Colour Supplement

Articles by Christians around the world

Sunday 7 September 2007

 

A Pilgrimage to holy Russia

by Jean Hole of St. Andrew's Church

 

A few weeks ago I joined a pilgrimage to Holy Russia led by Bishop Peter Price, Bishop of Bath and Wells.  A band of 36 pilgrims met at Heathrow airport and flew to Moscow.

 

There we began our journey of discovery of the Russian Orthodox Church with its icons and highly coloured frescos.  In the west we are all familiar with the onion-shaped cupolas that top the churches and cathedrals in Russia; a central dome representing Christ and four smaller ones representing the gospel writers.   There are hundreds of churches in Moscow; we had the feeling that we saw all of them!  Whenever a war was won, for instance against the Poles or Napoleon, the Tsar built another religious building.  

 

Inside the building, built in the shape of a cross, the most notable difference with western churches is the iconastasis (see picture above).  This is a wall of icons separating the nave from the sanctuary.  Double doors in the centre of the wall are opened during services to reveal the altar.  The icons and frescos that cover the whole of the interior reflect the life of the saint to whom the church is dedicated. 

 

The difference between Moscow and St Petersburg was marked.  The latter was built 300 years ago by Peter the Great because he disliked the conservatism of Moscow.  St Petersburg reflected the western influence in its buildings. 

 

On the two Sundays we were there we attended a Russian Orthodox service.  There are no seats or pews for the congregation; everyone stands or moves from icon to icon.  The service is sung by the Deacon and the choir, with no musical instruments, and lasts for several hours.  People come and go.  The Liturgy is central to Russian Orthodoxy.  Their theology was settled a long time ago.  One of the matters of great debate in 1650 was whether to use two or three fingers when making the sign of the cross.  Christianity had come to Russia via Byzantium in 988. 

 

As the service was in Russian we had no understanding of what was being said but it was clear that the ritual was all important.  Devout worshippers constantly bowed and crossed themselves in response to the Deacon.

 

After leaving the Russian Orthodox service we pilgrims were taken to an Anglican Service.  This church caters for English speaking people living in Moscow.  We met people from different nationalities (20 nationalities attend from time to time) and denominations here.  This is where politics and religion met.  After the revolution in 1917 churches were closed.  They had been closely identified with the Tsars and did their bidding.  Some buildings were allowed to fall into disrepair and some were, more dramatically, blown up.  In 1985, under Gorbachov’s glasnost, churches were allowed to re-open.  This building was of red brick with a plain whitewashed interior.  (A contrast to Orthodox frescoed walls!).  We were made very welcome and learnt about the difficulties with ‘authority’.  The PCC is trying to gain a permanent use agreement for the building.  It is going to cost it a lot of money and a stewardship campaign was underway to raise the funds.   The name of this church?  St. Andrew’s, Moscow.

 

Visit the website of St. Andrew's Church Moscow

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