan's veiled body with holy water.

After the final blessing and Vicnaja Pamjat, we (Fred Petro who was the cantor-in-charge, me, another cantor & one out of the choir) chanted almost the entire Resurrection canon as the cathedral emptied. Many people stopped at the casket to pray, to touch, to kiss one last time.

After the service everybody was invited to the Cathedral Center for a bit of lunch. I don't know how they managed it, but there was room and very nice food for everyone - an amazing feat considering the very short notice and lack of data to plan from. Those ladies (and maybe men?) did a tremendous job. If anyone left hungry, it was their own fault.

I did not attend the burial - it was to be later that day in Uniontown. I was luggage with folks who hadn't slept well the night before (like I had???), and it was maybe 2:00 pm or later when we left Munhall. I also needed to get back to Columbus, and especially carrying around this little peanut, I know not to push my limits too much. (When I did get home to Columbus at about 7:15pm, I almost immediately fell into BED exhausted.) Did anyone go to Uniontown?

Just a few thoughts the day after.

In Christ,

Sharon

Sharon Mech, SFO
Cantor & sinner
sharon@cmhc.com

I was curious about one of the hierarchs - his vestments looked more or less eastern, but he wore a black hood with what appeared to be a silvery star or "asterisk" on it. Would anybody here know who he was & from what jurisdiction?

Dear Sharon,

I can't be sure, but it sounds like a Syriac bishop. Our vestments can be seen at the following website:
http://sor.cua.edu/Vestments/index.html

If the vestments of the bishop looked similar to the arrangement shown on the website, then it's probably the Syriac Catholic Eparch of Our Lady of Deliverance of Newark, Mar Ephrem Joseph Younan (I think that's the correct name and jurisdiction, but I'm open to correction). All Syrian monks are required to wear a black "hood", called the eskimo, which can be seen on the website. I've seen Syriac Catholic bishops who wear a modified version of this, which is just a simple black eskimo without any embroidered crosses, but which has a silver cross attached in the middle of the forehead or something like that. In India, all Syrian bishops, Orthodox and Catholic, wear the traditional version.

Sharon, thank you for that excellent report. I was trying hard to hear your voice during the cantored parts, but it seemed you didn't have enough proximity to the microphone!

I will concur (as one of the "layfolk" who made it in to the Cathedral upstairs) that the services (Sunday night and Monday) were magnificent and moving.

On Sunday night (second night of the priestly Parastas), Archbishop Kyrill of the OCA's Diocese of Pittsburgh & Western PA was in attendance along with a few of his clergy. Metropolitans Nicholas and Maximos attended only on Monday.

In a touching gesture, Met. Nicholas was led along with the Catholic bishops to Metropolitan Judson's body for blessing, which he also reverently gave the farewell kiss.

By the end of the series of services (I also attended the interment at Mount St. Macrina), I came away with a tremendous sense of thanksgiving -- that regardless of the loss of our chief hierarch, whom I mourn -- I am so grateful to God that I belong to this Byzantine Ruthenian Catholic family, which I would not trade for anything in the world.

[This message has been edited by RichC (edited 05-01-2001).]

Mor Ephrem,

You are probably correct. Thanks!

Rich,

I was nowhere near the one mike. Not a problem usually, but the Cathedral is pretty acoustically dead.

Could you tell us more about the burial service? I had hoped to go.

Sharon


Sharon Mech, SFO
Cantor & sinner
sharon@cmhc.com

CHRIST IS RISEN!

Hi Sharon:

I left Uniontown for Baltimore around 3:30 and they still hadn't reached Mt.Macrina (my family lives only 5 minutes away).

When they buried Archbishop Dolinay they didn't get there until well after 4:30pm.

mark

Sharon and Ephrem,

According to Lance, who served at the Liturgy, it was the Syriac Catholic Eparch.

Anthony

Sharon, like Mark said I think it was not until at least 4:15 if not 4:30 when the funeral procession arrived at the cemetery. The bishops were already there.

Bishop Andrew was the celebrant of the final panachida and Bishop Basil assisted. I think Bishop George was also present, but my memory is a little fuzzy. There were perhaps 20 priests who came.

The grave was prepared in the center of the row in front of Bishop Basil Takach. I think the altar used to be there (the old one up on steps) but I think it was moved forward last year, so now there is more room for burials.

There were at least 100 other people who came, including family and the Sisters of St. Basil.

The hierarchs met the casket at the cemetery gate and "carried" (on wheels, of course) it to the grave site.

At the conclusion of the panachida, Bishop Andrew poured the shovels of earth over the casket with the prayer of sealing the grave. Then he and Bishop Basil blessed it with holy water. The dismissal was given with the final singing of Eternal Memory and then the priests took their turn blessing the casket with holy water.

The Sisters then hosted the "komas~nja" mercy-meal at the Motherhouse, for which all who were attended were very grateful, especially for the cold drinks and cool surroundings as a respite from the 80-degree brightly-sunlit cemetery grounds.

The full Post-Gazette story on the funeral Liturgy is at http://www.post-gazette.com/regionstate/20010501metropolitan5.asp

I ran into at least one OCA priest at the funeral. I believe he had come in from West Virginia, although I might have him confused with another Orthodox priest who was there. Father Gregory Wingenbach, who was there representing Christian Associates of Southwestern PA and as a friend of Metropolitan Judson, is also an OCA priest.

There was a large Protestant contingent at the funeral. They came in toward the head of the procession and had seats in the front pews. Metropolitan Judson was one of the most active members of Christian Leaders Fellowship of Pittsburgh, a group of bishops and similar denominational executives, who meet once a month for prayer and Bible study. They have all become very close friends, and a lot of the Protestant leaders were in tears over his death. Lutheran Bishop Donald McCoid was at the funeral, and was clearly grieving. THe Rev. J. LaVon Kincaid represented the Methodist bishop (who is new and probably barely knew Metropolitan Judson). I spotted one of the officials of Pittsburgh Presbytery, whose name escapes me at the moment. There was a woman, who I think may be the Rev. Carolyn Jones, former executive of Washington Presbytery (I only met her once and that was a long time ago). I didn't spot the Episcopal bishop, but he undoubtedly had a representative present.

[This message has been edited by annrm (edited 05-01-2001).]

Brendan,

Yes, that was a slip up. Metropolitan Kyril (OCA) was at the Sunday night service, not the funeral Liturgy. Metropolitan Nicholas of the Carpatho-Russians attended both.

Sharon,
Yes, it was the Syriac Bishop of Newark who wore the monastic hood.

In Christ,
Lance, deacon candidate

Question:

Have the Ruthenians always used the pouring of the oil at a burial or is this a (welcome)restoration?

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