Saint Luke Orthodox Church - Events - Events Archives - 2002

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House Blessings

Each year following the Great Blessing of Water, it is customary for the priest to visit the parishioners and bless their homes. Here we see Father Andrew blessing one of the parish homes. If you have not already done so, you can sign up to have your house blessed next to the candlestand in the vestibule of the church or email Father Andrew directly.

Crown Them With Glory And Honor

Today following Liturgy, a wedding was held a St. Luke Parish. Part of the wedding ceremony consists of crowning the Bride and Groom. Here we see the crowns placed in preparation for the service.

Here the crowns are being held over the heads of the bride and groom as the choir sings "Crown them O Lord our God, with glory and honor." Congradulations to Loretis and Olga on their wedding and God Grant Them Many Years!

A Visit From Trinity Christian College

Scene from A Vist From Trinity Christian College.

A class of fourteen students and two professors from Trinity Christian College located in Palos Heights Illinois visited St. Luke. They are studying Eastern Christianity. They came with a lot of questions. Father Andrew answered their questions by tracing the development of the Orthodox Church during the Byzantine empire. He quoted a statement from an article in the National Geographic Magazine that Byzantium lives on in the Orthodox Church. The class was particularly interested in the iconography.

Click Here for more information concerning iconography.

The Great Blessing of Water

According to Orthodox Liturgical Tradition there are two water blessings for Theophany ( the celebration of the Baptism of Christ). One inside the church and one outside at a water source - river, spring, ocean or well. At St. Luke on the Sunday after Theophany we bless our water well by connecting it to our baptismal font by hose. Father Andrew is reading the blessing prayers.

The children participate in the blessing by extinguishing lighted candles when Fr. Andrew reads about how Elijah triumphed over the priest of the god Baal by fire and water.

The Cross is them plunged into the water tree times while the choir sings the Troparion "When You O Lord were Baptized in the Jordan ..." The church bells are rung at this moment.

The water running off the cross is collected and used to bless the people and the Church.

Fr. Andrew now begins blessing the homes of the faithful. If you would like him to bless your home please e-mail or sign up at the guest registration stand in the Narthex.

Old Basement Remodel Underway

The remodeling of the old basement area is underway. The drain tiles under the floor have been replaced and the basement water-proofed. The drywall along the bottom half of the walls has been removed. It will be replaced by greenboard and finally a new floor will be installed. Once completed it will appear to be part of the new basement area. Possible plans for this area include a youth area, adult classroom area, a St. Luke Historical area, new space for the parish bookstore, or additional storage areas.

New Year's Liturgy and Children's Sermon

Each Year on St. Basil's feast day bread is blessed with a golden coin baked inside. The blessing commemorates the life and works of St. Basil who distributed his wealth to the poor by using loaves of bread with gold coins baked inside.

Fr. Andrew is cutting the bread in the form of a cross in preparation for the disruption.

While our altar server staff was cutting are wrapping the individual slices, Fr. Andrew explained the tradition of the St. Basil's bread - (Vaslopita) to the children.

Fr. Andrew used a globe to show the birth place of St. Basil who was born in Caesarea, Asia Minor, in A.D. 330 which today is in Western Turkey

For information concerning the life of St. Basil the Great, Archbishop of Caesarea and Cappadocia please click here

Father then gave the slices of the blessed St. Basil's bread to every parishioner and guest who were present for the Liturgy.

Alex, one or our former Church school members received the honor of finding the coin in the bread. He lives now live in New Jersey and was visiting for the Holidays.

The whole family received a blessing from Fr. Andrew.

The service ended with a memorial and blessing of a new Censer donated by the Johnson Family in memory of their newly departed mother Lydia and a censer stand donated by the Verderber Family in memory of their parents-Alex and Margaret, Walter and Joann.

View of the newly blessed Censer and stand.

New Year's Celebration

Once again, St. Luke Parish held it's annual New Year's Eve celebration. The night began with a Thanksgiving Service in the church.

Following this everyone retired to the fellowship hall where a lavious feast had been prepared. The main dishes were catered while parishioners contributed side dishes and deserts. This allowed us to lower the cost per individual and enabled more people to be able to attend.