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Church opens doors

Published 1/12/2009 in News : Religion

By SHAJIA AHMAD

sahmad@gctelegram.com

Inside the building of the Orthodox Christian church, members of the congregation raise their voices in antiphonal chants between the priest, a few leaders and the rest of the crowd, weaving together melody and text to create a union of music and prayer.

The light inside is dimmed before the start of the Saturday night service, and the smell of incense fills the air as the Rev. Philip Vreeland swings about a metal censer. A few members of the congregation, some of them women quickly wrapping scarves around their heads, trickle in as they kneel in front of the standing icons at the front of the room, crossing themselves and lighting candles as the service continues.

From inside the sanctuary, Vreeland asks the small congregation to pray in peace for the armed forces, for the city and country people, for the seasons and fruits of the earth, for the travelers by sea and by air and for the sick and captive, and the small group recites back in unison. Two long pews line the room's walls, but no one is sitting; the church members remain on their feet for the length of the hour-long service.

The ancient liturgy has come to them from the first few centuries, developed by the patron saints of the church and dating clear back to the apostles, Vreeland said. The chants were developed and practiced by the church's patron saints: Saint Basil the Great, Saint Gregory the Theologian and Saint John Chrysostom.

"Much of what we do, we do through song," he said. "The only change has been the elaboration of the music and the codification of the chants."

The Three Hierarchs Antiochian Orthodox Christian Church is only one of 15 Orthodox Christian communities in the state, and the only Orthodox church west of Salina. Families from the area who had wished to participate in church activities in previous years sometimes would drive four hours to visit a local house of worship, Vreeland said.

The small congregation in Garden City that began meeting about four years ago when two families came together to worship has grown into a small but strong group of about 20, with members of the McCallum and Lobmeyer families and few other individuals. After purchasing a new building last April at the corner of Fair and Main streets -- before they had a place of their own, they met in a rented space at Garden City Community College -- the church is opening its doors, hoping that others might join them. The group will host an open house Thursday night.

Many people they meet, several said, are surprised to learn there is a Christian Orthodox church in this corner of the state.

Orthodox Christianity

During the service, Vreeland wears a long, heavy-looking, black robe and an outer golden garment, called a "phelonion" in Greek. The phelonion is a liturgical vestment worn by a priest of the Eastern Christian tradition, comparable to the chasuble worn by priests of Western Christian traditions, he said.

The former pastor of the St. George Orthodox Church in Kearney, Neb., divides his time between his and his wife's home in Kearney and the newly established church in Garden City, where they have extended family. They spend the second and third weekends of each month in town to lead services at the church, where they live during the week, as well. During the other weekends, when Vreeland and his wife are away, the worship is led by Brian McCallum, an area artist and instructor at GCCC. Vreeland said he does not know how long he will continue making the trek between states, but does not mind the journey either way.

"If the Lord wants me here, I have a nice place to stay," he said. "Of course, we do have our home in Nebraska. I have to depend on what God wants me to do."

In the year 1054, known as the "Great" or "East-West Schism," medieval Christendom divided into Eastern and Western, or Latin, branches, and later came to be known as the Eastern Orthodox Church and the Roman Catholic Church. Five-hundred years later, Protestant churches began breaking away from Rome.

Today, Orthodoxy is the prevalent form of Christianity in Greece, Russia, Romania and many Arab countries, and with more than 300 million adherents.

While the Orthodox Church is variously called the Eastern Orthodox Church, the Orthodox Catholic or Christian Church, all Orthodox churches share an identical faith, common traditions and same basic forms of worship that have remained unchanged through almost 20 centuries.

Individual Orthodox communities may use their own language or mixture of languages in services and may have their own particular customs. Both the St. George Orthodox Christian Church and the Three Hierarchs are part of the Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of North America, with more than 200 congregations throughout the nation. The archdiocese is a part of the ancient Patriarchate of Antioch, an ancient Syrian city where, according to biblical texts, "the disciples were first called Christian," Vreeland said.

While he himself is not of Arab origin, many of the parishioners and founding members of the Kearney church were Syrian and Lebanese Christian immigrants who settled in Nebraska in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. They migrated to the area, Vreeland said, because the farmland was similar to that of the lands they left behind in their original countries. The settlers became farmers and peddlers and established the Orthodox Church in Kearney in 1904, the first Orthodox Church west of the Mississippi River in its time.

New beginnings

Along the walls behind the standing congregation, dozens of bright, colorful crimson, gold and emerald-colored portraits line one corner of the room. The images of saints are stylized in two-dimensional perspective; the flat essence of the artwork helps to symbolize the patrons' holiness rather than their humanity, maintain uniformity and discourage personal expression by the artist who created it, said Garden City resident Debra Franklin, a local member of the church.

Before Franklin became an Orthodox Christian a few years ago, she admits the eccentricity of the portraits were startling at first, until she came to understand the artwork and use it to enhance her spirituality.

"When you stand before them, you understand that these are the people who brought the church to the point where we can be a part of it today, practicing the faith in its present-day form," she said. "For me, it's also a reminder of those who came before me."

The icons are not considered to be idols or objects of worship, Franklin said, but to venerate the person depicted. Among the luminous images, the faces of the three patrons of the church, the three hierarchs, also look back. They were chosen by Vreeland and his grandchildren because they were great educators, they said.

Near the front of the room, tall icon stands made from podiums and draped with golden fabric also display the vivid images of saints, and small, temporary room dividers separate the nave of the church from the sanctuary, where only the priest and altar boys are allowed. A signature part of the Orthodox Church, known as the iconostasis, is the screen or partition, usually with doors and tiers of icons, that separates the two parts of the room and shields much of the altar from view.

Congregation members hope a permanent iconostasis will be installed in June. The structure is being completed by members of St. Mary's parish in Wichita, Vreeland said, who are offering it as a gift.

Inside the church, other small signs of reconstruction are also visible: A few doors and walls are still under repair, and the parish hall has just been completed. In spite of the pending repairs, the church members plan to tour the facility and invite guests for the open house.

"We hope and pray that people will come," Vreeland said.

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The congregation of the Three Hierarchs Orthodox Christian Church invites the public to an open house from 6 to 10 p.m. Thursday. During the evening, tours of the newly acquired facility will be given, and church officials will be on hand to explain history and beliefs of the church. The building is located at 2009 N. Main St.

For more information, call the Rev. Philip Vreeland at (308) 293-4178 or Brian McCallum at 514-0374.

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