St George Greek Orthodox Church (9/26/2019)

Thursday, September 26, 2019
Instead of Oktoberfest, we attended a Greek Festival at St George Greek Orthodox Church in Media, PA. This was the first of four days of food, music and dance, and oh, yes, Greek pastries! We were also there to tour the church, as Greek churches are always celebrations of using all the senses to become closer to God; colorful icons, the aroma of incense, flickering candles, and usually music. We were only missing the exuberance of a crowd of worshipers!

The festival tents were still empty early in the evening (it had just rained)

St George Greek Orthodox Church (1977-1979)

Icon of St George in the narthex

Candelabra in the narthex

St George Greek Orthodox Church nave

There is a capital campaign to raise funds to replace the apparently leaking dome.

The Last Supper painting

Baptismal Font

Because the "tours" were self-guided, it was nice to have labels on things, especially to identify the persons on the iconostasis.

Iconostasis L: St Katherine, Archangel Michael, St Nicholas,
St George, and Theotokos/Mother of God and Christ

The Royal Gates of the Iconostasis

Iconostasis R: Jesus Christ, St John the Baptist, St Nektarios,
Archangel Gabriel, and St Demetrios

Liturgical objects

The Lance or Spear is used to cut the loaf of bread used in the liturgy. The Holy Chalice holds the communion wine/Blood of Christ. The Paten or Diskos is the plate to hold the consecrated piece of bread/Body of Christ, while the Asterisk is placed above the bread to hold the covering over the bread. The Censer holds the incense and the Zeon holds the hot water that is added to the chalice. Not seen behind the Paten and Asterisk is the Blessing Cross or Hand Cross used by the priest or bishop to give a blessing or benediction.

Holy Coverings

To the right is the Cathedra/chair or throne
used by the bishop

Kouvoúklion/wooden frame designed to represent the
tomb into which Jesus was laid after his crucifixion

Below the icon of St George rest some Holy Relics

We enjoyed Arni Psito/sliced leg of lamb and Pastichio/layered Greek pasta with chopped beef, along with rice, green beans, and a Greek salad. Headed home after a purchase of Koulourakia/butter cookies in a twist.