Dome Fresco Underway in Santa Rosa, CA

It is a rare treat to see the work of Fr. Patrick Doolan in progress. A renowned iconographer trained by Leonid Ouspensky, Fr. Patrick is a master of true fresco. For a number of years, he and his assistant, Fr. Moses, have worked to fresco St. Seraphim of Sarov Orthodox Church in Santa Rosa, CA…

Continue reading »

Bell Ringing in Scripture and Liturgy, from BLAGOVEST BELLS

Dear Readers, We have had a request for articles on liturgical bell ringing, so I am pleased to offer this excellent piece prepared by Mark Galperin and John Burnett of BLAGOVEST BELLS: Dear Brothers and Sisters: Church bell ringing is an intrinsic and permanent part of the Orthodox liturgical and musical tradition. It is deeply rooted…

Continue reading »

Recent Design Work for Orthodox New Mexico

It has been my great joy this summer to devote some of my attention to Orthodox Christianity in New Mexico. Northern New Mexico has a strikingly different history and cultural context than the rest of the United States. It began as a colony of New Spain, an Imperial establishment at the absolute edge of the…

Continue reading »

A Byzantine Church in Wood for South Carolina

For the past year, I have been working to design a substantial new church building for the OCA parish of St. John of the Ladder in Greenville, South Carolina. The parish has acquired an attractive wooded property and wishes to relocate completely. They will need a temple for 250 people and also a parish hall.…

Continue reading »

A Painted Wooden Chalice Set

Historically in the Orthodox world, it must have been very common for chalice sets to be made of wood. Particularly in Russia, village churches would not have been able to afford vessels of fine metal, and essentially everything in an Old Russian village was made of wood. Little survives of the simple ecclesiastical furnishings and…

Continue reading »