Photo of the Day for September 28, 2011: Feast of the Dormition I / Усьпеньня Прасьвятой Багародзіцы І

Orthodox Feast of the Dormition (part I), Church of the Dormition of the Most Blessed Mother of God, Al’pjen’ 2011. 

The Church of the Dormition of the Most Blessed Mother of God in Al’pjen’ celebrates its feast day (сьвяток – s’vjatok) on August 28, the date of the Feast of the Dormition in eastern Orthodox churches.  The Dormition is equivalent to the August 15 Feast of the Assumption in the Roman Catholic church (see photos for September 21-22 and 24).

Al’pjen’ has one of the series of well-preserved wooden churches in the central Prypjats’ area of Polesia.  The Al’pjen’ parish has an energetic priest but has grown smaller and more elderly than those of neighboring villages.  However, the parish shared the resistance of the other parishes in the area to the attempts of the Soviet regime to wipe out Christian faith and many people who have moved away, or their descendants, return for the feast day.  When this area of Belarus was part of the interwar Second Polish Republic the parish participated in the attempt to revive the Greek Orthodox church, dominant throughout Belarus until crushed by the Russian Empire in and subsequent to 1839.  The parish shares the welcoming spirit I have found in the other churches of the area.

The little girl in this photo had asked her mother whether she could tend the candles, an important lay function during the Orthodox service.  She carried out her task quietly and diligently throughout the morning.

Сьвяток Усьпеньня Найсьвяцейшай Багародзіцы (частка І), царква Ўсьпеньня Прасьвятой Багародзіцы, Альпень 2011 год.

Альпень адчувае сябе не так добра, як суседнія вёскі. Прыход паменшаў і пастарэў. Але на штогадовы сьвяток людзей зьбіраецца шмат. Традыцыя жыве.

Дзяўчынка папрасіла ў маці дазволу прыглядаць за сьвечкамі. І прыглядала ўсю раніцу ціха і старанна.