Presence of God in Russia

After almost giving up the idea of finding a “real operating” church–devoted to God, not a museum, holding regular church services, and offering communion during mass–I stumbled upon one (correction…through God’s leading).  While walking up Nevsky Prospekt on Sunday morning I heard bells ringing out to believers at the Catholic Church of St. Catherine (apparently the oldest Catholic church in all of Russia).  Hurrying to the entrance I stepped through the first set of doors and right away noticed this was a real working church.  Opening the second set of doors, I dipped my right fingers into the holy water and made the traditional sign of the Cross.  Standing just inside the doorway, the heavenly smell of incense greeted my nostrils; its smoke hung suspended in the air.   People were kneeling.  The priest prayed softly.

The bells I heard were not announcing the start of the service; the ringing was to remind everyone, within hearing range, something special and unique was happening.  Not wanting to disturb others already seated, I remained quiet in the entrance area of the church.   Though unable to see what the priest was doing (and the few differences in an Eastern Mass) my familiarity with a Catholic Latin mass gave me the ability to follow along.

(One difference is understanding what–or who–the Church includes:  all believers are believed to be united in worship in the Kingdom of God along with departed Saints and the celestial Angels.  Everything in the Liturgy is seen as symbolic but also the unseen reality manifest.)

Almost two thousand years ago, during the Last Supper and Passover meal Jesus gave his disciples bread, referred it to “my body”; wine, as “my blood”; and then commanded the disciples to “do this in memory of me.”  The priest’s words of consecration (during the Divine Liturgy) signaled a similar moment that transcends time itself, and echoed the same  words Jesus spoke:

The Priest held up the bread and said (in Latin); “Take, eat: this is My Body, which is broken for you for the remission of sins.”

He likewise held up a chalice of wine saying; “Drink of it, all of you: this is My Blood of the New Testament, which is shed for you and for many, for the remission of sins.”

Traditionally–within this oldest catholic church in Russia as well as other Eastern Christian churches–the Eucharist (bread and wine) becomes the real Body and Blood of Christ, and through partaking it, see themselves [all together] becoming the Body of Christ.

As a Christian, I consider communion (eating the bread and drinking the wine) more than just a privilege.  It is a time I reflect upon the real cost of my salvation.  Jesus paid the price for my sins–His body, like the bread, was broken; His blood was shed for me.  The Apostle Paul spoke to the Corinthian church about coming together as “one body” and remembering Christ through communion:

1 Corinthians 11:23-25 “For I received from the Lord what I also handed on to you, that the Lord Jesus, on the night he was handed over, took bread, and, after he had given thanks, broke it and said, “This is my body that is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.”  In the same way also the cup, after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.”

Listening to the priest’s words I’m not clear as to the exact moment, but at one point he  looked up to heaven and prayed, calling down the Holy Spirit: to descend upon the congregation; transform us into the living body of Christ; to change the bread and wine (upon the altar) into the body and blood of Christ; and, as an invisible fire to sanctify our offering, consume our sins, and enlighten our minds.  I understand this to be one of those “divine-human moments” when God–through the Holy Spirit–enters the believers within the sanctuary.  It didn’t matter that I speak English while the others in this church spoke Russian.  We are together: one body, in Christ.  Pentecost continues.  Jesus is the same yesterday, today and forever, (Hebrews 13:8).  Actively seeking the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, I long to know God more.  God is everywhere; He is here.

When the mass ended, I hesitated moving forward.  Though I missed the first half of the service, and didn’t understand Latin or Russian, I gained much just by being here.  I watched as parishioners stood up, turned around, and filed out the door (alone or in small groups).

I am grateful for this church service in Saint Petersburg.  By Russian standards Saint Catherine’s Church is modest and simple.  Artistically, it is a perfectly balanced sanctuary–graceful arches, domes, light, stained glass windows, and sculptures–without being overly ostentatious.  As with other cathedrals in Russia, the icons and valuables inside were stolen and ransacked during the Revolution.

A beautiful story is told about a 20 year old woman finding the sanctuary’s crucifix in the midst of the destruction of this church destruction in 1938.   She uncovered it; took the cross home; and hid it there for more than fifty years.  In 1992, when the church building was returned to the catholic church the woman (now in her seventies) brought the crucifix back.  Imagine, through all the years of persecution against the church, this woman kept something very precious hidden safely away.  I wonder:  did she ever gave up hope seeing it hang in its rightful place before she died?  Over the years, was it difficult keeping it hidden?  Imagine the joy she felt when finally able to bring it out into the light once again!

I watched a few people walk into a small room, at the back of the church, containing a few items for sale.  Though I already purchased a cross necklace while at the Lavra in Kiev but determined to buy one here (if at all possible).

I found a very simply constructed metal cross, strung on a thin black cord, to hang around my neck.  For me, it is symbolic of the crucifix that the woman saved.  It hangs as a reminder to never give up.  God’s timing and His plans are not thwarted.  Something may appear lost or hidden for a time, but God sees everything; reveals everything.

Mark 4:22, “For nothing is hidden, except to be revealed; nor has anything been secret, but that it would come to light.”

God revealed Himself to me in this church.  I realize He is everywhere. He is in me; He is all around me.  I just needed to see Him here in Russia…some way…somehow.  While walking through the other famous cathedrals, I felt a cavernous void.  Instead of the Holy Spirit inhabiting the place (through His believers), museum-churches contained tourists seeking “a bit of Russia,” not God.

I Corinthians 3:16, ” Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in your midst?”

He goes with me as I sadly leave Russia.  This is my prayer for this land:

John 14:16-17, “I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Comforter, that He may be with you forever; that is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it does not see Him or know Him, but you know Him because He abides with you and will be in you.”