北鹿ハリストス正教会 生神女福音会堂
About Schenderia
Orthodox chandeliers symbolically represent "the stars of the sky," in addition to the mere convenience of brightening the interior of the chapel.
In the Bible, celestial light represents the "glory of God" in the Most High, so the chandeliers represent the "light of God," or the light of the charismatic light, which comes down from above.
The origin of the chandelier of our church
The Magata Theotokos Evangelical Church of the Hokuroku Orthodox Church is an old building built in 1893, but the chandelier inside was originally from the Resurrection Cathedral built in Matsuyama City, Ehime Prefecture.
During the Russo-Japanese War, Russian prisoners of war were interned in Matsuyama City, and nearly 100 people died there. To pray for their repose, a cathedral was built in Matsuyama after the Russo-Japanese War ended (1908).
All the expenses for the construction of the cathedral were donated by a wealthy woman from Moscow, Sister Kseia Feodorovna Kolesnikova.
The Great Kanto Earthquake of 1923 destroyed Nikolay Hall, and it was unavoidably necessary to relocate the Resurrection Cathedral in Matsuyama to Tokyo. The former Matsuyama Cathedral, which was moved within the precincts of Nikolai-do, became the Cathedral of Nikolai the Miracle Worker and was used until it was dismantled due to its age (in 1962).
The iconostasis from the old Matsuyama Cathedral was moved to the Osaka Ecclesiastical Chapel, the other icons were moved to the Nikolai Hall, the bell was moved to Hakodate (where it is no longer extant), and the chandelier was moved to the Evangelical Church of the Living Goddess of Mercy in Hokuroku.
The chandelier in our chapel embraces us as a light (God's honor) overflowing with peace and compassion.