On October 20, 2009, our iconographer Fr. Andrei (Erastov) came to work on the next phase of our church iconography project. This phase had two main goals: 1) paint the icon of the Holy Evangelist Luke on the last remaining pandentive and 2) adorn the arches with icons of saints and ornaments.

Adorning the Arches with Icons and Ornaments.

Fr. Andrei paints the icon of the Holy Evangelist Luke.

Fr. Theophan came for a week to help paint the frames between the arches and ornaments. He also gilded most of the halos on the icons of the saints.

Fr. Gabriel also came for a week and did the walls in the alter to give that portion of our church a finished look.

Putting the gold leaf on the halos of the saints.

The icons of the Saints.

Fr. Andrei designed the ornament that will frame the next phase of our Icon project: frescoes of the Nativity, Theophany, Crucifixion and Resurrection on the North and South vaulted ceilings.

General view with this phase completed.

The Iconostasis had to be temporarily moved in order to have access to the arch above it.

Fr. Andrei painted a number of saints on each large piece of canvas. In preparation for application to the arches, each icon needed to be cut out.

Matushka applies the special paste on the back side of an icon.

The pasting on the arches begins.

The light fixtures on the arches had to be repositioned in order to properly line up with the ornaments. This precise work was done by Mr. Vasily K. Stresz.