Through the generosity of many, the monastery’s Catholicon is being wonderfully and beautifully adorned. We thought to share with you a few words about its adornments (see bottom of page) in addition to this listing of sponsorship items.
If there is an item you would like to sponsor, please note the descriptive code matching the item and then click the Sponsor button (a new window will open). After filling in your credit card or Pay Pal information, you will see a line asking “What item do you want to sponsor?” Please click and enter the descriptive code for the item you are sponsoring.
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HAND-CARVED WOOD FURNISHINGS
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METAL
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The Catholicon furnishings were gathered from many Orthodox countries—Romania, Greece, Serbia and Russia—while preserving the unified harmony of our one holy Orthodox Church. The beautiful wood carvings are all hand-carved in the traditional manner by an Orthodox Romanian priest. There is a beautiful story surrounding these wood carvings. Our Abbess traveled to Romania a number of years ago with the hope of finding someone to carve our iconostasis. (This was before Romania joined the EU, and prices were more to our scale.) Led by providence, she met a wonderful wood carver living in a little town very near to Neamts Monastery, where our patron St. Paisius reposed. As it turns out, this Orthodox priest from childhood “grew up” under the shelter of St. Paisius’ monastery. When we asked if we could engage him to do the carvings for our monastery dedicated to St. Paisius here in America he was astonished and heartily agreed. Once the finished carvings had been shipped to us, he came and personally installed everything. On his final day, he served the first Holy Liturgy (in Romanian) with the new iconostasis in place. A few close-ups of his carving designs are included here to show his beautiful work. Many of these carved furnishings are still available for sponsorship.
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The icons in the church are painted by several different iconographers. The large icons on the iconostasis and in the tall icon-stands are painted by nuns of the Dormition Monastery in Panorama, outside Thessaloniki. The festal icons on the iconostasis are painted by nuns of Brceli Monastery in Montenegro (Serbia). The icons of the Annunciation on the Beautiful Gates and the glorious Crucifix on top of the iconostasis, along with all the icons in the side chapels, are painted by the Russian iconographer Dmitry Shkolnik. Even though these icons come from different parts of the world, their colors beautifully harmonize with each other.
The kandilia, or hanging oil lamps, are made of fine silver. The brass hanging chandelier is of brass, as is the corona which encircles it, and both are from Thessaloniki (Greece).
The velvet cloths which cover the Holy Table, and which hang as curtains on the iconostasis are skillfully embroidered by nuns of Galata Monastery in Iasi, Romania. The white embroidered cloths that adorn the icon analogions are from Greece. The floor is covered with travertine from a stone mine in Arizona owned by a Serbian Orthodox man.
We offer our humble gratitude for all the donations which have been given to us over these past few years, enabling us to come this far. These offerings are of inestimable help, especially since we are still bearing the remaining financial cost of the overall construction of the Catholicon. To all those who are adorning this temple we wish an abundance of grace, flowing from the Son of the Virgin, our Lord Jesus Christ.
This beautiful temple is an offering from so many generous hearts and the fruits of the labors of many. It stands as a witness to God’s ineffable and great mercy, for without His blessing and grace we can accomplish nothing. It is also a monument to the community of love among Orthodox Christians, whose greatest joy is the privilege of raising up temples to the glory of our man-befriending God.