These Like Stars Appearing

Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us,

Hebrews 12:1 (KJV)

When I've entered an Orthodox cathedral or church I have been struck by that phrase "so great a cloud of witnesses".   So often not just the iconostasis  but the walls, ceilings and sometimes even the floors are aglow with icons, enamels, mosaics portraying the many witnesses or saints of the faith.  Whither it be by candle or sunlight the effect can be almost overwhelming.   To commemorate the second day of this Allhallowstide I went through photos from our trip to the Baltic and thought I'd share one or two places that made that passage from Hebrews come to life for me.

Uspenski Cathedral in Helsinki is the largest Orthodox church in Western Europe and is dedicated to the Dormition of the Blessed Mother.  It was built between 1862-68 with bricks that came from the Bomarsund fortress in Aland, which had been destroyed during the Crimean War in 1854.

The present Saint Issac's Cathedral is the fourth church to be built on the site in St Petersburg.  Construction took over forty years to complete at the astronomical cost of one million gold roubles. 

The Cathedral of the Resurrection in St Petersberg is better known as the Church of Our Savoir on Spilled Blood.  It was built to the memory of Czar Alexander II on the spot where he was assassinated on March 13, 1881.  Unlike most of the churches in St Petersberg Spilled Blood echoes  the Medieval Russian style rather than the Baroque or Neoclassical.  

In searching for something appropriate for the Feast of All Saints I was surprised that, given it is a major feast in the church calendar, no major classical composer appears to have written a mass specifically for the day.  And even more surprised that the 1959 Anglican hymnal lists only four specific hymns for the second commemoration of Allhallowstide.  Of these one was the standard For all the saints - a hymn which I love; however also one that I have posted before on this day.

Who are these like stars appearing was translated by Frances E. Cox in 1841 from a 1719 German text by Theobald Heinrich Schenk.  The music setting is Old All Saints from the Geistreiches Gesangsbuch (Spiritual Songbook) of Johann Anastasisu Freylinghausen; this was a collection of some 1500 hymns and spiritual songs published in 1704.  It was expanded and republished every two or three years from 1714 until the mid-1730s.  Frances Elizabeth Cox was well-known as a translator of German hymns and published two collections during her lifetime.

November 1 -1512: The ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, painted by Michelangelo, is exhibited to the public for the first time.

Hymn to All Saints

The Congregation of all the Saints of the Pecherskaya Lavra (Monastery of the Caves)
Late 17th-early 18th century Workshop of the Kiyev Percherskya Lavra

Anyone who has read my blog with any regularity knows that I love the rituals, words and music of the church - any church. Though my background is decidedly Protestant - first surplice-and-stole Anglican then Presbyterian - I always had a leaning towards the more formal worship of the Anglo-Catholic form, the pre-Vatican II Roman rites and the mysticism of the Orthodox Church.  And another things that my faithful reader may recall that I have a few Feast Days which I am rather fond off - chief amongst them Epiphany, Maundy Thursday, All Souls and the preceding day All Saints.

Today being the Feast of All Saints I thought I would combine that favoured feast with a lovely piece of liturgical music from the Orthodox Church.  This piece comes from the Serbian Orthodox tradition and hymns all the Saints.

The cantor in this piece, recorded by Melodi Ensemble, is Divna Ljubojevic.  Born in Belgrade in 1970 the talent of this remarkable singer was nurtured by Mother Agnija, Abbess of Vavedenje Monastery.   From an early age she was tutored in a tradition Karlovatz chants and Byzantine and Russian modalities that have been lovingly preserved by the sisters of the Monastery.  Founded in 1991 Melodi dedicates itself to a repertoire of Orthodox sacred music, from the ancient monadic and polyphonic Byzantine, Serbian, Bulgarian and Russian chant, to contemporary works.

And in an effort to combine my Irish heritage, my Anglican background and my love of Orthodox Icons:
this modern Icon of All Saints of the British Isles and Ireland.

01 November - 1512: The ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, painted by Michelangelo, is exhibited to the public for the first time.

For All the Saints

Everything in our part of town is shut today with the exception of a few bars, restaurants and supermarkets. There is very little traffic in our area but the areas around any of the major cemeteries are sure to be gridlock as people go to pay their respects at family plots.

I recall the same thing being the case when we lived in Warsaw - everyone would head out to the cemetery to put flowers and candles on the graves of family and friends. By nightfall the graveyards would be shimmering with the flicker of thousands of candles - all lit in remembrance of loved ones. As a group we would go to several locations to commemorate events involving Canadians with the last stop being Cmentarz Powązkowski to lay wreaths at the memorial to six Canadians aviators shot down during the Siege of Warsaw and at the memorial to the Polish Officers massacred at Katyn.

Our friend C. Y. Pan had noticed on a previous All Saints that a number of the graves - particularly those of soldiers and civilians from the Hitler War - were unattended. He felt that they should be remembered by someone and thus began the tradition of buying five or six candles at the entrance of the cemetery and leaving them on graves that might otherwise be left unvisited. He also felt it was a way of remembering our own so far away. It was a small gesture but it once again was a way of bringing some light into a corner that would have otherwise remained dark amongst the flickering candles.

Again when I was active in my parish I loved the Feast of All Saints - its ceremonies, the celebration words of the Book of Common Prayer and most of all the music. We always sang the Ralph Vaughan Williams setting of Bishop William Walsham How's For All the Saints. Here it is sung by one of the finest amateur choirs in the world: the Huddersfield Choral Society.



01 novembre - Ognisanti

All Hallow's Eve

Halloween is not a tradition here in Italy but you wouldn't know it from the window displays in confectioneries, bars and pastry shops. Pumpkins, witches, ghosts and skeletons abound! The next two days will be the important one's - All Saint's tomorrow and All Soul's on Friday. In my acolyte days (not sure if I ever mentioned that I was an acolyte in the Anglican church for one period there) those were two of my favorite Feast Days. The glorious music and ritual of celebrating the Saints and commemorating the Souls of the Faithful Departed, at least in my parish, were theatre of the highest degree.



And speaking of theatre - take that for a link William Zinsser! - Gallery Met and The New Yorker have joined forces and mounted an exhibition of work by New Yorker artists based on Humperdink's Hansel und Gretal. The online slide show highlights some of the work on display - William Wegman's contribution is a hoot and Gahan Wilson's take on the H&G saga is, as always, wonderfully macabre. And Roz Chast gives the tale her own particular twist.

And speaking of opera - zap again Zinsser! - I'll have a post up about Oberto in Bussetto (sounds like a title for a Greek tragedy) shortly.


31 ottobre - Santa Lucilla