Source: Los Alamos Daily Post
August 8, 2016
The golden onion dome is lowered on top of the tower of the new Saint Job of Pochaiv Orthodox Church Friday on Trinity Dr. Photo by Leland Lehman/ladailypost.com
Workers installed the “onion” dome on top of the tower of the new Saint Job of Pochaiv Orthodox ChurchFriday at 1319 Trinity Dr., behind what used to be the Hill Diner and is now the refurbished Pasta Paradiso.
For over a year, the people of Saint Job of Pochaiv Orthodox Church have been anticipating a move to this new location after being tucked away for many years at the far end of a residential cul-de-sac on 39th St. off of Diamond Drive.
Fr. Theophan Mackey watches Friday as workers install the golden dome on top of his new chruch. Photo by Leland Lehman/ladailypost.com
Work has been continuing on the inside of the new building, and with the help of the whole congregation, it is nearing completion. When it is finished, the people of the church will proceed from the church hidden away in the pines, with all its icons, books, furniture, and holy items, to the new, visible and glowing temple to truly become a beacon on the hill.
A Santa Fe investment group purchased the combined property at 1315 and 1319 Trinity Dr., which includes the former Hill Diner.
The history of the Orthodox Church actually begins in the Acts of the Holy Apostles, with the Descent of the Holy Spirit: When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place. And suddenly a sound came from heaven like the rush of a mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting. And there appeared to them tongues as of fire, distributed and resting on each one of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance (Acts 2:1-4).
Photo by Carol A. Clark/ladailypost.com
As the text further states, on that same day, after St. Peter had preached to the gathered people, those who received his word were baptized, and there were added that day about three thousand souls (Acts 2:41), thus constituting the first Christian community at Jerusalem.
This first community of Christians, headed by St. James, the Brother of the Lord the first Bishop of the city was later scattered by the persecutions which followed the stoning of the first martyr of the Christian Church, St. Stephen: And on that day a great persecution arose against the church in Jerusalem; and they were all scattered throughout the region of Judea and Samaria, except the Apostles (Acts 8:1).
At the same time, faithful to the Lord's command to go...and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit (Matt. 28:19), the Apostles went out and preached wherever they went, first to the Jews and then to the Gentiles, so that in a surprisingly short time, Christian communities had sprung up in all the main centers of the Roman world and beyond. Their exploits are recorded in the Acts, as well in the inner tradition of the Orthodox Church.
Photo by Leland Lehman/ladailypost.com
