St Matthew's Patronal Feast 2008

On Saturday 15 November 2008 we gathered at St. Matthew Orthodox Church in Columbia for thier Altar Feast. Unfortunately I was unable to take photos and I also did not have a substitute photographer during the service.

In both the Orthodox Church and the Catholic Church, parishes are named after either a saint or a feast for the most part. In both churches every day of the year is a feast day for some saint or event.

In the Orthodox Church [and Byzantine Rite of the Catholic Church], there are special texts for each feast day. On the eve of the feast day we have Vespers and we hear these special texts. The texts tell us about the special feast or person.

In the Baltimore area, when a parish has its "Altar Feast" or "Feast Day" or "Patronal Feast," we try to come together at the parish for Vespers on the eve of the feast. A homily is usually given and after the service there is usually a wonderful reception. This day was no excpetion. The homily was given by Fr. Ernest, pastor emritus of St. Demetrios Greek Orthodox Church in Baltimore County. This was the first time that I took a photograph of Fr. Ernest, although I've known him for years.

My car had just borken down a few days before the event and I had no way to get there. I contacted my two usual sources of rides and neither was going. So I resigned myself to the fact that I will not be able to go and then I remembered that Martha is a member of the parish and she will probably be going and I'm on her way there. So I called her and she said that I can come, but she has to be there around 15:00. The Vespers was at 18:00. No problem. I took my ancient, outdated laptop brick and spent much of the time transcribing notes.

Martha was taking an iconography class at the church. Therefore, I took advantage of the opportunity to photograph the class also. Fr. Ray and other members of the parish were very gracious to me and I had access to anything that I needed.

After the service and reception, Martha went back to class and I caught a ride home with David, the webmaster of our parish.