Feast of the Dormition - August 15, 2024

On August 15th, Fr. Aleksey celebrated the Blessed Feast of the Dormition of the Mother of God, blessing flowers and fragrant herbs.

Oh, the marvelous wonder!

The source of Life is laid in a grave,

and the tomb becomes a ladder to heaven.

Rejoice, Gethsemane, holy shrine of the Theotokos!

Let us, the faithful, cry out with Gabriel as our captain,

“Rejoice, O full of grace, the Lord is with you,

He that grants the world great mercy through you!”

Photo of Fr. Aleksey blessing holy bread that sits on a round, gold platter. The platter has two elevated pedestals on which each of two small, round loaves sit, and the platter also has two gold candleholders and a cross. The left side of the table runs across the bottom frame, and Fr. Aleksey is standing on the opposite side as he blesses the bread with his censer. The table has a light blue cloth with gold trim, and there's a window behind Fr. Aleksey, and two murals on either side of the window. The back side of the table, which appears on the left edge in the center of the frame, has two tall candles, a large votive candle inside red glass with gold embellishments, a gold cross in the center that is only partially visible, and a vase of flowers. Incense smoke rising from the censer appears around Fr. Aleksey with light from the window streaming through the smoke on the left side of the frame.

Photo of Fr. Aleksey carrying a large, cloth icon that depicts the falling asleep of Mother Mary, but only the sides are visible. The sides of the icons are deep purple with gold and white flowers in the center, gold lettering near the top, and gold trim along the bottom. Fr. Aleksey is wearing blue vestments, and the altar and iconostasis are visible in the background.

Side view of Fr. Aleksey placing the cloth icon on top of the table at the front center of the church. This is the same table described earlier, but the platter of bread is no longer on the table.

Side view of the aforementioned table, which now appears in the lower left corner of the frame. Fr. Aleksey is standing along the right edge of the frame and is holding a censer and blessing the icon, which has a yellow cloth placed on top, covering the underlying iconography.

Photo a large, cloth icon depicting the falling asleep of Mother Mary, who is surrounded by the apostles. The icon rests on a table, completely covering it except for the back edge of the table that has two tall, white candles in gold candlestick holders on each back corner; then two red votive candles with gold lids and trim; plus a gold cross in a stand in the center of the back edge, with a vase of flowers in front of the cross. The cross itself appears at the top of the flowers.

View from the choir loft of Fr. Aleksey standing at a smallish table, covered by a white tablecloth, in the left half of the frame. He's standing on the far side of the table and is blessing several vases of flowers and fragrant herbs that are spread across the table. Two pews, and the top of a third, are visible in the lower left corner of the photo. To Fr. Aleksey's left, in the right half of the frame is the aforementioned table covered by the dormition icon. An alter server stands in the center of the photo, just to the right of the first pew and between the two tables, which are a few feet in front of him.

Fr. Aleksey appears at the top of the stairs in the choir loft and appears to be blessing the choir with a bunch of basil that has been dipped into holy water. His right hand is holding the basil and is outstretched towards the camera, while his other hand holds a gold chalice of holy water.

Fr. Aleksey stands in the lower left corner of the frame in front of a table as he reads from a prayer book. The table is covered by a white tablecloth and has several vases containing either flowers or herbs on top along with a gold bowl that's shaped somewhat like a chalice and contains holy water. The background shows the altar and iconostas.

Using a bunch of basil dipped in holy water, Fr. Aleksey blesses two girls and a young boy who are standing in one of the pew at the back of the church. A beam of bluish light streams in from the out-of-view open door on the right, leading roughly to the basil, and a few beams of light stream in on the left, from out-of-view windows. The beams shine from middle left, leading to Fr. Aleksey's light blue vestments.

Fr. Aleksey's right arm appears in the middle left of the frame as he swings basil with which he is using to bless several young people. They are standing in the center aisle and in pews, towards the back of the church, and are laughing as they get spritzed with the holy water.

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