UNITED GREEK ORTHODOX COMMUNITY OF NON-PROFIT ORG. SAN FRANCISCO, THE ANNUNCIATION U.S. POSTAGE PAID ANNUNCI AT I O N C AT HEDRAL ANNUNCIATION CATHEDRAL SAN FRANCISCO, CA 245 VALENCIA STREET, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94103-2320 P E R MIT N O. 1 7 3 4 HERALD 245 VALENCIA STREET, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94103 • 415 864-8000 • FAX 415 431-5860 • E-MAIL
[email protected] JULY/AUGUST 2015 he, too, signed the steel (see photo). His Eminence Metropolitan Gerasimos was not able to be with us for the steel signing on June 14, as he presided over ground breaking services for the new facilities of the Annunciation Church in Sacramento. Modeled after Constantinople’s Church of Hagia Eirine, with echoes of the Great Church (Hagia Sophia), the new Cathedral is in the shape of a Greek cross, with an apse and the narthex bringing it to 165 feet in length. Its central dome, 50 feet in diameter, rises to 70 feet. It features an adult baptismal font and a choir loft. It will seat 800. The new Cathedral, the ground breaking for which took place on November 6, 1997 by His All-Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, who also laid the cornerstone, features 70 underground parking spaces. It replaces the historic Cathedral which was lost as a result of damage suffered in the 1989 Loma Prieta Earthquake. Before leaving the site, His Eminence the Archbishop signed the steel column directly behind ARCHBISHOP DEMETRIOS OF AMERICA the synthronon in the Ieron (altar). May 30th was an historic moment VISITS ANNUNCIATION CATHEDRAL, in the life of the Annunciation Cathedral.