The consecration and the services surrounding were broadcast live, but we have the recording below! It was a wonderful day with lots of prayer, worship, fellowship, food, and thanksgiving for all that God has done for us as a parish. The consecration service began with the meeting of the bishop, followed by the Divine Liturgy. We hope you'll watch and sense a little bit of what it was like. Thank you to all who came to be there and to all who continue to support our parish!

As a person in the sacraments of Baptism and Chrismation casts off the old man, is sanctified, becomes a part of the spiritual body of the Church, i.e. a completely new person, a Christian, so a building becomes a Temple, a place of God's special presence on earth only after its consecration. It is not for nothing that this rite is also called the “renewal” of the temple: through ancient prayers and rituals, the building becomes holy, and therefore completely different, new. Man, the temple not made by hands, and the temple created by his hands, both are dedicated to God. They become His dwelling, therefore much of what is performed during the consecration of the temple is similar to what is done during the consecration of man. In its appearance, an Orthodox church symbolizes the mysterious spiritual body of the Church, consisting of members of the faithful and the head–Christ. The sacred act of consecration is not only a thanksgiving to God for helping to build the church, but also a rite through which grace mysteriously descends upon the church, transforming an ordinary building into a House of God.

Just as during Baptism a person is immersed in holy water, dressed in white clothes, and anointed with holy chrism, so is the Holy Table of the temple. The Altar, on which the most important sacrament is performed during the Divine Liturgy–the bloodless Sacrifice offered on behalf of  all and for all people by changing bread and wine into the Body and Blood of Christ–is washed, dressed in clothes and anointed with holy chrism. Even the appearance of the temple, crowned with a dome or head, serves as an image of the human body. And not only the Holy Table, but the entirety of the Temple is sprinkled with holy water and anointed with holy chrism during the consecration.

Sacred rites for the dedication of a created temple to God have existed in the Church since ancient times. On the eve, holy relics are brought to the temple to be consecrated and are placed on a diskos under the star and aer before the image of the Savior. An All-Night Vigil is served, dedicated to the saint of  the temple as well as to the Dedication of the Church of the Holy Resurrection of Christ our God.

The Vigil is followed by the Lesser Blessing of the Waters. The All-Night Vigil is held outside of the altar with the royal doors closed as no one is to enter the altar until such time as it is to be consecrated. All the liturgical objects and objects to be used for the consecration of the temple are placed on a table in front of the Royal Doors.

When the time for the ritual arrives, the participating clergy are dressed in all the sacred vestments, and on top of these vestments, to protect them, they put on white protective aprons. The rite of consecration of the temple includes:

• The arrangement of the Holy Table
• The washing and anointing of it
• The dressing of the Holy Table
• The consecration of the walls of the temple
• The transfer and placement of the relics under the Holy Table and in the antimins
• The final prayers, short litia and dismissal

The arrangement of the Holy Table in the altar begins with the upper board being nailed to the prepared base with four forged nails (the entire altar can contain no other nails) and secured with wax-mastic (a composition of wax, mastic and fragrant substances), which signifies the nailing of the Savior to the cross and the anointing of His body taken down from the cross with fragrant aromas. During this Psalm 144 is chanted, “I will exalt Thee, O my God, my King..” followed by Psalm 22, “The Lord is my Shepherd..”

After the establishment of the Holy Table, the Royal Doors, hitherto closed, are opened, and the bishop, facing the people, kneeling together with the faithful, reads a prayer in which, like Solomon, he asks the Lord to send down the Holy Spirit and sanctify the temple and this altar, so that the bloodless sacrifices offered on it would be accepted into the heavenly altar and from there would bring down upon us the grace of heavenly overshadowing.

The washing of the Holy Table with water takes place as a sign of its gracious sanctification by the power and action of the Holy Spirit. Psalm 83 is sung, “How beloved are Thy dwellings...” A mixture of rose water with red wine, poured in the form of a cross, mysteriously forms the all-sanctifying blood of the Lord, which flowed from His side together with the water on the Cross. The latter part of Psalm 50 is sung, “Thou shalt make me hear joy and gladness…” Afterwards, the Holy Table is anointed with holy chrism, as we hear “Alleluia” sung, as a sign of the outpouring of God’s grace; the fragrant composition of the holy chrism signifies the life-giving fragrance of spiritual gifts. The anointing of the altar brings down upon it the grace of the Holy Spirit. God descends, and the holy sacraments of the Church, performed in the temple, become possible and effective.

Just as a person is dressed in white garments after Baptism and Chrismation, so the Holy Table is dressed after being washed and anointed with holy chrism. The Holy Table is dressed as the Lord’s tomb and as the Holy Table of God’s glory. The Holy Table has a dual representation; the tomb and the Holy Table of God's glory. Therefore, the dressing of the Holy Table and the altar is accomplished with two garments: the lower, white one, signifying the shroud in which the body of  the Savior was wrapped for burial, and the upper, decorated one, depicting His eternal heavenly glory. Having put the lower garment (the srachitsa) on the Holy Table, to the singing of Psalm 132, “Behold, what is so good or so pleasant, as for brethren to dwell in unity?...” Then the clergy gird the Holy Table with a rope so that a cross is formed on each side as Psalm 131 is sung, “Remember, O Lord, David and all his meekness…” The rope represents the bonds of the Lord, in which He came to the Judgment of  the Jewish high priests. Then the upper garment of the Holy Table (the inditya) is consecrated, and the Holy Table is clothed with it while singing the 92nd psalm: “The Lord reigns, He is clothed in majesty.” At that point the liturgical objects are placed on the Holy Table: the seven-branched candlestick, the tabernacle, the antimins, the cross, and the Gospel.

Consecration of the interior walls of the temple are done by censing, sprinkling them with holy water and anointing them with holy chrism as the choir sings Psalm 25, “Judge me, O Lord, for I have walked in mine innocence...” The censing of the temple depicts the glory of God, which covered the Old Testament tabernacle in the form of a cloud; the anointing of the walls with holy chrism signifies the consecration of the temple by the grace of God.

After the spiritual assembly returns to the altar, a short litany is said, and the bishop reads a prayer before the Holy Table, in which he asks the Lord to fill the new temple and altar with glory, holiness and splendor, so that the Bloodless Sacrifice may be offered in it for the salvation of all people, “for the remission of sin both voluntary and involuntary, unto the governing of our life, unto the leading to a good course of life, and the fulfilling of all righteousness.” The bishop also reads a secret prayer in which he thanks the Lord for the continuous outpouring of  grace that has descended to him from the apostles, and then lights the first candle with his own hands. The lit candle indicates that the Holy Table has become a true altar of Christ, and depicts the Church of Christ, shining with the light of grace and giving light to the whole world.

A solemn procession with the cross takes place from the church to be consecrated to a nearby church for the relics (if there be one nearby). If the holy relics were brought beforehand to the church being consecrated, then the bishop raises the holy relics on his head, proclaiming: "Let us depart in peace," and everyone processes with crosses and banners around the entire church while singing the troparia “O Good One, Who didst establish Thy Church upon the rock of faith…” followed by the troparia in honor of the martyrs: “O holy Martyrs, who have fought the good fight..” and “Glory to Thee, O Christ God, the Apostles’ boast, the Martyrs’ joy…” as the relics are carried around the consecrated church and the outer walls of the temple are sprinkled with holy water.

The transfer of  relics to a newly consecrated church signifies that the grace of consecration is transferred and imparted through the first churches, and that the new church is dedicated to the patronage and protection of the holy intercessors of the former church. So in the Old Testament, when Solomon's temple was consecrated, the ark of the covenant was transferred from the tabernacle and placed in the Holy of Holies. The encirclement of the relics (or antimins with relics) signifies the dedication of the church to the Most High forever, and their entry into the church signifies the entry into the newly created church of the King of Glory, Jesus Christ Himself, who rests in the saints.

Before the entry of the relics into the church, the bishop places the diskos with the relics on a special table in front of the closed doors of the church and proclaims: “Lift up your gates, O you princes, and be lifted up, O eternal gates; and the King of Glory shall enter in.” The singers inside the temple sing: “Who is this King of Glory?”

These words of the psalm, according to the explanation of St. Justin Martyr and St. John Chrysostom, relate to the circumstances of the Ascension of Jesus Christ into heaven. When Christ ascended into heaven, then the highest ranks of angels, established by God, were commanded to open the gates of heaven, so that the King of Glory, the Son of God, the Lord of Heaven and Earth, could enter and, having ascended, sit at the right hand of the Father. But the Heavenly Powers, seeing their Master in human form, asked in horror and bewilderment: “Who is this King of Glory?” And the Holy Spirit answered them: “The Lord of Hosts, He is the King of Glory.” And now, when these words are pronounced at the entrance to the consecrated temple, symbolizing heaven, with holy relics or antimins, before the eyes of  Christians the same event, witnessed by the inhabitants of heaven, is repeated. The King of Glory enters the temple with the holy relics.

The holy relics are brought into the altar and placed in the Holy Table, and in the antimins, on the basis that in the first three centuries Christians performed divine services on the graves of martyrs, by whose blood the Church was founded, established and strengthened throughout the world.

Also, according to the words of the Apostle and Evangelist John the Theologian, who in a revelation saw in heaven before the face of God an altar and under it “the souls of those who were slain for the word of God and for the testimony which they held” (Rev. 6:9). Therefore, the saints turn out to be participants in both the death and the Saviour and His Divine glory (Rom. 6:5). At the Seventh Ecumenical Council it was determined that churches should be consecrated only with the placement of the relics of martyrs in them.

In the final prayers the bishop asks God to “grant to us all petitions which are unto salvation” as well asking for the descent of the Most-Holy Spirit upon us. The protodeacon concludes the litanies after which the Hours begin, followed by the Divine Liturgy.