It has taken about 15 years but the two side altars with icons are being built at the North Melbourne Cathedral.
Bishop Peter Stasiuk expressed his joy that the work is in progress and it is hoped that Patriarch Sviatoslav will bless the icons and side altars when he visits Australia.
Maru Jarockyj is the architect and project manager. Ivan David is the builder while Slavko Verbovetski will finish off the woodwork. Roman Vasylyk of Lviv is the icon writer of the one and a half by two metre icons. The icons depict the patronage of the Mother of God over Ukraine and the Ukrainian Catholic Church. One icon is of the Martyrs of the Ukrainian Church; the other depicts the history of Ukraine, its church in Ukraine and Australia.
The project will cost over $20,000. The Peter Kardash family have already funded one icon while the Dobrotwir family have paid for the other. Bishop Peter has stated that about $4500 is still needed.
The new project will blend with the existing icons and architectural style of the Cathedral. Maru has extended the woodwork on both sides of the iconostas. Visitors to the Cathedral will already have noticed how well the new structure blends in with the existing features.
Bishop Peter is very excited about the project because it will complete the Cathedral. He said that “the altars will help focus the faithful on prayer”. They will become a source of education about our church’s history. Our recent martyrs and Ukrainian saints will become more familiar to Australians for generations to come.
19th March 2014
