Blessing of graves - July 7, 2024

On July 7th, Father Alexsey blessed the graves of departed parishioners laid to rest at both Ss. Peter and Paul Cemetery, in Centralia, and at St. Michael’s Cemetery on Merriam Mountain.

Fr. Aleksey is standing and reading from prayer book while at St. Michael's cemetery. Behind him, and slightly to his left stands a large, silver cross. There's grass, a small tree, and some small plants in the near background, with a circular, concrete path that leads around the cross and gravesite. Further in the distance, at the edge of the cemeteruy, there is a stone wall with larger trees in the background behind the wall.

Fr. Aleksey stands before a grave at the middle-left of frame. There's a stone wall about three feet behind him and several trees behind the wall. A woman holding a multi-colored umbrella (for sun!) is looking on from frame right, and there's a man standing a few feet away from her and about a quarter of the way from the right edge of the frame. Both are wearing blue shirts! The sky is bright blue with scattered cumulus clouds.

Fr. Aleksey stands just left of center, in the middle of the frame, and he's facing Fr. Dedick's cross, which is out of frame and to the left. Several parishoners stand about eight feet behind him and are hold papers and following along with the service. A few are holding umbrellas. Several graves are visible in the background, with large trees in the very back.

Fr. Aleksey blesses the grave of Fr. Dedick (See the history page for more information about Fr. Dedick!). The grave has a concrete slab with a bouquet of flowers in front of it and a large granite cross behind it. A depiction of the body of Christ is engraved on the cross, which stands atop of a pedestal that has three steps on either side of the cross, kind of like an Olympic medal platform. An inscription engraved onto the front of the platform reads St. Michael's Russian Orthodox Cemetery 1957.

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