The San Francisco ROCOR Cathedral

DIscussion and News concerning Orthodox Churches in communion with those who have fallen into the heresies of Ecumenism, Renovationism, Sergianism, and Modernism, or those Traditional Orthodox Churches who are now involved with Name-Worshiping, or vagante jurisdictions. All Forum Rules apply. No polemics. No heated discussions. No name-calling.


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Barbara
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The San Francisco ROCOR Cathedral

Post by Barbara »

[Two prior posts and the first paragraph here have been edited out as they do not conform to E Cafe rules: offtopic to the forum's purpose. The two prior posts have been moved into the private Moderator Forum. Finally, this thread has been moved into World Orthodoxy.

Maria, Administrator]

According to wikipedia's dates, the groundbreaking for the Rocor Cathedral was in 1961, while the fairytale-beautiful edifice was completed in 1965. That surely means the construction part, since the interior was decorated with icons and frescoes by Archimandrite Cyprian of Jordanville and his school for a number of summers afterwards.[/color]
Archimandrite Kyprian [ Pyzhov ] reposed on this very date, which is Great and Holy Saturday in 2017 : April 15, 2001.

Today, the façade has recently been completely repainted with the original planned color scheme now implemented with the accent color added after 50 years ! A local Orthodox Christian professional painter was commissioned for the job.

The 5 large domes glisten with a new coat of Tnemec gold.


Holy Virgin Cathedral is now listed as number 2 of the 10 top "Must-See Places in San Francisco" -- a national website -- with the following photo

Image
Caption from Must-See in SF website : "This Russian cathedral stands proud in the midst of the Richmond District. The domes are spectacular, but take a look inside to see some truly extravagant design. This cathedral is located in the relatively overlooked area of "Little Russia."]

Unfortunately, the statue of a demon is placed as number 1 of the top tourist attractions in the City by the Bay. I won't mention that evil spirit by name, but a large picture of the ugly monster looms over the above image of the Joy of All Who Sorrow Russian Cathedral in this Top 10 Must-See List. As if to limit rejoicing that a Russian Orthodox Cathedral is finally being given its due recognition, the photo arrangement clearly implies to the subtly-minded viewer that the devil is in control of that city and not the Queen of Heaven as She should be.

A lesser dark cloud is the listing of a wrong address which would place the jewel of Rocor-MP Cathedrals in a not so nice downtown San Francisco area. The address given left out a critical digit : it should be 6210 Geary Blvd, rather than 610. A big difference which could cause confusion for tourists unfamiliar with the city. Such visitors would have no idea that the Richmond District is out by the Pacific Ocean. Nor would many be aware of where the "Little Russia" part of town is situated.
Surely, the devil is the sower of confusion....Hopefully this website will correct this mistake.

As well as move the Joy of All Who Sorrow Cathedral up to the number 1 Must-See attraction in heavily-touristed San Francisco -- then permanently keep it in that top slot.
Thus the Mother of God will have Her victory over the devils, and the entire city and region will immensely benefit spiritually !

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Maria
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Re: The San Francisco ROCOR Cathedral

Post by Maria »

Barbara, I have edited your last post, and also edited the title of this thread.

It is not within the scope of this board to promote different religions or even slightly to promote them as that is the heresy of ecumenism.

By the way, this is a beautiful church. May it be an inspiration and lead others to True Orthodoxy.

Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on me a sinner.

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Barbara
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Re: The San Francisco ROCOR Cathedral

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A few short videos of Paschal services this year and in 2016 appeared on the Cathedral's face book site.

Take a look, anyone who would like to see the inside of the Cathedral. The cameras film the services as well as the interior frescos and Icons. A glimpse of St John's reliquary from the balcony above is visible in one of the clips.

Press the arrow right or left to view the rest. A rare opportunity !

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Barbara
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Re: The San Francisco ROCOR Cathedral

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Here is a quick description of a tour made by San Francisco Richmond District residents of Rocor's majestic Holy Virgin Cathedral. The writer of the article had apparently mentioned in past pieces that she would look into this possibility due to intense popular curiosity and then organized it.

What is surprising is how shy these people, some neighbors of the Cathedral, were to just go in by themselves. They only got up the nerve when joining a group !
Significantly, one commentator wrote : "I’ve finally gathered the courage to check out a service at this beautiful church."

I think this near-fear of entering a Russian or maybe any Orthodox Church is key to understand for those doing missionary work and other outreach. Clearly, some Westerners, especially secular ones, may feel awkward even going in the door, let alone attending a Liturgy. [ Could this be demons around them trying to prevent them from learning about Orthodoxy ? ]
Maybe some bridges can be built based on this insight. The rewards are evident : The readers of the article were happy to learn about the Cathedral and a few Orthodox ideas. The participants of the informal tour, given by a then-Priest of Holy Virgin Cathedral, raved about what they saw and experienced. Probably not all even saw the article, so the comments below it may be only the tip of the iceberg of how impressed the visitors were.

The tour leader, Sarah B. who writes for the San Francisco Gazette, recounted a few highlights of their foray into this mysterious edifice !

"We were treated to a tour of the inside of the Holy Virgin Russian Orthodox Cathedral on Saturday, located at 6210 Geary Boulevard. The tour was led by Father Yaroslav Belikow, who gave us a great history of the church and its architecture, and answered all of the questions we could come up with. Thank you, Father Belikow!

The inside is really spectacular – not at all what you’d expect from the quiet exterior...If you want to see it for yourself, stop in for one of their services which take place twice daily at 8am and 6pm.

I did not take any notes during our tour, but here are some highlights I remember from it:

•The cathedral was initially begun under one Bishop, who passed away during early construction, leaving it unfinished with just a few arches completed. The cathedral was completed in the 1960s when Bishop John came and took over. He died not long after in 1966 and was buried under the altar. He was officially glorified as St. John of Shanghai and San Francisco in 1994. There is an altar [ she means shrine ]inside the church where you can view his relics. The Father told us they still receive letters addressed to St. John which they place under his remains in the church.

•During Russian Orthodox services, parishioners stand so there are very few pews inside the church. As the Father joked, their services are “long, and longer.”

•There is singing during services but no instrumentation; all performances are A capella. On Saturday nights and Sunday mornings, a full choir performs.

•The Father told an interesting story about the cross you see in the Russian Orthodox church, which has a bottom bar across the lower portion. It was where Jesus Christ would have placed his feet during the crucifixion. However it is slanted slightly. The story goes that Jesus Christ was crucified along with two thieves, one on each side of him, each on their own cross. The thief on his left was mocking Christ, saying that if he really was holy, why couldn’t he just save them all. The other thief, on the right, was more kind and urged the other thief to leave him alone and show some compassion. Before he died, Christ’s leg spasmed and knocked the bottom bar askew. The saying goes that the right side tilts down – in the direction the unfriendly thief would be headed after his demise, while the other side points up – the direction the kind thief would be headed.

•The shiny parapets on top of the church are based on the Indian ones of similar design (think Taj Mahal). But because of the heavy snows in Russia, they were designed to be taller and more narrow, making it easier for the heavy snow to slide off. Sort of a self-cleaning parapet as the Father described it.

•The parapets have gold on them to create a pretty reflection, like a sunset. However only 12% of the tiles are reflective – that is the magic number for achieving the effect.

•The church has a small reliquary against one wall, with bits and pieces of Saints in small containers.

•There is a partition, or iconostasis, that has doors on it.... The doors remain closed most of the year, but are all opened around Easter in honor of the resurrection. The main doors in the center of the iconstasis are known as the royal doors.

Sarah B.

14 COMMENTS
1.May 24, 2011
SUE FRY

Thank you so very much for putting this together — and thank Fr. Belikow for his gracious, warm welcome, his time, the information his shared – and his gentle humor. I have lived a few blocks from the cathedral since 1979 yet had never been inside. I expected it to be gorgeous — but it is far beyond that — it is truly exquisite. Knowing that the Richmond is home to this amazing cultural/artistic/religious treasure makes me even prouder to be a “fog-belt baby”! Services are held every day and Fr. Belikow extends a welcome to any who wish to attend.

2.May 24, 2011
BOB

....Can you include some of the history in your post for those of us who were unable to make it?

3.May 24, 2011
ADMINISTRATOR

@Bob – I did not take copious notes but I added some of my recollections from the tour to the article. Hope that gives it some more color!

Sarah B.

4.May 24, 2011
BOB

@Sarah – thank you for the additions! Very interesting!

5.May 24, 2011
STEPHOTO

Yes, Sarah, MANY thanks for organizing the tour. It was quite amazing – one thing I did remember as well about the parapets is they started being painted in gold because they glow in the sunset and sunrise and look like the flames of candles. I can see them from my window, so will be sure to send you some shots of that!

6.May 24, 2011
JL

Thanks for organizing this! It was a great opportunity to see the interior and get so much history.

7.May 24, 2011
JULIA

Thanks Sarah! I’ve finally gathered the courage to check out a service at this beautiful church.

8.May 24, 2011
FR. YAROSLAV

Thank you all for joining! It was a great idea, Sarah, to invite our neighbors in! The best time to appreciate the services would be on Saturday evening (6 pm) or Sunday morning (from 7:30 to noon), when the full choir sings!

9.May 26, 2011
SUE FRY

Dear Sarah, I think your arranging this was really a great thing for promoting cultural and interfaith understanding in our neighborhood. I loved having the opportunity to enter this gorgeous neighborhood treasure which I have passed for so many years, to meet my neighbor, Fr. Belikow. I do know that they Russian Orthodox church has always welcomed me to visit — and I intended to for years. but your saying “...let’s get together and do this!” was the thing that finally made it happen. Thank you again.

10.June 9, 2011
NATALIE

...I am in San francisco at the moment, living in Paris and myself french orthodox from a parish the name of which is “Saint Jean de San Francisco” (he is our Saint Patron). I would like to go to the Holy Virgin Church in order to venerate Saint Jean de San Francisco. Can you tell me how to find the opening hours/days and more particularly the hours of the liturgy on sunday?
thank you very much, I am leaving on monday the 13h!
Natalie

11.June 9, 2011
ADMINISTRATOR

@Natalie – they have services daily at 8am and 6pm, even on weekends (“Liturgy at 8:00am, Vespers & Matins at 6:00pm” according to their website which is at http://www.sfsobor.com/). Hope that helps,

http://richmondsfblog.com/2011/05/24/ph ... cathedral/

P.S. Does anyone know - perhaps Jean-Serge might - in which jurisdiction that French parish of St-Jean de San Francisco is ?

Justice
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Re: The San Francisco ROCOR Cathedral

Post by Justice »

I was in San Francisco two years ago. Sad I didn't get to see it! Though maybe it's for the best the statue is pretty awful.

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Barbara
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Re: The San Francisco ROCOR Cathedral

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You must be thinking of somewhere else, Justice. There are no statues there. Perhaps you meant the New St Mary's Cathedral, which is all modernistic ?

Well consider making another trip ! After all, it's worth it just to make a pilgrimage to St John's relics. The choir is unsurpassed, however, so even though the Rocor Cathedral has fallen into the clutches of the MP, it's worth visiting at a time when a service is taking place. That's my opinion ; some TOC people will disagree. The second Liturgy on Sunday is when the choir is at its best. I think it's a much better choir than even the Synodal Our Lady of the Sign Cathedral in New York City.

Last edited by Barbara on Fri 11 August 2017 12:45 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Justice
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Re: The San Francisco ROCOR Cathedral

Post by Justice »

I was looking at the post by Maria who said that demonic statues loom over it. Very sad to see St. John's cathedral in the hands of heretics.

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