The Witness Parish Newsletter of the Church of the Holy Ascension 209 S. Lehigh Ave. Frackville, PA 17931

V. Rev. James M. Jadick - Rector - 570.874.3162 Mr. John Malinchok - Council President - 570.590.2669 HAOCA.org May / June 2021

Parish News Parish Education Each week you receive a separate insert with your weekly bulletin. THIS is a very important Parish Council Meetings part of our parish education program. I May, meeting will be on the 16th. sincerely hope that you take the time to read it June, meeting will be on the 13th. and learn something new each week. As All meetings are held after Sunday services. always, if you have any questions regarding what you have read, please feel free to contact Holy Days in May & June me! Also when you are done reading this Ascension - Thursday, June 10 material, please feel free to pass it on to others. Pentecost - Sunday, June 20 SS Peter & Paul - June 29 College Bound - This year Madeline Wittig is graduating from high school - where did the Parish Education time go! After a noteworthy past few years, she Each week you receive a separate insert with is ready to further her education at Marywood your weekly bulletin. THIS is a very important University. We offer our heartfelt prayers for her part of our parish education program. I continued success in all that she pursues! sincerely hope that you take the time to read something new each week. As always, if you Thank You - Below are the most recent have any questions regarding what you have donations that have been so lovingly offered for read, please feel free to contact me! the beautification of our church. To all who donated each set of table covers, we offer our Annual Parish Meeting sincere and heartfelt thanks and prayers for Now that the State and CDC guidelines are your generous support! being relaxed, the parish council and I hope to have our annual parish meeting. As you recall, White Table Covers - Loving Memory of it was only postponed back in January. Please Margaret Jadick from her husband, mark your calendar for the 23rd of May. Please Jadick make every effort to attend. Green Table Covers - Loving Memory of Bulletin & Candle Listing Charles Timko and Family from Vera Timko Please contact Cheryl Ruschak for offerings of weekly bulletins, candles and newsletters at Gold Table Covers - For the Health of Corporal 570-617-3559. Matt Knock & Corporal Mark Knock and all law enforcement officers from Donna Lewis. 1 Blue Table Covers - Heartfelt thanks to the Mother of Our Lord, the Most Holy Theotokos, for her continued prayers and intercession to Webster’s definition of a – “An event or her Son, Our Lord and Savior, - effect in the physical world deviating from from Tom & Barbara Wilson the known laws of nature; or transcending our knowledge of these laws; and Red Table Covers - Loving Memory of Nicholas extraordinary, anomalous, or abnormal and Margaret Tatusko from Midge Paulonis event brought about by a super human agency.” Purple Covers - Loving Memory of parents Theresa & Michael Kasmer; Grandparents Anna What are Miracles? “Acts, which can be done & Anthony Chrin; Alice & Michael Kasmer Sr. by no power or act of man, but only by the from Elaine Kasmer, Michael Kasmer and Almighty power of God; for example, to raise Theresa Butler. the dead.” (ABC’s of Orthodoxy, by Father William G. Gaines, page 272) July “Mini Food Festival” The council has approved a “Food Sale” for the “Miracles may be defined as extraordinary month of July = date to be determined. This is events above the customary order of going to be a smaller scale of our large food physical phenomena and beyond the results sale usually held in the fall. We are planning to of the intervention of God for the purpose of make pierogies, halupki and halushkie! So be enlightening, teaching, or benefiting man.” ready to come and pinch and boil and stir and (A Dictionary of Greek Orthodoxy, by Rev Nicon roll and cook and freeze and fry and sell and D Patrinacos, page 254) enjoy this with your friends! A paraphrased definition of miracles: Something Blessing of Parish Cemetery that happens in our world that breaks the laws The parish cemetery will be blessed on of nature; something that happens that cannot Pentecost, the 20th of June. We will hold the be explained by human understanding; service, as we have in the past, at 12 noon. something that happens that no human being The weather will be just fine! can cause unless the power is given to him or her by God. Coffee Hour - We will hold a brief coffee hour on the Feast of Pentecost. Just something to Who can perform miracles? Only God can hold you over until the cemetery blessing. Any perform a miracle. Jesus Christ performed food items will be wrapped for individual many miracles while He walked on earth. God servings. performs miracles through anyone He chooses, usually saints, who are people who lived a life pleasing to God.

Miracles of Christ The are full of miracles performed by Jesus Christ. Many of these miracles were meant to help people while others were to show Christ’s godly power and to help men to understand that He was truly the Son of God. In the , (The gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke are referred to as the synoptic Gospels because they include many of the same stories, often in a similar sequence 2 and in similar or sometimes identical wording. the Synoptic Gospels but not in the of They stand in contrast to John, whose content John. is largely distinct.) Jesus refuses to give a miraculous sign to prove his authority. In Blind the , Jesus is said to have The canonical Gospels tell a number of stories performed seven miraculous signs that of Jesus healing blind people. The earliest is a characterize his ministry, from changing water story of the healing of a blind man in into wine at the start of his ministry in the . to raising Lazarus from the dead at The Mark Gospel also has an the end. account of the healing of a man named Bartimaeus, done as Jesus is Types of Miracles leaving Jericho. The Gospel of In most cases, Christian authors Matthew has a simpler account associate each miracle with specific loosely based on this, with two teachings that reflect the message of unnamed blind men instead of one Jesus. and a slightly different version of the In The , H. story, taking place in , earlier Van der Loos describes two main in the narrative. The Gospel of categories of miracles attributed to Luke tells the same story of Jesus Jesus: those that affected people, healing an unnamed blind man, but e.g., the Blind Man of Bethsaida and moves the event in the narrative to are called "healings", and those that "controlled when Jesus approaches Jericho. nature", e.g., Walking on Water. The three types The Gospel of John describes an of healings are cures where an ailment is episode in which Jesus heals a man blind from cured, exorcisms where demons are cast away birth , placed during the Festival of Tabernacles, and the resurrection of the dead. Karl Bath said about six months before his crucifixion. Jesus that, among these miracles, the Transfiguration mixes spittle with dirt to make a mud mixture, of Jesus is unique in that the miracle happens which he then places on the man's eyes. He to Jesus himself. asks the man to wash his eyes in the Pool of According to Craig Blomberg, one Siloam. When the man does this, he is able to characteristic shared among all see. When asked by his disciples miracles of Jesus in the Gospel whether the cause of the blindness accounts is that he delivered benefits was the sins of the man's father or freely and never requested or accepted his mother, Jesus states that it was any form of payment for his healing neither. miracles, unlike some high priests of his time who charged those who were Lepers healed. In Matthew 10:8 he advised his A story in which Jesus cures a disciples to heal the sick without l e p e r a p p e a r s i n M a r k payment and stated: "freely ye 1:40-45, Matthew 8:1-4 and Luke received, freely give." 5:12-16. Having cured the man, he instructs him to offer the requisite Cures ritual sacrifices as prescribed by The largest group of miracles mentioned in the Deuteronomic Code and Priestly Code, and the involve cures. The Gospels not to tell anyone who had healed him; but the give varying amounts of detail for each episode, man disobeyed, increasing Jesus' fame, and sometimes Jesus cures simply by saying a few thereafter Jesus withdrew to deserted places, words, at other times employs material such as but was followed there. spit and mud. Generally they are referred to in 3 In an episode in the Gospel of mother-in-law Luke, Luke 17:11-19, while on his way of Simon Peter when to Jerusalem, Jesus sends ten lepers who he visited Simon's sought his assistance to the priests, and they house were healed as they go, but the only one who in Capernaum, comes back to thank Jesus is a Samaritan. around the time of J e s u s r e c r u i t i n g Paralytics S i m o n a s a n Healing the paralytic at Capernaum appears Apostle (Mark has it in Matthew 9:1-8, Mark 2:1-12 and Luke just after the calling 5:17-26. The Synoptics state that a paralytic of Simon, while Luke was brought to Jesus on a mat; Jesus told him has it just before). to get up and walk, and the man did so. Jesus The Synoptics imply also told the man that his sins were forgiven, that this led other which irritated the . Jesus is described people to seek out Jesus. as responding to the anger by asking whether it Jesus healing an infirm woman appears is easier to say that someone's sins are in Luke 13:10-17. While teaching in a forgiven, or to tell the man to get up and walk. synagogue on a Sabbath, Jesus cured a Mark and Luke state that Jesus was in a house woman who had been crippled by a spirit for at the time, and that the man had to be lowered eighteen years and could not stand straight at through the roof all. by his friends due to the Other Healings crowds blocking Healing a man with dropsy is described in Luke the door. 14:1-6. In this miracle, Jesus cured a man A similar cure with dropsy at the house of a prominent is described in Pharisee on the Sabbath. Jesus justified the the Gospel of cure by asking: "If one of you has a child or J o h n a s an ox that falls into a well on the Sabbath the Healing the day, will you not immediately pull it out?" p a r a l y t i c a t In the Healing of the man with a withered Bethesda and occurs at the Pool of Bethesda. hand miracle, the Synoptics state that Jesus In this cure Jesus also tells the man to take his entered a synagogue on Sabbath, and found a mat and walk. man with a withered hand there, whom Jesus healed, having first challenged the people Women present to decide what was lawful for Sabbath The Cure of a bleeding woman miracle appears —to do good or to do evil, to save life or to kill. in Mark 5:21-43, Matthew 9:18-26 and Luke The Gospel of Mark adds that this angered 8:40-56, along with the miracle of the Daughter the Pharisees so much that they started to of Jairus. The Gospels state that while heading contemplate killing Jesus. to Jairus' house Jesus was approached by a The Healing the deaf mute of woman who had been suffering Decapolis miracle only appears in the Gospel of from bleeding for 12 years, and that she Mark. The Gospel states that Jesus went to touched Jesus' cloak and was instantly healed. the Decapolis and met a man there who was Jesus turned about and, when the woman came deaf and mute, and cured him. Specifically, forward, said "Daughter, your faith has healed Jesus first touched the man's ears, and touched you, go in peace". his tongue after spitting, and then Healing the mother of Peter's wife. The said Ephphatha!, an Aramaic word meaning Be Synoptics describe Jesus as healing the opened. 4 The Healing the Centurion's Exorcising the Canaanite woman's daughter, servant miracle is reported in Matthew appears in Matthew 15:21-28 and Mark 7:24-30. 8:5-13 and Luke 7:1-10. These two Gospels A Gentile woman asks Jesus to heal her narrate how Jesus healed the servant of a daughter, but Jesus refuses, saying that he has Roman Centurion in Capernaum. John been sent only to "the lost sheep of the house of 4:46-54 has a similar account at Capernaum, Israel". The woman persists, saying that "dogs but states that it was the son of a royal official eat of the crumbs which fall from their masters' who was cured at a distance. table". In response Jesus relents and informs Jesus healing in the land of her that her daughter has been healed. Gennesaret appears in Matthew Exorcising the blind and mute man, 14:34-36 and Mark 6:53-56. As Jesus passes appears in Matthew 12:22-32, Mark 3:20-30, through Gennesaret all those who touch his and Luke 11:14-23. Jesus heals a demon- cloak are healed. possessed man who was blind and mute. Matthew 9:35-36 also People are astonished and ask, reports that after the miracle "Could this be the Son of of Jesus exorcising a mute, David?" Jesus went through all the towns E x o r c i s i n g a b o y and villages, teaching in their possessed by a demon, appears synagogues, proclaiming the in Matthew 17:14-21, Mark good news of the kingdom and 9:14-29, and :37-49. A healing every disease and boy possessed by a demon is sickness. brought forward to Jesus. The boy is said to have foamed at Exorcisms the mouth, gnashed his teeth, According to the three Synoptic Gospels, Jesus become rigid and involuntarily fallen into both performed many exorcisms of demoniacs. water and fire. Jesus' followers could not expel These incidents are not mentioned in the demon, and Jesus condemns the people as the Gospel of John and appear to have been unbelieving, but when the father of the boy excluded due to theological considerations. questions if Jesus could heal the boy, he replies The seven major exorcism accounts in "everything is possible for those that believe". the Synoptic Gospels which have details, and The father then says that he believes and the imply specific teachings, are: child is healed. Exorcism at the Synagogue in The miracle of Jesus exorcising at Capernaum, where Jesus exorcises an evil sunset appears in the Synoptic Gospels just spirit who cries out, "What do you want with after healing the mother of Peter's wife, us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to in Matthew 8:16-17, Mark 1:32-34 and Luke destroy us? I know who you are—the Holy 4:40-41. In this miracle Jesus heals people and One of God!" cast out demons. Exorcism of the Gerasene demoniac: The miracle of Jesus exorcising a mute appears Jesus exorcises a possessed man (changed in in Matthew 9:32-34 immediately following the the to two men). When account of the miracle of Jesus healing two Jesus asks the demon's name (finding the blind men. A man who is demon-possessed and name of the possessing demon was an could not talk is brought to Jesus, who important traditional tool of exorcists), he is exorcises the demon, and the man is able to given the reply , "...for we are many". speak. When the demons asked to be expelled into a There are also brief mentions of other nearby group of pigs rather than be sent out of exorcisms, e.g.: the area, Jesus obliges, but the pigs then run Jesus had cast seven devils out of Mary into the lake and are drowned. Magdalene. (Mark 16:9, Luke 8:2) 5 Jesus continued to cast out devils even -The Feeding of the 5000 and of the 4000 men though wanted to kill him. (Luke Jesus, praying to God and using only a few 13:31-32) loaves of bread and several fish, feeds thousands of men, along with an unspecified Resurrection of the Dead number of women and children; there are even All four Canonical Gospels describe a number of baskets of leftovers afterward. Jesus being raised from the dead but also relate -Walking on water—Jesus walked on a lake to three occasions on which Jesus calls a dead meet a boat. person back to life: -—Jesus climbed a Daughter of Jairus. Jairus, a major mountain and was changed so that his face patron of a synagogue, asks Jesus to heal his glowed, and the Old Testament prophets daughter, but while Jesus is on the way, Jairus Moses and Elijah appeared next to him. is told his daughter has - - during a storm, the died. Jesus tells him disciples woke Jesus, s h e w a s o n l y and he rebuked the sleeping, and wakes storm causing it to h e r w i t h t h e become calm. Jesus words Talitha kum! t h e n r e b u k e s t h e The Young Man from disciples for lack of Nain. A young man, faith. the son of a widow, -Finding a Coin in the is brought out for fish's mouth is reported burial in Nain. Jesus in Matthew 17:24-27. sees her, and his pity -The Cursing of the Fig causes him to tell her Tree—Jesus cursed a not to cry. Jesus fig tree, and it withered. approaches the coffin (www.wikipedia.org) and tells the man inside to get up, and he does so. Resurrection of Christ The Raising of Lazarus. A close friend of The is the Jesus who had been dead for four days is Christian religious belief that, after being put to brought back to life when Jesus commands him death, Jesus rose again from the dead. It is the to get up. central tenet of Christian theology and part of the Nicene Creed: "On the third day he rose Control Over Nature again in according to the Scriptures". The Gospels include eight pre-resurrection In the New Testament, after the Romans accounts concerning Jesus' power over nature: crucified Jesus, he was anointed and buried in a Turning Water into Wine—at a wedding, when new tomb by but God the host runs out of wine, the host's servants fill raised him from the dead and he appeared to vessels with water at Jesus' command, then a many people over a span of forty days before sample is drawn out and taken to the master of he ascended into heaven, to sit at the right hand the banquet who pronounces the content of the of God. vessels as the best wine of the banquet. declared that "Christ The miracle of draught of fishes takes died for our sins according to the scriptures; place early in Jesus's ministry and results in And that he was buried, and that he rose Saints Peter, James, son of again the third day according to the and John joining Jesus as his scriptures".(1 Corinthians 15:3–4) The chapter Apostles. states that such a belief in both the death and resurrection of Christ is of central importance to 6 the Christian faith: "And if Christ has not been The linking of the empty tomb tradition raised, then our preaching is in vain and and the visit of the women on "the first day of your faith is in vain."(1 Corinthians 15:14). the week;" Paul further asserted "And if Christ has not That the risen Jesus chose first to appear been raised, your faith is futile and you are to women (or a woman) and to commission still in your sins. Then those also who have them (her) to proclaim this most important fact fallen asleep in Christ have perished. If in to the disciples, including Peter and the other Christ we have hope in this life only, we are apostles; of all people most to be pitied."(1 Corinthians The prominence of ; The 15:17–19) significance of the linen burial cloth: Variants have to do with the precise time the women In the New Testament all four gospels conclude visited the tomb, the number and identity of the with an extended narrative of Jesus's women; the purpose of their visit; the arrest, trial, crucifixion, burial, and his appearance of the messenger(s)—angelic or resurrection. In each gospel these five events in human; their message to the women; and the the life of Jesus are treated with more intense response of the women. detail than any other portion of that gospel's All four gospels report that women were narrative. Scholars note that the reader receives the ones to find the empty, an almost hour-by-hour account of what is although the number varies from one (Mary happening. The death and resurrection of Jesus Magdalene) to an unspecified number. are treated as the climax of the story, the point According to Mark and Luke, to which everything else has been moving all the announcement of Jesus' resurrection was the while. first made to women. According A f t e r h i s d e a t h b y to Mark and John, Jesus crucifixion, Jesus was placed in actually appeared first (in Mark a new tomb which was 16:9 and John 20:14) to Mary discovered early Sunday Magdalene alone. "Whereas morning to be empty. The New others found woman not Testament does not include an qualified or authorized to teach, account of the "moment of the four Gospels have it that the resurrection". In the Eastern risen Christ commissioned Church icons do not depict that women to proclaim to men, moment, but show the myrrh- including Peter and the other bearers and depict scenes of apostles, the resurrection, salvation. The foundation of ". major resurrection appearances In the gospels, especially of Jesus in the canonical the synoptics, women play a gospels (and to a lesser extent central role as eyewitnesses at o t h e r b o o k s o f t h e N e w Jesus' death, entombment, and Testament) are reported to have occurred after in the discovery of the empty tomb. All three his death, burial and resurrection, but prior to synoptics repeatedly make women the subject his ascension. of verbs of seeing, clearly presenting them as Although no single gospel gives an eyewitnesses. inclusive or definitive account of the resurrection After they found the empty tomb, the of Jesus or his appearances, there are four gospels indicate that Jesus made a series of points at which all four gospels converge: appearances to the disciples. He was not Attention to the stone that had closed the tomb. immediately recognizable, according to Luke. E. P. Sanders concluded that although he could appear and disappear, he was not a ghost. 7 Writing that Luke was very insistent about that, prepared to suffer all things. Less frequently Sanders pointed out that "the risen Lord could churches are built in the shape of a circle, be touched, and he could eat". He first signifying that the Church of Christ shall exist appeared to Mary Magdalene, but she did not for all eternity (the circle being one of the recognize him at first. The first two disciples to symbols of eternity) or in the shape of an whom he appeared, walked and talked with him octagon, signifying a star, for the Church, like a for quite a while without knowing who he was, star, guides a man through the darkness of sin (the road to Emmaus appearance). He was which encompasses him. Because of the made known "in the breaking of the difficulties of internal arrangement, however, the bread". When he first appeared to the disciples latter two shapes are not often used. in the upper room, Thomas was not present and wouldn't believe until a later appearance where Almost always Orthodox churches are oriented he was invited to put his finger into the holes in East West, with the main entrance of the Jesus' hands and side. Beside the Sea of building at the West end. This symbolizes the Galilee he encouraged Peter to serve his entrance of the worshipper from the darkness of followers. His final appearance is reported as sin (the West) into the light of Truth (the East). being forty days after the resurrection when he This rule is violated only if the building had been was "carried up" into heaven where he sits on previously constructed for another purpose, or if the right hand of God. services are conducted in a private home, for (www.wikipedia.org) example, when the entrance and main portion have been arranged according to convenience. CHRIST IS RISEN! INDEED HE IS RISEN!

Christ is risen from the dead, trampling down death by death, and upon those in the tombs bestowing life (Troparion).

This is the day which the Lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad in it!

What Is the Meaning of Domes in Orthodox Architecture? Posted on January 3, 2017 | by Editor | Source On the roof of Orthodox churches are usually Orthodox churches generally take one of found one or more cupolas (towers with several shapes that have a particular mystical rounded or pointed roofs), called crests or significance. The most common shape is an summits. One cupola signifies Christ, the sole oblong or rectangular shape, imitating the form head of the Christian community; three cupolas of a ship. As a ship, under the guidance of a symbolize the Most- Holy Trinity; five cupolas master helmsman conveys men through the represent Christ and the ; seven stormy seas to a calm harbor, so the Church, cupolas symbolize the Seven Ecumenical guided by Christ, carries men unharmed across Councils which formulated the basic dogmas of the stormy seas of sin and strife to the peaceful the Orthodox Church, as well as the general haven of the Kingdom of Heaven. Churches are use in the Church of the sacred number seven; also frequently built in the form of a Cross to nine cupolas represent the traditional nine ranks proclaim that we are saved through faith in the of ; and thirteen cupolas signify Christ Crucified Christ, for Whom Christians are and the Twelve Apostles. 8 A peculiar feature of Russian Orthodox The three-bar representation existed in churches is the presence of onion-shaped Christian art from very early times in Byzantium, domes on top of the cupolas. In the early history although usually without the bottom bar slanted, of the Russian Church, especially in Kiev, the which is particularly Russian. The origin of this first capital, the domes of the churches followed slanted footboard is not known, but in the the typical Byzantine rounded style, but later, symbolism of the Russian Church, the most especially after the Mongol Period, Russian common explanation is that it is the pointing churches tended toward the onion domes, upward to Paradise for the Good Thief on which, in many places, became quite stylized. Jesus’ right and downward to Hell for the Thief Historians are not in agreement as to the origin on His left (Luke 23). Sometimes the bottoms of of this particular style, but some point to the the Crosses found on Russian churches will be possible influence of Persia on this peculiar adorned with a crescent. In 1486, Tsar Ivan IV feature of Russian church architecture, while (the Terrible) conquered the city of Kazan which others argue that since this style was more had been under the rule of Moslem Tatars, and popular in the far North of Russia, it had a in remembrance of this, he decreed that from practical application, in that the shape was henceforth the Islamic crescent be placed at the particularly suited to shed the large amounts of bottom of the Crosses to signify the victory of snow common in the region. the Cross (Christianity) over the Crescent (Islam).

The Orthodox Church has a long history of constructing magnificent places of worship, ornately decorated on the interior with richly symbolic and vibrant iconography and topped by towering domes reaching to the heavens. Each country and culture has developed its own flavor of Orthodox architecture, and there are no set specifications for the size, shape or color of the domes. The colors of the domes carry deep theological significance and are intended to point their viewers toward God.

Every cupola, or where there is none, the roof, is crowned by a Cross, the instrument of our HISTORY salvation. The Cross may take one of many The use of domes in sacred architecture dates different shapes, generally according to the far back in Orthodox history. Basilicas, or large national tradition of a particular local Church. In church buildings, date as far back as the fifth the Russian Church, the most common form is century. The best- known domed church, the the so-called three-bar Cross, consisting of the Hagia Sophia, was raised between 532 and 537 usual crossbeam, a shorter crossbeam above A.D. in Constantinople, the city now known as that and another, slanted, crossbeam below. Instanbul. The dome of this Church of Divine Symbolically, the three bars represent, from the Wisdom was designed to inspire meditation on top, the signboard on which was written, in heaven and the mysteries of the Almighty. Since Hebrew, Latin and Greek, Jesus of Nazareth, then, Orthodox domes have taken on many the King of the Jews (John 19:19); the main different appearances, from the onion-shaped crossbeam, to which the hands of Jesus were structure common in Russia to the pear-shaped nailed; the lower portion, to which His precious dome favored in Ukraine. feet were nailed. 9 COLORS Smart Dad The colors of Orthodox domes are highly A teenage boy had just passed his driving test variable. For instance, the onion domes of the and inquired of his father as to when they Cathedral of the in Moscow are could discuss his use of the car. pure gold, while Saint Basil’s Cathedral in the same city is topped with domes painted in His father said he'd make a deal with his son: vibrant blue, green, red and yellow in many “You bring your grades up from a C to a B different patterns. Other architects favor domes average, study your Bible, and get your hair painted black. cut. Then we'll talk about the car.”

The boy thought about that for a moment, decided he'd settle for the offer, and they agreed on it.

After about six weeks his father said, “Son, you've brought your grades up and I've observed that you have been studying your Bible, but I'm disappointed you haven't had your hair cut.”

The boy said, “You know, Dad, I've been thinking about that, and I've noticed in my studies of the Bible that Samson had long hair, NUMBER had long hair, Moses had long The number of domes on Orthodox churches hair ~ and there's even strong evidence that carries theological significance. Some architects Jesus had long hair.” favor a three-dome arrangement to represent the persons of the Trinity: Father, Son and Holy (You’re going to love the Dad's reply:) Spirit. Others choose a five-dome configuration to represent Jesus and the four Gospel writers: “Did you also notice that they all walked Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. everywhere they went ?”

SYMBOLISM !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The symbolism of the colors of Orthodox domes is not strictly assigned, but can be extrapolated from the rules guiding Orthodox art. For instance, in Orthodox iconography, gold represents the light of God and his divine Happy Father’s Day! nature. Red is traditionally a reminder of the !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! passion and suffering of Jesus and the martyrs, but also signifies the Resurrection and eternal life. Green is the color of the Holy Spirit, the natural world and new life. Blue is a color No Donations for this Edition of the associated with the “God bearer,” or mother of Newsletter Jesus, Mary. White is another symbol of the light of God, and is also used to denote righteousness, purity and holiness.

10