Sunday Service

We have been missing our church family and that is especially true on Sundays.

Ukraine is filled with many beautiful churches. We have had the pleasure of visiting some of them. Recently we visited the Russian Orthodox cathedral in Sevastopol.





Like all of the other churches that we have entered, photos are not allowed in this church.

As soon as you enter the door, your eye is filled with color. Murals and icons cover every inch of available wall and ceiling space. Biblical scenes are depicted as well as important people from the history of the church and region. In this particular church, on one of the ceiling arches just before you reach the altar is a depiction of the last Tsar of Russia, Nicholas II, and his entire family. There is also an icon of him along one of the walls with a candelabra in front of it so that people can pray and light a candle for a specific purpose.

As far as I understand, each icon in the church represents a specific prayer request. For instance, one may be for health, another may be for departed loved ones. People come into the church, buy tiny yellow candles, enter the church and go directly to their icon of choice. They pray before the icon, sometimes kissing the icon (there is a small cloth next to these icons so that people can wipe them off after they have kissed them), and then light their candle. From what we have observed, people come and go all day long. The church is open to everyone and there is a continual stream in and out.



The first time we visited this church we heard the Muslim call to prayer form the mosque just down the street. An interesting mingling of religious senses. Other than that call to prayer, the churches have been silent. Old women busily work around the worshipers scraping melted wax off of the floors and cleaning the candelabras. There are no pews in the churches which makes us wonder where all the people sit for services.

So today I thought I would venture out and see if I could take part in a Russian Orthodox service. Again, all I found at the church was the usual stream of worshipers coming and going. The majority are older women, but there were some young mothers and men in the mix. No music, just silent worship. There was a couple waiting to be married, so I was able to observe their ceremony. This couple stood in the middle of this busy church with people milling all about, scooting past them, bumping into family members and dutifully performed their wedding duties - silently I might add. Neither of them ever said a word. The priest wore a long black robe and chanted the entire wedding ceremony. He encircled the bride and groom with incense, put the bride's ring on the husband's hand and vice versa, prayed over them and then put the rings on the appropriate hands. That was that. Simple and very beautiful. I wish I could have understood the Priest's words, but the effect was enchanting.




But I wondered where the church congregation worshiped together. Where did the priest instruct and guide his congregation? While it was all very beautiful, it left me missing our home church even more. Nothing can replace the feeling of contentment we get from gathering among other believers and sharing our lives with them and worshipping together. It is one of the things that we look forward to doing when we return.

Of course, we are our own little congregation right here in Ukraine. Matthew 18:20 - "For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I in their midst." He is with us and that is more than sufficient.


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