Icon of Christ the Pantokrator
At the end of September 2005 the Icon of Christ the Pantokrator was installed into the 45-foot high dome of St. Mary's Church Temple in Wilkes-Barre. The icon was made possible by the generous donations of many parishioners who offered gifts for the good health of, and the eternal memory of their loved ones. The icon was painted by Ivan Rumantsev, the teacher of iconography at St. Tikhon's Orthodox Theological Seminary and Monastery, who has painted many icons for the Seminary and Monastery. The iconographer studied iconography at St. Petersburg, Russia. After the icon was placed in the dome of the Church, the iconographer had to finish painting the icon to cover the place where the two halves of the icons were joined. Ivan Rumantsev is pictured here at the right loo
king down from the scaffolding as he worked on the icon.
The icon was painted on two 8 foot semi-circles and then joined together in the ceiling of the dome. The work of hanging the icon in the dome of the Church Temple was by Jim Dotzel and his family from H. A. Smith Inc. of Wilkes-Barre, which does work in church restoration and painting. This company provided the many pieces of scaffolding needed to reach the for the job.
In the picture at the left Jim Dotzel is shown lifting the semi-circle of the top half of the icon of the Pantokraton into the dome.
The two pictures below show the completed work after the icon was hung in the dome. The final picture is that of the icon of the Pantokrator as it can now be seen in the dome of St. Mary's Church temple. The people of St. Mary have been very impressed by the icon and many state that they are deeply moved by the vision of Christ looking down upon them as they gather in this Holy Place to workship the Lord in that Heavenly Liturgy in which we join on earth during the Divine Liturgy.
Special honors for the Chef Emeritus
On Sunday, September 25, 2005, there was a special day in honor of Jimmy Cardillo, pictured below with his wife Violet, for his many years of culinary work for St. Mary Antiochian Orthodox Church. At the end of the Divine Liturgy, Jimmy came forward with Parish Council President John Moses, to receive a special recognition given by Father David, and a plaque to thank and honor him for his many years of work. Father David noted that in many of the photographs from the 60's, 70's and 80's, which are from the parish history displayed in the the parish hall, there are many articles in the newspaper about Jim's work for the various parish bazaars and other activities which involved food and cooking. After this, he noted, that in February 1992, there is a copy of the parish bulletin which speaks of the new spaghetti dinner which St. Mary would begin to have each week on Thursdays. From that time until the spring of 2004, with only a few exceptions due to poor health, Jimmy Cardillo spent some 25 hours each week working on the spaghetti dinner. It is only because of ill health, that he was forced to step down this year. To thank him, a special plaque was presented to him by Father David. This plaque will hang in the parish kitchen for all to see and read of his many contributions. The plaque reads:
St. Mary Antiochian Orthodox Church in appreciation and thanks to Jim Cardillo for his service to the church. We honor him for his willingness to share his culinary expertise and organizational skills, especially for his 15 years of dedicated work with the spaghetti dinners. In our appreciation, we now name him Chef Emeritus of St. Mary Antiochian Orthodox Church. May God Grant You Many Years. September 2005
Special food was prepared for the celebration, with an emphasis placed on Italian foods.
As part of that food there was a special cake made in the shape of a chef's hat, and a bowl of spaghetti. Jimmy and Vi Cardillo can be seen below standing by the cakes. Everyone enjoyed the meal that was prepared and served themselves from the lavishly prepared table.
The work on the cakes was by two parishioners, Reba Witko who baked the cakes, and John Witko who decorated the cakes. The work on the food was by another parishioner, Nancy Hunter. These parishioners are found in the photo below.
Everyone enjoyed the celebration and were touched when Jimmy personally thanked the many people who helped him over all the years.
Baby Shower given by the Ladies of St. Mary
The Ladies of St. Mary wanted to show their love for Anastasia Morris and her husband Deacon Christopher who have been part of St. Mary's over the last two years, as Deacon Christopher prepares himself for priesthood at St. Tikhon's Seminary. The women gave a baby shower for Anastasia on Sunday September 11, 2005, following the Coffee Hour after the Divine Liturgy.
The women prepared special food for the occasion, and had shared a variety of gifts for the mother and baby. Below are some pictures of this special celebration.
Parish Life Conference in Morristown, NJ
The Parish Life Conference for the Eastern Dioceses, the Diocese of New York and the Diocese of Oakland, was held recently in Morristown, NJ from June 29 to July 3, 2005. The Conference was sponsored by St. George Antiochian Orthodox Church of Little Falls, NJ. During the Conference a number of the parishiers of St. Mary's participated in various activities. Pictured at the left are the women who attended the meeting and brunch sponsored by the Antiochian Orthodox Women.
There were also several teens who participated in various activities of the conference. They are pictured here at the left. Their teen advisor is pictured below, along with a picture of Father David and Khoriyee Anne in the lobby of the hotel.
At one of the evening social events of the Conference, some of the parishioners can be seen seated at the table on the left.
In addition, the Conference was an opportunity to visit with some of the priests and their families who were part of St. Mary's when they were seminary students studying theology at St. Tikhon's Orthodox Seminary.
On Friday, Father David gave the sermon at the end of the Divine Liturgy. The text of that sermon will follow at the end of this article.
Everyone enjoyed the Conference and we are all grateful for the hard work of the people of St. George and their pastor, the Very Rev. Elias Bitar.
Here is Father David's sermon:
Over the past several weeks in North
I find a certain irony in this in the face of today’s gospel which speaks about the fact that the day is coming when the followers of Christ will fast, since in North East Pennsylvania people are concerned about controlling their food, while at the same time all probably belong to Western Christian Churches that have done away with any real fasting and what they miss is that fasting teaches a spiritual connection to control of food and drink.
And it is interesting to note that it is in the writings of one of the western Fathers, Leo the Great, pope of Rome, who was so important for the 4th Ecumenical Council, that we can find a beautiful description of the importance of fasting as he talks about the Nativity, 10th month fast:
But there are three things which most belong to religious actions, namely prayer, fasting, and almsgiving, in the exercising of which while every time is accepted... this tenth month brings round again to us the opportunity when according to the ancient practice we may give more diligent heed to those three things of which I have spoken. For by prayer we seek to propitiate God, by fasting we extinguish the lusts of the flesh, by alms we redeem our since... This threefold round of duty, dearly beloved, brings all other virtues into action... Because in prayer faith remains steadfast; in fasting life remains innocent; in almsgiving the mind remains kind. On Wednesday and Friday, therefore, let us fast; and on Saturday let us keep vigil with the most blessed Apostle Peter, who will deign to aid our supplications and fast and alms with his own prayers through our Lord Jesus Christ... (Liturgical practice in the Fathers, p. 323)
We Orthodox Christians know or at least ought to know what fasting is all about. It is in our weekly observance of the fast, that we indeed do that which Leo, pope of Rome, so clearly recognized, we learn to extinguish the lusts of the flesh, by learning greater self control, and we come to bring a greater innocence to our lives, by recognizing that all food, and in fact, all that we have, is God’s gift to us, both very important aspects of our life in Christ: self-control and giving thanks to God for all things.
In fasting we ultimately learn moderation in our lives. A friend of
It is better to drink wine in moderation than to drink water in excess. Some who are holy drink wine in moderation. Some who squander water immoderately may be depraved and pleasure-loving. So it appears to me. Do not therefore ascribe blame or praise to the eating of food as such, or to the drinking of wine, but rather to those who make a proper or improper use of food and drink. (Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture, Mark, p. 33)
Here we find the heart of the need to keep the fasts, especially the Wednesday and Friday fast days, so that we make a proper use of food and drink, and thus give our lives to Christ, our God, to whom is due all glory, honor and worship, now and ever and unto the ages of ages. Amen.
Pentecost Sunday & Fathers' Day
On Pentecost Sunday St. Mary's honored all the Fathers of the Parish for Fathers' Day. Father David preached on the importance of the revelation of the Holy Trinity and the importance of God the Father as the source of all Fatherhood on earth. At the end of the Divine Liturgy the teens spoke about fathers and invited all the fathers in the community to come to a special breakfast that the teens and some other parishioners, led by Si Saba and A
ndy Kuhl, had prepared for the occasion.
During the dinner, a special cake was presented to Father David and Kh. Heather Sommer, and their family to honor them and wish them well as the leave St. Mary to go to a new assignement, Father David's first pastorship. The people of St. Mary will miss them after their four year stay with us while Father David was a student at St. Tikhon's seminary. The parish wished them Many Years.
Memorial Day
On Monday, May 30th, Memorial Day, there was a special service held at St. Mary Antiochian Orthodox Cemetery to pray for the reposed veterans of St. Mary's and for all the reposed of St. Mary's. At the War Memorial in the cemetery, the Trisagion Service was served by the Very Rev. David Hester, pastor of St. Mary's. Following this service, the National Anthem was led by Nancy Tenneriello and retired Master Sargent Neno Sartini, offered words of remembrance for the reposed veterans, as the flag was lowered to half staff. A ringing of a bell to remember the veternas was done by another veteran, John Hyder. As can be seen by the photographs below, many of the people of St. Mary came to pray for the Eternal Memory of their loved ones on this special day of remembrance.
Antiochian students assigned to St. Mary graduate from St. Tikhon's Seminary
On Saturday afternoon, May 28th, St. Tikhon’s Orthodox Theological Seminary held its 63rd annual commencement in South Canaan, Pennsylvania. The commencement was a special occasion for the Antiochian Orthodox Archdiocese. The commencement speaker was Bishop Thomas, Antiochian bishop of
During the commencement, three Antiochian seminarians received their degrees. Father David Sommer, whose home is
Subdeacon Joshua Armitage, whose home is
These students were all joined by their families, some of whom traveled long distances from
The people of St. Mary,
HAFLI sponsored by the Teen SOYO
On Saturday evening, May 7th, St. Mary's Teen SOYO sponsored a Hafli in the parish hall with a variety of Arabic foods available for purchase. Thanks to the hard work of the teen advisors and the members of the Teen SOYO (pictured here at the right), as well as the help of many other parishioners who prepared the food, the evening was a great success with some 150 people coming to a fun-filled time. Parishioners from toddlers to seniors, as well as many friends of parishioners, all enjoyed the evening. This can be seen from the photos below that show some of those enjoying them selves at the Hafli. The Teens hope to soon have another Hafli, so that all can enjoy the dance and music, as well as the food, that are part of the Arabic heritage of many of the people of St. Mary's.
The Visit of Bishop Thomas
On the weekend of March 4,5 and 6th, Bishop Thomas made his first visit as Diocesan Bishop to St. Mary in Wilkes-Barre. The visit was a kind of homecoming since the bishop throughout his life had often visited his family in Wilkes-Barre, which was the home city of his mother.
On Friday evening he presided over Vespers and Divine Liturgy for the Saturday of the Dead, and after the General Memorial Service, came to the Rectory to have dinner with the six Antiochian seminary students, along with their spouses and children, who study at St. Tikhon's and are assigned to St. Mary's. The dinner was served by Khouriyee Anne and Father David.
On Saturday Sayidna met with the Ladies of St. Mary, who were busy preparing for their annual Meatfare Kibbee Dinner for the support of the national AOCWNA project. After a lunch at the home of his uncle and aunt, Mike and Sarah Cross, with the rest of his uncles, aunts and cousins, the bishop then visited his great aunt and great uncle who are in nursing homes in the area.
That evening at 5 pm his Grace met with the members of the Teen SOYO. The teens had the opportunity to hear the bishop and also to ask questions of him. After meeting with the Teen SOYO Sayidna Joseph then presided over Great Vespers
to which the Dean of Eastern Pennsylvania, Father Anthony Sabbagh and his wife Khouriyee Minerva and some of their family came to be part of the celebration.
At the dinner which followed at a local country club, Father Anthony presented Sayidna with a gift from the Eastern Pennsylvania Deanery's parishes and clergy to purchase a set of vestments.
On Sunday morning, the Bishop attended Orthros, and then presided over the Hierarchical Divine Liturgy to which many people came from within and without the parish. The Bishop spoke of the need for the parish to reach out to the surrounding community to help invite people to come to the special gift that we have in our Orthodox faith. At the end of the Liturgy Sayidna inducted two new members into the Order of St. Ignatius, George Morrash and Suanne Moses. This brings the number of the members of the Order in St. Mary's to 18 members.
Over 200 hundred people ate at the Ladies' Kibbee Dinner. During the Kibbee Dinner the members of the Teen SOYO presented Sayidna with a cake for his birthday.
At at the end of the meal, Sayidna Thomas met with the children from the Sunday School who found this a special opportunity to speak with the bishop and to ask him their questions.
The Bishop's visit was a special time for the whole parish and all look forward to Bishop Thomas' next visit. We are all glad that we now have our own diocese of the East and our own bishop, Sayidna Thomas.
