Pastor G's Sabbatical: April 2011

Into The Land Of The Wooden Churches

On Tuesday and Wednesday, Carolyn, Zuzana, Ludovit and I headed into the extreme hinterland looking for the Wooden Churches. These trips centered north of Svidnik to the Polish border and North and East of Snina to the Ukraine border. We were in fact as close as two kilometers to each. This is Greek Catholic country with a huge preponderance of the people being faithful Greek Catholics. We found the old churches, the new churches and even one pastor. These churches are unique in any number of ways, one of which is that they are beholden both to the Rome Pope and the Greek Patriarch. These little towns are poor, are in very mountainous areas and are not included on most maps. We are thankful to the woman who lives in the GPS. Please join us now on this little adventure and let the pictures warm your heart.

Unlike last week, this week the leaves have come out, so now we drive into Wooden Church country through a tunnel of trees.

A modern church framed by an old cherry tree.

Here is another.

The first of the wooden churches, and probably the simplist in design.

This beauty sits behind the graveyard filled with Slovak soldiers who gave their lives in WW1.

One thing most of these churches have in common is that they are set high on a hill.

You might notice that all of the old wooden churches in the Snina area have only two steeples.

This was the only church of the 32 that we visited that had plastered walls. In fact, the plaster only covers the wood.

Typical of the deep valleys where the villages are located and, as usual, we are looking down on them from the church.

This church was one of only a few that had not been recently reconstructed. Money for the restoration of these treasures has come from many sources, including the United States.

These Greek Catholics have an eye for color.

Most all of the churches are surrounded by this low shingled fence. The shingles on the fence are identical to the shingles on the church.

One way to grind your flour. This statement is almost 100% true; all Slovak villages are located on a creek.

Another commonality is that each of these churches has a graveyard. Most of the churches were built in the late 1600's and early 1700's, so the graveyard is quite a history lesson.

The churches you've seen up until now are close by the Ukranian border, and, as I mentioned, most of them have two steeples or domes. We are now looking at churches close to the Polish border and as you can see most of them have three domes.

This is an absolutely incredible example of the wooden church. The three domes, representing Father, Son and Holy
Spirit, are located in such a way that the largest dome is over the entry, the medium dome over the nave and the smaller dome over the altar.

You will note that, while these churches exhibit certain commonalities, they are all in fact very unique.

You will notice that some of these churches look very new and some very old. This is due to a recent flurry of reconstruction.

Many villages have old houses and new houses. This picture shows the log construction of the old house and the apparent cement concrete construction of the new. This may or may not be true, as many old houses are reconstructed to look like new with plenty of plaster over the old logs.

Needless to say, in the two twelve hour days that we sought out these churches, we climbed many a hill. One could not help but think of the aging faithful in these villages struggling up the hill to worship in the rain, in the snow and under the hot sun.

All has not been peaceful here. We are close to the site of the Battle of Dukla Pass in which thousands of Slovak, Nazis and Russians lost their lives. This airplane appears to be an American Lend Lease fighter used by the Russians.

Note the extremely small waist on these turrets. It looks as if a hard wind could blow the onion dome away.

This is the mayor of the village, Michal, Zuzana and Lui in front of a beautiful set of several hundred year old icons.

How do you like this pink?

This German tank and this Russian tank sit today in the same position as they did at the end of the Battle of Dukla.

I can't say that I enjoyed putting shakes on the roof of my house on a 12x12 pitch. So, armed only with an extension ladder, how did these guys put these shingles on?

Most farming in these areas is done by hand, from the plowing of the ground with horse power or man power, planting by hand, fertilizing by hand and harvesting by hand, all done on the sides of these steep hills.

This is a beautiful example of the modern Greek church.

In days to come we will take you to other places to see other houses of worship, perhaps this is enough to whet your appetite for what might lie ahead. The truth is that Carolyn and I have been many times overwhelmed by these beautiful works of love and faith.
+To God be the glory+

A Few Pictures For You

The pulpit in the Lutheran church in Presov

Beautiful street in the heart of Presov

Steeples, steeples everywhere

The painting above the altar at the Franciscan church

We've seen swords in Catholic and Lutheran churches. A part of the history.

A Slovak custom for Easter Monday

Time out for singing

The unsung heroes

This is good duty for these boys; usually they are plowing or hauling logs out of the woods!

Three ingredients: young men, water and women.

Allowed us a little more time before we had to eat again!

The winding road home

Here are a few pictures that we did not include in the Easter blog simply because we did not want to make the it too long. Enjoy.

He Is Risen, He Is Risen Indeed

. The journey from Maundy Thurday, Big Friday and Holy Saturday is a journey of preparation for the coming of Easter, a foretaste, if you will, of the feast to come. Carolyn is barely awake and Zuzana drags her across the road to wash in the water of the "Jordan". I followed. Then came Slavo with a vial of water to splash on Carolyn and his mother. Our Easter breakfast was eaten before church with everyone eating from the same central bowl. Ninety eggs compressed into a super dense cube, homemade raw bacon, homemade ham, kielbasa, and salami, mashed beets, and Easter bread. This same food is used at each of three meals. No plate, just a fork. The Easter service was jammed. We went early to get a seat and that was very fortunate as the church filled quickly. We had a special Easter Liturgy. The Pastor not only chanted the liturgy, but also the prayers and the Gospel. Our cousin Ludovit sang with seven other men, the "Older People" Choir sang, and the children sang. It was a wonderful service. This congregation absolutely fills this place with their singing. The Pastor called me up to bring greetings, and then he presented me with a gift . At home we ate again, same food as this too is traditional, then off to Slavo and Zlata's (gold) house for more Easter celebration and more food and drink. We rolled home. One thing that seems to be traditional is that the woman of the family offers all prayers both at meals and other times. Easter Monday found us heading to Presov to the church of the bishop. When we got there we found that the Lutheran service had already ended and the Reformed was next. Jan said no Reformed! So we went to the Roman Catholic Church, the Greek Catholic Church and the Dominican Catholic Church. All beautiful churches with their own tradition of celebrating Easter Monday. The churches were packed to standing and the music filled what little room was left. The huge Roman Church had an orchestra accompanying the liturgy while the Greek Catholics had their processional. Obviously we would have preferred to worship in the Lutheran tradition, but observing the others was instructive. We have much to be thankful for in our Lutheran heritage, and at Easter it all comes together with our Lord Jesus Arising from the dead having been victorious over sin, death and the devil, and the words ring in our ears "because I live, you too shall live". To God be the Glory+