New Vestments

Back in early 1985 Larry and I were downstairs at St. Nicholas Cathedral and I told him that I wanted to learn to serve on the altar in the event that I am neede. While we were yet talking, somebody came down and said, "Larry, we have a bishop, priest, and two deacons and no servers!" Or was it "a bishop, two priests, and a deacon"? It doesn't matter. Larry said, "Grab a robe and let's go!"

This was my start on serving on the altar in the Orthodox Church. As a Roman Catholic, I used to serve on the altar frequently until I became disillusioned with the Catholic Church when I was in college and I attended a Catholic college. The Byzantine Rite of the Catholic Church saved me from becoming a non-church goer.

We went upstairs and arrived in time for the Gospel. Larry told me to do everything that he does and it was no problem. Subdeacon Michael Shandor later came in and I just did what he did. Between Subdeacon Larry Basalyga and Michael Shandor, I was in good hands. I enjoyed serving and the women in the parish loved it when I came out with candles and at the same time was singing the responses in Church Slavonic.

The following week I had a really wonderful opportunity. Bishop BASIL presided and he served as a bishop at the English Liturgy and this was my first experience serving with a bishop. Mind you, my second time serving on the altar was for a bishop! At this point it was clear to me that I really prefer to serve on the altar rather than to sing in the choir.

The next few weeks I served on the altar but still attended choir practice. The following month it was announced that the head of the church of the Czech Lands and Slovakia will be serving. One woman said to me, "And of course you will be serving." At this point I knew where I stood.

Later I asked Metropolitan Theodosius about being tonsured a Reader. This was done on Sunday 7 December 1986. Immediately after I was tonsured a Reader, I was vested with the Subdeacon's orarion (stole).

Later Larry and I had another conversation and he suggested that I purchase my own vestments, especially since I started going to various parishes and serving with the metropolitan. I agreed. We started with white and black. They arrived just in time for me to wear them for Holy Week and Pascha and the gold arrived in time for Pentecost. These vestments included the robe and stole.

The following year I had another conversation with Larry and I told him that I really would love be a deacon. He told me to talk with the metropolitan who was our local bishop. I met with him on Holy Saturday after the Liturgy and he told me that it would be necessary for me to go to the seminary. I really did not want to go, but I conceded and today I am extremely grateful that I did.

Before the conversation with the metropolitan about the seminary, I spent six weeks at Kessler AFB in Biloxi MS. Before I went, Mrs. Olga Polivanov made me a set of off-white vestments. This is the traveling set that I still use. While I was in the seminary, she made me a set of purple which is now my traveling set for Lent.

Mrs. Polivanov made me black, white, gold, off-gold, and purple. The first three sets were made in 1986. I still wear all five, although the purple now is not worn as much as it used to be. While I was in the seminary, Mrs. Maria Misijuk, the mother of a classmate of mine, made me two cassocks. I no longer wear them since they are hot and worn. She also later made me two more black cassocks and a gray one. I am still wearing these. In addition, she made me a set of blue vestments and a set of green and she also made a set of light red and a set of maroon cuffs and stole.

When I switched over to Holy Trinity Russian Orthodox Church, I had all the necessary colors except red. When the parish purchased vestments for all the servers, they only purchased red for me since I had everything else. At my former parish, St. Andrew, they made vestments for all the servers, including me, except they did not make me purple since my purple was the prototype. Their purple matched that of the metropolitan in shade and color. Mine was quite close to his until you put them next to each other.

A member of my parish goes to Russian twice a year at least. So he started bringing back vestments for me. The first one was red so that I would have my own set of red. The second was also red. I wanted a dark red but I did not know that in Russia dark red was hard to find. So the set that he brought back was another Pascha red, but just a shade darker than the original. Thus, I now have two sets of Pascha red vestments.

Later I asked both him and Fr. Paschal to bring me back a complete set of purple with cuffs. I also told Fr. Pascha that I needed a light weight robe. Thus, within two weeks I had two new sets of purple vestments, giving me a total of three.

Later I was talking to Marie at Christ the Savior Mission in Fredericksburg VA and I told her that I could not find a set of dark red vestments. On Christmas Eve 2005a dark red robe arrived. The day after Christmas I went to the mission parish and wore the new vestments for the first time. Fr. Michael Roshak blessed them before the Liturgy.

I then looked at my inventory to see if I needed anything else. Well, the gold that I wear is really a festal gold and should be worn only on feast days and not every Sunday. So I talked to Dr. Victorslav again and told him that I need a gold to match the altar servers and also that is light weight. My gold is heavy.

Earlier this month we had a crab feast at the Cathedral Gardens and during the crab feast Dr. Victorslav told me that he has my new vestments in his car. They did not match the altar servers, but they did match the priest. So now I no longer outshine the priest when I am wearing gold except on major occasions. This is not a problem with Fr. John, but it is with some priests.

On Sunday 24 September 2006 Fr. John blessed the vestments and they sit on the altar from that Sunday afternoon until Tuesday evening when he has Vigil. I am not attending the Vigil since I have a class that evening. Reader Joseph McCusker assisted with the service while I took photographs.

You are visitor # since Sunday 24 September 2006.

Return to home page.