Santa Maria building project update

May 2, 2016

Click for Final building project update!

March 20, 2016

Greetings to all the mission partners and benefactors who have made this project possible! It’s been a while since our last update.

Construction on the chapel proper has been complete for a while. We are very thankful that a major pledge for the building fund, which had been hung up administratively, has now arrived! The building is painted at last – and now we’re preparing for a new Holy Table, tile for the floor, and (most noticeable of all) an iconostas. Photos to follow!

Today the Orthodox Church celebrates the restoration of icons by the Seventh Ecumenical Council, after the Iconoclast heresy. So it seems appropriate that it’s this week the first large icons are now up on the wall.

The floor is not yet tiled, so in the interior photo you can actually see the outline of the old concrete pad, which we expanded to nearly double the size of the chapel. It didn’t seem that small at the time!

Once we’re happy with the placement of the major icons (simply printed on tarpaulin) then we’ll stain and cut some attractive picture frames for them.

To the side of the altar, you can see a lovely hand-painted epitaphio/plaschanitsa donated by mission partners in Romania.

Members of the Church of Saint John are reminding me to express their thanks for your making this place of worship possible! More photos will follow as the floor is tiled, and the holy table and iconostas are installed.

See the Philippine Mission on Facebook here; follow the Church of St John here.

In November we began a building project to replace the aging Chapel of St John Maximovitch in Santa Maria. Here are the latest updates. Glory to God!

Dec. 24, 2015

Christmas vacation for the carpenter; construction work is on hold till after the New Year. For a still-unpainted building, it’s starting to look good!

Dec. 14, 2015

Changes since last week are less dramatic, but the finish line is in sight! Today we’re hanging the ceiling. The electrical utility has started their portion of the wiring. They’ve installed circuit breakers and the meter at the power pole; the 5-meter cable to connect us should be installed in a day or two.

Still remaining after we break for the Christmas civil holiday: installation of lamps and switches, interior paint and tile, and finally the iconostasis. Afterward we’ll worry about exterior paint and finishing touches.

Dec. 5, 2015

The floor inside the chapel is done! The concrete is nearly dry, and though the walls are not finished yet, as a sort of “soft opening” we hope to serve the Divine Liturgy under our new roof tomorrow.

If I haven’t said so recently, a grateful and prayerful thank you to all our benefactors!

Dec. 2, 2015

The roof is up! Blink and you’ll miss the action! It hasn’t rained for the last week and a half, but yesterday, just after the roof was completed, came a heavy rain. Everyone assumes it was a blessing on the new building!

Nov. 27, 2015

The roof is taking shape! On Monday we’ll begin hanging the corrugated metal sheets.

Nov. 24, 2015

Well, now we’re committed! The old walls and roof are down and the new walls are rising quickly.

After worshiping in the old chapel for so long, it didn’t seem all that small, but how tiny the old concrete pad looks now! After walls are done, we will pour new concrete to extend the floor out to the edges.

Nov. 20, 2015

The roof posts are up! Now we’re beginning to build the new walls out of hollow concrete blocks. The old chapel will stay in place until after this Sunday’s Divine Liturgy.

 The walls are beginning to go up!
 Roof posts are up.
 Making the concrete blocks

Update: Nov. 17, 2015

Work has begun! This week we are setting the concrete bases for the posts that will hold up the new roof. We’re beginning construction of the new chapel around the existing structure, which won’t be taken down until next week.

Partner with the Saint John Maximovitch Chapel building project at www.gofundme.com/ChapelProject