After the Shutdown

By
St. John's Lutheran Church
When we can once again join other fellow Christians in worship, St. John's in Riga will be our home church because this is the one congregation that will have English worship services. We were invited into the church last week to speak to the pastors about the possibility of doing online services even before we can gather there.


St. John's dates back to 1297 when it was built as a chapel for the Dominican cloister nearby. The chapel was destroyed in a fire in the 1400s and then rebuilt as a much larger church.

Pulpit and chancel area

When the Lutheran Reformation came to Riga in the early 1500s, the church building changed from Catholic worship to Lutheran worship. The chancel area was added soon after, almost doubling the size of the worship space.


Webbed ceiling
The vaulted ceiling of the church is decorated with a magnificent webbed pattern. This is a unique feature of this building, making this a must-see spot for tourists.



Altar with crucifix 
The church is filled with typical Lutheran fixtures from the crucifix-adorned altar to the massive organ, filling the balcony at the back of the church.



Balcony organ


Scenes from Christ's passion 












The other item, making this church unique in Lutheran circles, is the presence of the stations of the cross. These pictures are painted under the balcony at the rear of the church. Christ's suffering, death, burial and resurrection are proclaimed to anyone who enters this space, either every Sunday or as a tourist in Riga.


I am very much looking forward to our English services at St. John's when the city gets back to normal.


Information taken from "Riga: Journey through the Centuries."

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

"Home Sweet Home" - Not American Version

By
Image
Older apartment buildings We've lived in St. Petersburg for close to two months and have yet to see "the American dream" - a single family house. Here, everyone lives in an apartment, located either in an old building in the historic city center or in a new high-rise farther out. The high-rise buildings are everywhere you look--in the center of everything, or at the edge of one of the many rivers. We keep hearing about the communist era cement buildings, but we haven't seen many that look too old and dilapidated. They are probably replaced by the new high-rises built since freedom came in the 1990s. We live in one of these new high-rise complexes. Our third-floor apartment is in a 21 story building in a complex of five other buildings (called korpus in Russia). We live in Korpus 3. This complex includes several modern, colorful play areas for the children. It also includes an underground parking garage for the many cars that people own. In fact, the pl
Read more

The Golden Domes of Riga

By
Image
Orthodox Cathedral - Riga  The golden domes of the Nativity of Christ Cathedral stand out above the trees near Old Town Riga. We walk past this large building in the park not far from our apartment.  The domes shine out to the citizens on sunny days. Surrounded by the trees in the park, the walls of the cathedral are not easy to see in summer, but the size is undeniable. Of course, the golden domes tell everyone that this is a Russian Orthodox Church. After living in St. Petersburg, that is easy for us to define with the Russian style architecture. This cathedral was built between 1876 and 1883 when Latvia was a part of the Russian Empire under the reign of Tsar Alexander II.  Main Door This is the largest Orthodox Church in the entire Baltic area. A massive tower rises toward the sky when a visitor approaches the front door.  Entryway painting I visited several orthodox churches during my years in Europe. The thing that they have in common is that the interiors are covered with images
Read more

Why Roosters?

By
Image
Rooster on top of Dom Cathedral  Last week I wrote about cats being on the roof of a building, but today I'm going to share the reason that we have roosters sitting on the tip of churches in Riga. When we first moved to Riga, we noticed that some churches have the usual crosses on the top of them, but others have roosters sitting on top of the steeple. I couldn't recall ever seeing a rooster on top of a steeple. On doing more research, I was wrong to think that other countries don't have these on steeples. I found out that's it's common in European countries to see roosters on top of Lutheran churches. Our Lady of Sorrows Church The more common cross on the top of a steeple is found on Catholic churches in Europe. We have a couple of them in Old Town Riga as well. And, some Catholic churches in Europe have roosters sitting on top of crosses. So, the question popping into my head is why a rooster? After looking at several sources, it seems like ther
Read more