Welcome to St. George’s! In order for your visit with us to be more meaningful, you are invited to take a tour of our church with the following information as your guide.
General Information
St. George Orthodox Greek Catholic Church is a member of one of the most ancient Christian Churches, the Orthodox Church. The word “Orthodox” means “right believing”, that is, our church holds the same beliefs and practices that were preached by Jesus Christ and continued by the Apostles and the early Christians. We are proud that our Church believes the same thing today as it did 1000 years ago.
Our title also has the word “Greek” because our Carpatho-Russian ancestors were converted to Christianity by Greek missionaries, specifically Saints Cyril and Methodios. The word “Catholic” is an ancient Christian term refers to the fact that the Church is universal and not confined to any particular area, and also that it holds to the entire doctrine preached by Christ and His Apostles.
Architecture
As a house of God, an Orthodox Church is built unlike any other building. It is built in such a way that everything (shapes, colors, etc.) is united in the proclamation of the Gospel. This was particularly helpful in days gone by when many people were illiterate and unable to read the Bible. Instead, they learned about their Faith through the visual expressions which are described below.
St. George’s Church is built to resemble an eight-pointed star. Just as the Star of Bethlehem led the Wise Men to the Infant Christ, St. George’s was built to lead her people also to Christ, our Savior and God.
One of the outstanding features of St. George’s is the majestic, golden, onion-dome. This distinctive feature of Byzantine architecture reaches upward as a reminder of our ultimate goal in life, the Kingdom of God. The single dome also reminds us that there is one God, and we have no other gods before Him.
Beneath the dome are eight stained glass windows depicting symbols from the Divine Liturgy, the Orthodox Eucharistic service. These include:
- 2. cruets, which contain the wine and water;
- 3. a spoon and lance with the spoon being used to distribute the Holy Communion and the lance being used to cut the altar bread;
- 4. a prosphora or altar bread, which becomes the Body of Christ;
- 5. grapes, which symbolize the wine that becomes the Blood of Christ;
- 6. an epitrachil or priest’s stole, which he wears during all divine worship services;
- 7. a star which is placed over the altar bread and symbolizes the Star of Bethlehem;
- 8. and a diskos or paten which is the plate upon which the altar bread is placed.
The Three-Bar Cross
Topping the dome and marking the church as a house of God is a large, three-bar cross. What is the symbolism of the three-bar cross? This style of the Cross of Christ first came to be seen in early Christian art. The top bar symbolizes the charge against Jesus at His crucifixion, “Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews”. Since this inscription was written in Greek, Latin, and Hebrew (John 19:20) this had to be a large board and not simply a small scroll.
While the middle bar is the place where our Lord’s hands were nailed, the bottom bar requires the most explanation. Tradition says that this bar was a foot rest upon which Jesus’ feet were nailed. It is said that during His agony on the Cross, the weight of His Body pushed the bar into a slanted position. Since everything in an Orthodox Church serves to preach the Gospel, this bar also has a symbolic meaning. The bar points up to heaven and down to hell showing that the repentant thief crucified with Christ chose heaven while the other thief chose hell. In the same manner, the decision is ours of whether we want heaven or hell.
