All Saints Church Reconsecration - 09/17/11
On Saturday, September 17, All Saints Church in Olyphant celebrated its reconsecration. Five years after a devastating fire in 2006, the church has been restored, complete with new iconography, chandelier, altar, and carpeting. His Grace, Bishop Tikhon, along with 20 clergy celebrated the consecration service and the Divine Liturgy. To view more photos of the event, click here.After the table is dried, the bishop sprinkles rosewater on it and continues reading Psalm 51. The assisting priests then dry the table with the antimins . Having anointed the table with chrism, once in the center and on each side, the bishop proceeds to spread the chrism over all the table while reciting a section of Psalm 133. The excess chrism is wiped off by the priests with the antimins, and icons of the four Evangelists are fastened, one at each corner, to the altar table.
In the early days of Christianity when the Church was heavily persecuted, the Christians met in underground burial places where they celebrated the Eucharist on the graves of martyred saints. After the Church was recognized this custom was continued by placing relics in the altar table during the consecration of the church. This is a reminder that the Church was built on the blood of the martyrs and their faith in the Lord.
After the bishop has entered the church, he continues into the
altar. In the altar he places the diskos on the altar table. There he
removes the relics and places them in a small box. The bishop then pours
holy chrism
over the relics, symbolizing the union between our Lord and his
martyrs. With prayers and the reading of Psalm 145, the bishop then
places the box with the relics in a cavity in the altar table where it
is sealed in with a wax/mastic that contains fragrant spices as were
used by Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus to anoint our Lord's body before his burial. In this, the holy altar represents Christ's tomb.
While Psalm 132 is read, a white linen cloth, representing the Lord's
burial shroud, is laid over the altar table. The cloth, called the katasarkion ,
is tied on the table with a cord that represents the cord with which
our Lord's hands were tied when he stood before the high priests. The
katasarkion is permanently installed, to remain as long as the church
stands. After washing his hands, the bishop now covers the altar table
with a more ornate cover that symbolizes the glory of God and places the
other holy articles, including the antimins, Gospel Book , the artophorion, and candle sticks, on the altar table, as the reader reads Psalm 93.
After the altar has been consecrated, sanctified, and adorned, the entire church is censed while Psalm 26 is read. Then, the bishop anoints with holy chrism the four walls of the church and holy icons, making the sign of the cross on each with the chrism. The bishop then offers prayers for the altar, church, and faithful and places a lighted vigil light on the altar table. As the consecration service comes to an end, the bishop removes the sratchitza he is wearing and may offer it to be cut up into small pieces that are given to each person in church. Concluding prayers are then offered and the consecration service is dismissed before the first Divine Liturgy is celebrated in the newly consecrated church.