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…
I stood on the peripheral of the Palace Square, dressed warmly enough to ward off the freezing cold November temperatures. To my left, the Tsar’s Winter Palace; to my right, the triumphal arch. In the distance, I watched several horse and carriages line up to take tourists for a ride through the city. My mind…
With his birth date on St. Isaac’s feast day (Sept 9), Peter the Great determined to build a monumental church in his city–naming it “St. Isaac of Dalmatia” after his patron saint, Saint Isaac. His first church, built on the banks of the Neva River, crumbled. The second (still lacking an adequate foundation) met a…
At the age of sixty, the occasions are few and further between when I feel like a “little girl at heart.” Imagining myself attending a Russian ballet–in Russia–is one of these occasions. During a time of ballet lessons, pirouetting, leotards and standing on my toes (though not very well, or for very long) I, like…
Reading about this city, and learning a little of its history, is quite different from physically walking the streets, stepping into the sanctuaries or spending time with the people. Saint Petersburg is a beautiful bustling city and yet, I felt something important missing. First of all, I do realize God doesn’t need a church to…
Less than 24 hours in L’viv and I’m beginning to understand what it really means to be Ukrainian. Though my family talked about the Czars, Cossacks, Revolutions and Russia stripping away their identity as a nation, I didn’t grow up in this environment. Listening to a few of its citizens, I heard sadness and distress…
