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100 Years Of Worship

The 100th anniversary of the Historic Church on the Hill was celebrated during Great Vespers on Saturday, November 27th. It was on this date 100 years ago that the first service was held in the building which is now St. Luke Orthodox Church. Then it was Sacred Heart Catholic Church. Fr. Andrew is welcoming invited guests from Sacred Heart Catholic Church and St. Mary's Antiocian Church.

Here we see a picture of the old church building. Below is the History of The St. Luke Parish Building written by Father Andrew Harrison.

Erected in 1904 as the Roman Catholic Mission of the Sacred Heart, this building replaced the original log church at 101st and Kean Avenue, which had burned down earlier that year. The hilltop location on 107th Street was the site of a fort built by the French army during the 1600’s. In 1830's visitors to this area found the remains of what were apparently earthworks fortifications on the bluffs overlooking the sag swamp near the intersection of 107th and Kean Avenue. Three cannon balls were found at 87th Ave. and 103rd. The fort was located a few feet from the present church building.

It is possible that the famous missionary explorer Father James Marquette spent the winter of 1674-1675 in a log cabin on this site. This information is legendary and comes from the history of Sacred Heart Mission, since all records of this period were lost when Joliet's canoe sank. Although there is a possibility of Marquette and Joliet having been in Palos, there is no way of proving where they went in the Chicago area from records now available. Most historians locate the cabin in Chicago but this has not been absolutely proven since the entrance to Sag Swamp and the entrance to the Chicago River from Lake Michigan would have appeared very similar in the 1600s.

Land for the church was donated from the farmland of the Peter Lucas family. At the time the church was built, farmland surrounded the church. The Cook County Forest Preserve has since purchased much of the surrounding land. The Forest Preserve District purchased 50 acres in 1916. By 1975, the acreage was well over 7,000, which add up to almost half of the entire Palos Township.

The architect chosen to design the building was William J. Brinkman who built several other architecturally notable churches in Chicago. It was constructed of brick in the Romanesque style. The steeple, which has since been removed, housed a bell and was topped with a golden cross.

The basement was not original to the building. It was dug out later to make room for a fellowship hall. In 1971, when Sacred Heart parish moved to its new site on 111th Street near Roberts Road, the church building became the Newman Center for Moraine Valley Community College. When the Newman Center relocated, the Roman Catholic Archdiocese rented the facility to the newly formed Orthodox mission of Saint Luke. Two years later, St. Luke Orthodox Parish purchased the building from the Archdiocese and became 'official' owners, with the final mortgage payment made in December 1996. Today the building is being shared with the newly formed St. Mary’s Antiocian Orthodox Mission.

Interesting features of the original building included a round rose window over the front door and an arched ceiling. All the windows of the building were in stained glass, most of which have been removed over time and lost. Today, the original steeple has been replaced by a bell tower dedicated to those who lost their lives in the terrorist attack of September 11th. The bell tower contains the few remaining stained glass windows constructed from the original windows. In addition to the original stained glass, some of the glass used came from a church located across the street from the Federal Building in Oklahoma City. The windows add to the commemoration of those who died on September 11, 2001.

Work continued on this historic landmark building, mostly in the form of repairs and patches until 2001, when plans were formulated to expand the church with an addition that includes the bell tower, fellowship hall, office space and church school classrooms. Today, the original building, along with the newly erected addition, stands proudly on the hilltop popularly known as Church Hill, and the bells ring out again.

The 100th anniversary of this historic building will be celebrated during Great Vespers on Saturday, November 27th at 5:30pm. A reception will be held afterwards. Sacred Heart Catholic Church and St. Mary’s Antiocian have been invited to participate in the event.

Father Homa congratulated members of St. Luke on the care shown to the old building and wished that there would be closer brotherhood between our Churches in the next 100 years.

Father Andrew and Father Malek giving the blessing at the end of the service. This will be the last Sunday that St. Mary's Antiocian Orthodox Mission will be using the building for their services. They have been sharing the building with St. Luke for the past year. They recently purchased their own building.

A reception was held in the fellowship hall with invited guests.

Members of Sacred Heart Catholic Church with St. Luke parishioners.

Stewardship Sunday

Each year the parishioners of St. Luke Parish fill out a pledge card indicating the amount they will be able to provide to the church in the upcoming year. This is important as it allows our parish council to create a buget and make plans for running the parish, charity events, ministry expenses, and so forth. Here we see our greeters collocting the pledge cards from our parishioners.

Following the Liturgy the pledge cards were blessed and Father Andrew with many of the children around him read a prayer of "Thanksgiving" along with the entire parish.

Prayer Of Thanksgiving

0 Master, Lord our God, Who has commanded that everyone bring to You, "Your own of Your own," granting to us a reward of Your eternal good things, and Who graciously accepted the offering of the widow according to her means: Accept that which is now offered by Your servants and grant these to be placed in Your eternal treasuries. Grant to us an abundance of Your earthly good things, together with all things profitable to us. For blessed is Your name and most-glorified is Your Kingdom: of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, now and ever and unto ages of ages. Amen

Father Andrew Attends National Council of Churches of Christ

Father Andrew attended the annual general assembly of the National Council of Churches of Christ in St. Louis on November 9th to 11th . He was one of the three delegates from the Orthodox Church in America with Proto Deacon Sergei Kapral, and David Wagshal.

Seated at the table to the left of Bishop Dimitry Cochell of the Greek Orthodox Church is Fr. Oloff Scott of the Antiocian Orthodox Church. Fr. Andrew is on the right. To his left is John Paterakis, Treasurer of the Church World Service, and Deacon Sergi Kapral.

Delegates were uplifted by the coral singing and sermon by Bishop Thomas Hoyt President of the NCCC held at Christ Episcopal Cathedral.

Delegates processing into the cathedral for the opening ceremony

The delegates of the Eastern Orthodox and Oriental Orthodox Churches gathered at St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church in St. Louis for evening discussion and dinner. It was noted that the Orthodox Church has had an impact on many issues of concern in the NCCC and how they have grown from just being tolerated into a well respected and influential member church.

The Delegates were treated to a gourmet dinner cooked by the women and served by the men of St. Nicholas Church.

Bishop Dimitry and the delegates chanted the Third hour demonstrating to the NCCC the Orthodox form of worship. There were many positive comments and questions after the service had been completed.

Fr. Andrew is reading the third hour prayer.

The General Assembly ended with a peace banquet where awards were given to the members who made significant strides for peace and justice. After the banquet the delegates were entertained by Peter Yarrow of Peter, Paul and Mary. Fr. Andrew along with many other delegates was invited to sing Puff the Magic Dragon on stage with Peter Yarrow. Peter Yarrow introduced to the NCCC a very successful program for elementary school Children he has developed through song to teach them respect for one another. For information on this free program click on www.operationrespect.org

YO Turns Hot Dogs Into Biscuits

This Sunday our Youth Organization held a hot dog / ice cream social to raise money for the "Milk and Bisquit Program" for the children in India. This program is funded through the IOCC - International Orthodox Christian Charities. Each day up to 300 street children line up to receive milk and enriched biscuits. Recently Father Andrew and Pat Harrison were in India as missionaries and had a chance to help in this program. To view pictures of this program please click here. Tickets were sold for hot dogs and ice cream.

Here a highly efficient crew handles passing out the hot dogs..

Chips and soda were included.

Some of our YO members man the Sundae Station passing out ice cream.

Coffee and sweets were also availiable.

Children's Sermon On India

Fr. Andrew continued sharing stories from his missionary trip to India. He show the children a game he brought back from Calcutta. The board game was called Ludo. He described how he was taught how to play the game. How it is important to follow the rules. He them compared the game to living life and how the bible give us the rules about how to live. If we follow the rules of life we are able to live the way God want us to live. We come to church to learn about the rules. He challenged the children to read the bible every day.

Feast Of St. John Of Chicago

On Oct 30st. Fr. Andrew was one of the area clergy who attended the feast of the Heiromartyr (John Kochurov) and Holy Trinity Cathedral in Chicago. St. John is known in the Diocese of the Midwest as John of Chicago. Pictured is the Icon of St. John which was donated to Holy Trinity Cathedral by a relative of St. John's family.

The celebrants of the service were Metropolitan Theodosius, Archbishop Job, and Archbishop Nathaniel.

Bishop Job blessing the loaves, wheat wine and Oil during Great Vespers. This blessing recalls Christ's blessing the five loaves and the wheat wine and oil are signs of the abundant life promised to those who believe.

Archbishop Job blessing the congregation at the end of Great Vespers which begins the second part of the service which is Matins.

Metropolitan Theodosius handing out candles to the clergy for the magnification prayers.

The great Censing during the Magnification.

Metropolitan Theodosius blessing and sharing the holy oil with Archbishop Nathaniel.

Archbishop Job preaching on the life of St. John and acknowledging the work done by Reader Daniel Manzuk in composing the (New Text) for the service which reflects the life of St. John in Chicago and North America.

This is the original Icon of St. John which is displayed for veneration at Holy Trinity Cathedral in Chicago. Along the border there are small icons which depict events in his life. One in particular shows him speaking to the famous architect Louis Sullivan about the building of Holy Trinity Cathedral.

The feast of St. John was celebrated at St. Luke on Sunday with the Divine Liturgy. Fr. Andrew is vested in the traditional red vestments signifying the celebration of a martyr saint. The Icon of St. John depicting his life is displayed for veneration.

This is the great entrance where Fr. Andrew is reading names of the sick, departed or who have special needs. This list is presented each Sunday by St. Luke prayer group. (Click to prayer requests).

To view our current prayer list or to request that prayers be said, please click here

Fr. Andrew is reciting the prayers calling upon the Holy Spirit to change the bread and wine into the body and blood of Christ.

The magnification prayers from the service at Holy Trinity Cathedral for the feast of St. John of Chicago again were repeated at St. Luke at the conclusion of the Liturgy.

Readers Workshop Held

As per instructions per Archbishop Job a readers workshop was held to focus on the proper techniques and procedures for reading in the church. Also discussed was the purpose of being a reader and how to approach being a reader in respect to our spiritual lives.

20th Anniversary Celebration

This Sunday St. Luke Parish celebrated its 20th anniversary. Both Metropolitan Theodosius and Archbishop Job were on hand to share the day with us. The day began with Matins as some of our readers chanted the service.

Metropolitan Theodosius and Archbishop Job arrive in procession at St. Luke Parish.

The clergy prepare for the service.

Metropolitan Theodosius is vested in the center of the church in preparation for the Divine Liturgy.

Vesting is completed.

His Beatitude, Metropolitan Theodosius ordained three of our parishioners, Michael, James, and Jason as readers.

During the ceremony, a lock of hair is removed from each as an offering to God.

Each reader is asked to read a passage selected by His Beatitude.

Our newly robed and ordained readers as blessed by His Beatitude.

Scene from the service.

Scene from the service.

Here we see Lynn being blessed by Archbishop Job as a bellringer.

Deacon Andrew was elevated to the rank of Proto Deacon by Archbishop Job.

As part of the ceremony, Deacon Andrew received an addition to his vestments.

His Beatitude teaches the congregation following the reading of the Gospel.

Members of our choir lead the congregation in song.

Two of our newly ordained readers and our blessed bellringer sing in the choir for the service.

Scene from the service.

Retired Archpriest Oleg Mironowicz, who has been a friend of St. Luke for a number of years, is blessing the children who are holding electric candles.

Five loaves of sweet bread baked by Aristea Zekios are prepared for the Litya service which took place at the end of the Liturgy. .

Proto Deacon Andrew chanting the litany which commemorates all the Saints of America and St. Luke our patron Saint.

Metropolitan Theodosius commenting on the relationship between St. Herman of Alaska and St. Luke parish. The actual construction of the new building began on Dec 13, 2001.

Metropolitan Theodosius presenting a relic (a piece of bone) of St. Herman to Fr. Andrew with instructions that a new Icon be painted for St. Luke parish which will receive the relic.

Scene from the Liturgy.

Archbishop Job presented certificates of merit to Ken Stevens, Lee Kopulos, and choir director Maria Vrame.

Here we see our Parish Lay Chairperson Lee receiving his certificate.

Ken Stevens likewise is honored.

Maria Vrame receives her certificate for her many years of service as choir director.

Scene from the service.

Following the Liturgy, a banquet was held in celebration.

Guests await the arrival of the clergy.

We were entertained before dinner by the Waubonsie Valley High School String Quintet.

As guests arrived, adults were given a commerative St. Luke coffee mug while the children received a cup of treats.

Three of our young ladies await with flowers to present to the clergy.

Metropolitan Theodosius and Archbishop Job arrive for the banquet.

Clergy enter the banquet hall led by Father Andrew and Pat.

Followed by Archbishop Job.

His Beatitude follows next.

Ken Stevens serving as master of ceremonies welcomes everyone and provided the introductions.

View of head table.

Our guests of honor are seated at the head table.

Clergy are presented with flowers.

Clergy are presented with flowers.

Clergy are presented with flowers.

Members of the choir sing The Our Father.

Speakers at the celebration included our Lay Chairperson, Lee Kopulos.

Next at the podium was Father Andrew Harrison.

Followed by Archbishop Job.

His Beatitude, Metropolitan Theodosius was the final speaker.

Scene from the banquet.

Scene from the banquet.

Scene from the banquet.

Scene from the banquet.

Our thanks go out to all who worked so hard with the planning and the details for this wonderful celebration. Also we thank His Beatitude, Metropolitan Theodosius, Archbishop Job, and all the clergy for being kind enough to share the day with us. Our 20 year anniversary will be remembered for some time to come.