Church guide

A Polish priest among our American saints.

New Martyr Archpriest Vasily Martysz was a Polish priest who served as a missionary in North America and then returned to Europe just in time to be in the thick of World War I, the Russian Revolution, and World War II. After establishing an Orthodox chaplaincy for the Polish Army and working for the autocephaly of the Polish Orthodox Church, he was murdered in a home invasion in 1945. (Part of a series of bios of the saints on the new mural of American Saints at St. Nicholas Orthodox Church in Portland. The images are preliminary sketches of the work in process. The iconographer is Heather MacKean.)

St. Alexis of Wilkes-Barre came to America as an Eastern-rite Catholic, part of the great wave of Southern and Eastern Europeans arriving in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Finding the Eastern rite unwelcome in the American Catholic Church, he was instrumental in bringing tens of thousands of them into the fold of the Russian Orthodox Church. (Part of a series of bios of the saints on the new mural of American Saints at St. Nicholas Orthodox Church in Portland. The images are preliminary sketches of the work in process. The iconographer is Heather MacKean.)

St. Alexander Hotovitzky served in America from the time of his ordination in 1896 until he left for Finland in 1914 and then Moscow in 1917. He was a dynamic and successful pastor at New York City’s St. Nicholas Parish, later Cathedral, whose building he spearheaded. In Moscow he worked closely with Metropolitan (later Patriarch) Tikhon, also a saint, and died under mysterious circumstances at the hands of the Communists in 1937. (Part of a series of bios of the saints on the new mural of American Saints at St. Nicholas Orthodox Church in Portland. The images are preliminary sketches of the work in process. The iconographer is Heather MacKean.)

We use a lot of candles at our church--as in most Orthodox churches. Recycling candles helps make the best use of the wax without wasting the valuable resource. A parishioner was making the candles off-site, but a committee will continue the task in a new shed set up just for the purpose.

Here's a chance to stay in touch with Kliros, professional musicians who present liturgical music in the context it was created for. There's a concert coming up this weekend you won't want to miss.

Interesting research project: Why do Evangelicals become Orthodox. Can you help?

Got books?

The Holy Fire on its world-wide journey. Just as, at Pascha, we light a new candle and share the fire, candle to candle, throughout the congregation, on our way out for our midnight procession, the Holy Fire, kindled in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem, is making its way around the world. From Jerusalem to Russia to Europe and Canada to the United States and beyond. With a stop in Portland, the first in Oregon because our priest happened to be close to the phone. "Your proclamation has gone into all the earth, and your works to the ends of the universe!"

Holy Week photos from St. Nicholas

You don't want to miss this

Inquirers' Classes will begin next Sunday, October 2, after Liturgy & Brunch. Please bring a copy of Timothy Ware's The Orthodox Church to the first sessions.

Join the conversation. A Christian Ending to Our Life, Saturday, October 29, 2016. Download the flyer to learn more. http://stnicholasportland.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/A-Christian-Ending-to-Our-Life.pdf

What the real St. Nicholas probably looked like -- pretty much what our iconographers told us he looked like.

Just a few more days to sign up.

St. Nicholas is collecting donations during the Dormition Fast and Feast, August 1-16, to support two Orthodox parochial schools in western Kenya. The St. Herman of Alaska school educates children, most of whom are orphans, in pre-school, kindergarten and first grade. The St. Innocent school has classes from Kindergarten through sixth grade. We are helping to buy a total of three acres of farm land on which they will plant tea, the main cash crop in the region. Harvested weekly, the tea leaves will provide a regular income by which the students will be fed and their volunteer teachers provided a stipend for many years to come. In the photo, Fr. Michael Oleksa explains about the projects he's working on to support African Christians.

Kliros has been preparing some stunning music for us. Check out their schedule for the 2015-16 season.

Parish Celebration Bishop Benjamin will visit St. Nicholas and ordain Igor Beskorovaynyy to the diaconate on Sunday, June 1. Join us for a parish banquet in the parish hall following Liturgy. Tickets available in the parish hall Sundays, May 18 and 25. Tickets cost $20 per adult, $10 for first child, $5 each for additional children. Parishioners who can't afford the tickets should contact Father George, http://StNicholasPortland.org/contact/

Palm Sunday at St. Nicholas. Here comes Pascha.