Remodeling
The transformation of St. Mary into a more traditional Orthodox house of worship.
2017
Remodeling the Church
It was in the Autumn of 2017 when we started remodeling our church. We moved to the basement hall to do all the services. Normally, services of the church are less in the Fall. I did a wedding and we had to perform the Crowning Service in a Romanian Orthodox Church in Troy, MI. We formed an Altar and put chairs in the hall, and the Liturgies were held. I remember that we performed like ten or eleven, maybe twelve Liturgies downstairs.
During that time The assistance was very good, and I noticed how the people before leaving were going upstairs to see the work which was being done. I saw that feeling of satisfaction on their faces, and that sparkle in their eyes reflected from their admiration for what was happening. As for me, I was not sleeping because of thinking about the project and how to cover the high costs. But the result was that feeling of calm nestled in my mind and in my feeling, as I found every day many postal donations, or some phones asking me about the progress of the work with a promise of help which never stopped. At the same time, many came to visit me offering their assistance in all meanings.
What changed totally in the church was the ceiling and the floor. The ceiling became curved and higher than before, and the floor was covered with beautiful beige marble. A check came from Dr. Chadi Ibrahim saying for the marble of the church. And the seven steps in front of the Altar became three as usual. As well, we renewed the church benches with new paint and placed them in a way that suits the view of the Royal Door.
Written by Very Rev Fr. Boulos E. Moussa
2018
Entrance Door
The door was installed on the 23rd of April 2018, a day before the Day of St. George, The Great Martyr.
The old door at St. Mary was a normal one. I mean by normal that it was wooden and classic. I always thought that it should be changed to a special one. I tried to visit many places where I can find a special one.
With the help of one who was a member of the Building Committee, we found the door which the Church now has. The only adjustment was forming two Orthodox Crosses each on one side of it, and in the bottom part of the door, a quote from the Gospel of Saint John was written; “I am the door: by me, if a man enters in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture.” (John 10:9). The door was an ordinary one; you can find it in any building. I mean nothing to show that it is a church main door; no cross, or nothing like that. I was thinking to change it as soon as possible. I shared my inequity with several persons who work with me in church organizations or committees.
One member of the Building Committee, Fadi Nahhas who worked hard with George Matta and Susan Hamameh, took me to a factory whose specialization is fabricating metal gates and main doors. I added to the two Orthodox Crosses as you can see forming part of the outside form of it over the quoted writings of the Gospel of St. John. At the same time, the Lord guided a lady to donate the cost of the door, Adibeh Elias Ibrahim donated the money in memory of her parents; V. Rev. Fr. Anis Elias and Khourieh Mariam. Fr. Anis served St. Mary Berkley church dearly for two periods and did a very good pastoral job. And what is worth mentioning again that Adibeh Elias Ibrahim donated the biggest Icon on the ceiling of the Church; Christ the Pantocrator with the four icons of Gospel writers, in memory of her parents, as well.
In 2018 the Iconography in St. Mary was done. All the icons were painted according to the style of the Thirteenth Century Byzantine Art. The Icons were selected by Fr. Boulos, and he was discussing with the Iconographer in Greece, every detail of the Icons. Fr. Boulos met the representatives of MANIKAS GROUP INC. in The Antiochian Orthodox Convention in Miami in 2017. He and the council started the negotiation regarding the Iconostasis. During that time, the remodeling of the Church was being done. Right after the convention, they came to Berkley and met with the council of the Church and we signed the contract and the new Iconostasis was installed the first week of December 2017, and the first Christmas Divine Liturgy was held with the new installed Iconostasis with its Icons of the 13th Century Byzantine Style.
In July 2018, I met the Iconographer Achilleas Tourlas who did not sign the icons by his name; he put the name of Manikas which, as I have just mentioned, is the company where he works. He came with the staff of the company to install the icons on the wall.
Written by Very Rev Fr. Boulos E. Moussa
2019
The Dome of St. Mary Berkley
The dome in the Orthodox Christian Tradition means Heaven. The spherical dome symbolizes eternity. To build more than one dome on the church will take us to several explanations of what these domes mean. One says that these domes are meant to gather or collect the goodness from Heaven, while another explanation is that they are meant to show the outpouring of the Holy Spirit upon the Church. The domes also come in different forms.
When I arrived to Michigan on the first day of July 2016, my first notice that the church has no Cross and no dome. May be that was normal for the building stayed as a Protestant church for the first fifty years. The first idea which came to my mind that the tower on the left side of the building should have a copper dome with a golden Cross on top of it, and on top of the upper middle part of the Church, a Cross should be stood shinning in the light of the day and in the darkness of the night.
As I mentioned before that two Crosses were put at the door, other two Crosses were installed at the outside at the upper part. St. John Chrysostom said: “Let us consider of what great blessings for us Christ's Cross has become the cause. For though the Lord's Cross sounds sad and bitter, it is in reality full of joy and radiance. For the Cross is the salvation of the Church; the Cross is the boast of those who hope in it; the Cross is reconciliation of enemies to God and conversion of sinners to Christ. For through the Cross we have been delivered from enmity, and through the Cross we have been joined in friendship to God. Through the Cross we have been freed from the tyranny of the devil, and through the Cross we have been delivered from death and destruction. 'When the Cross was not proclaimed, we were held fast by death; now the, Cross is proclaimed, and we have come to despise death, as though it did not exist, while we have come to long for everlasting life. 'When the Cross was not proclaimed, we were strangers to paradise; but when the Cross appeared, at once a thief was found worthy of paradise. From such darkness the human race has crossed over to infinite light; from death it has been called to everlasting life, from corruption it has been renewed for incorruption. For the eyes of the heart are no longer covered by the darkness that comes through ignorance, but through the Cross they are flooded with the light of knowledge. The ears of the deaf are no longer shut by unbelief, for the deaf have heard the word of the Lord, and the blind have recovered their sight to see the glory of God. These are the gifts we are given through the Cross.”
I wanted to install, starting the work at St. Mary as the first session, the dome with the tow crosses but we could not. We left it to the end. It was installed on December 2019. The Nativity Divine Liturgy was performed that year for the first time under a dome with the Holy Cross on it.
The contributors of the domeare: Elias & Jamila Zedan Sweis, Dr Shadi Ibrahim, Eng. Kamil Afram, Moussa & Adiba Ibrahim, Dr. Fawaz Haddad, Andraos & Nashwa Kattouah, Hani Hamati, Rawan & Manawel Zaghmout, Dr. Soha Alfares, Dr. Osama Nunu, Dr. Osman Basha, Dr. Issam Assad, Dr. Maher Makool, Dr. Hanna Khoury, Eng. Ibrahim Afram, Wedad (Odette) Saab, Dr. Nasser Dergham, Sameer Eid, Hani Jardak, James & Laura Puzzuoli. David Fashho, Dr. Deeb Shalhoob, Dr. Eli Khoury, Dr. Ibrahim Albishara, and Fadi Wahbi.
There are many who donated and they did not want their names to be mentioned. To all of those who donated money or helped by any available way even by encouraging in any way, I pray that every one of them in particular or my parishioners and friends of St. Mary in general, will be safe and sound and may the Lord shower His earthly and heavenly graces on all of them. Amen!
Written by Very Rev Fr. Boulos E. Moussa
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