Our Choir

The choir has a role of special significance in the life of an Orthodox church. They engage in an ongoing dialog with the priest throughout the liturgy from the very beginning of the service until the end. In our church there is no organ and the choir sings a cappella. St. Theophan the Recluse, (pictured at left,) said of Church music: "The purpose of Church songs is precisely to make the spark of grace that is hidden with us burn brighter and with greater warmth. This spark is given by the sacraments. Psalms, hymns, and spiritual odes are introduced to fan the spark and transform it into flame …"

 While the music we sing today is largely in the Slavic style, our choir also uses music and chants from the Byzantine, Greek, Serbian and other traditions. In the earliest years there was a little use of material in Church Slavonic, since in the 1960s the movement to translate and update church music for English was just beginning.

The story of our choir starts with assistance rendered to us by Saints Peter and Paul Church of Syracuse. Stepan Beskid of that church was the “cantor” or reader as we would say today, and with encouragement from him and Fr. Kozak a choir was formed with Anastasia Wargo as the choir director. Her sister in law Jane Wargo and Professor John Chaus were active in building the choir in the early years as well. Later on Bill Kosachook directed the choir for many years until the late 1970s. 

In the late 1970s Mark Bailey, then a student at the Eastman School of Music, joined the choir, and became its director. Mark came at a time when the movement to translate music from Slavonic to English was leading into the writing of new music. Part of the issue was that melodies written with Slavonic in mind for the words simply did not match well when the Slavonic was translated into English. Mark moved into this transitioning church music scene and became known as a writer of music himself; many of the songs our choir uses are written by him. 

(Pictured here are Bonnie Maye Schwartz and Mary B____? against the wall, and from left to right in the foreground are Paul Wargo, Anastasia Wargo, and Mark Bailey.)

In an interview Bonnie Maye Schwarz, who has been our choir director for many years, noted the importance of Fr.Sergei Glagolev to English language music. Fr. Sergei comes from a long line of Orthodox priests, and his father, Fr. Andrew, did the first English language translation of the music for the liturgy in 1948. Fr. Sergei continued this work of his father for many years at Saint Vladimir’s Seminary, where his summer music institutes educated many.

Bonnie shares her commitment to the choir with her husband Doug Schwarz, choir member and reader. The extent of their commitment is readily apparent to anyone at all familiar with the length and number of Orthodox services, and the complex movement of the liturgical year and its accompanying rotation of music and chant. She is greatly heartened to see the choir grow as it has in recent years!

Fashion Shows!

Back in the 1970s one of the many fundraisers held was a fashion show. Yvette Kisil was the mastermind behind the show, and in the image here we see Anastasia Wargo on the "runway" in 1974. Perhaps something to try again? ;-)

Visit of Bishop Dimitri

In the early 1970s Bishop Dimitri came to our church. He is shown in the photo here, with Al Joseph, Andy Babish and some other, unidentified people. While the occasion of the visit is not known to this blogger, much is known about Bishop Dimitri, a most remarkable man indeed.

One of the appealing things about him is how his personal story can connect with the many converts in the OCA. He was born in 1923, in Teague Texas, in a family of Baptists, but as a teenager both he and his sister converted to Orthodoxy, at Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox church in Dallas.

He served in WWII as a Japanese language instructor, and later used his Spanish language skills as a missionary to Mexican Americans. He became associated with the "Metropolia," our predecessor body, in the 1950s, being made a priest in 1954. Later, in the 1960s, he became bishop of the New England district and for a time was our parish Bishop. The church is fortunate to have such a diversity of talent and gifts as shown in leaders like Bishop Dimitri. Christianity Today has an informative article on him by Frederica Matthewes-Green. Read it and learn about his "Tex-Mex Orthodoxy!"

Father John Dresko

In addition to Father Ken (Stavrevsky) there have been others from our parish who have gone on to become priests. One early such example is that of Father John Dresko. He is a Rochester native and the son of John and Helen Dresko who were among the founders of the parish. Both he and Father Ken were altar servers and Father John also sang in the choir. Several years younger than Father Ken, he also went to St. Vladimir's Seminary. Interestingly upon graduation from seminary this Rochester native had his first parish assignment in Rochester; Rochester Michigan that is! Father John did a stint in the Air Force as a chaplain, and today is the priest of St. Paul the Apostle parish in Las Vegas NV. See if you can spot Father John in this photograph! (In the center leading the liturgy is Father Wojcik.)

In a future post we will look at another parish member who became a priest, the late Father Thomas Brown. His widow, Matushka Nadine Brown has recently relocated to the Rochester area and is now a key member of our choir. She is the sister of Matushka Natalie. 

The doors...

Here is a exterior view of our church from 1967, the year after we acquired the building. The photo shows the original doors, which were replaced in the later 1960s by the doors we still have today. Boris Glus was in charge of that project and recalls that they were purchased from and installed by Rochester Colonial.

Communion of the Apostles

In this blog post we return to the altar area and the iconostasis discussed in previous posts.This beautiful icon is a relatively recent addition to our church. It was done by iconographer Jennifer Taisia, then a member of the parish. It was "written" and constructed in her home workshop in sections, and then the sections were transported to the church in a moving van. In the photo here we see one of the sections being carried into the church. The sections were cleverly constructed for transport, and fit together neatly once installed at the back of the sanctuary.

The icon is a traditional topic for the back wall of an Orthodox sanctuary. It depicts Christ in communion with his Apostles, and by extension with the faithful gathered in the church. It lines up so that as one stands in the sanctuary and looks ahead through the royal doors in the center of the iconostasis one sees the priest, the gifts, and behind them the image of Christ offering the gifts himself.

The sliding walls

Some newer members won't recall these, but for all the years that we had occupied the building, and probably for many years before the entire basement had sliding divider walls that ran on tracks between the posts. These were usually left open, but could be closed, to create smaller spaces or rooms.

While it was convenient at times to be able to divide the space up, the convenience came to be seen more and more as outweighed by the space the dividers took up, and the way they made the space seem less open in general. So about 5 or 6 years ago a work party gathered and spent some hours removing the partitions. The people working on the project were surprised at how heavy the dividers were; they weren't plastic but wood, and with their weight, and the way they flexed about, were a bit of a challenge to get outside to the curb!

SS Peter and Paul Church, Syracuse

On more than a few occasions when researching the parish history of St. John the Baptist Church the name of Father Warnecke and the church he served, Saints Peter and Paul in Syracuse, has come up. Some of the posts in this blog have made reference to the fact that Fr. Warnecke and the Syracuse church stood in much the same relationship to our parish as a godparent to a godchild. Our parish benefited immeasurably from their support, and Fr. Warnecke's guidance. 

They are an older parish than ours, having been established in 1916. As is the case in our parish, many of the early members were Carpatho-Russians. The history of their church that was written in 1976 observes that:

The "new Americans" thus found either by choice or necessity a permanent home in America. And among the first considerations of these people was the establishment and upbuilding of their traditional way of worship. Great sacrifices were endured willingly and even cheerfully for the sake of the Faith which was the common heritage of these people, to which they adhered the more fervently because they knew it was provoslavniy - the True Faith.

We can be grateful indeed to those who established the Syracuse church, for their descendants generously supported our founders here in Rochester. Some of our parish have strong ties to the Syracuse church, including one of our choir, who is featured in a photo of the SS. Peter and Paul choir in 1976. Can you spot her in the photo? (This is what can happen when you lend the church blogger your books and photos!)

Father Warnecke was a priest of many talents, and a great leader of enterprises. He was born in Wilkes-Barre PA in 1923, a region that is something of a heartland for the OCA. He attended the St. Nicholas Church school where he studied church music, Curch Slavonic, Russian Language and so forth. During WWII he served in the military as a Russian language instructor and in military intelligence. After the war he enrolled in St. Vladimir's Seminary, and Columbia University, at the same time! During his student years he helped establish the Pan-Orthodox Student Christian Movement. 

After his graduation he helped start the first English language parish in the NY city area, and then he was assigned to SS. Peter & Paul Church in Syracuse in 1951. Under his leadership the church grew and flourished, and became able to support many efforts and activities beyond the local parish level. One significant effort was the initiation of St. Andrew's Orthodox Camp on Oneida Lake. Fr. Warnecke was in many leadership roles in the greater church, serving for many years for example as chancellor of the NY-NJ diocese, on the board of St. Vladimir's Seminary and many other roles as well. Father Warnecke fell asleep in the Lord in 2001. Memory eternal!