Sunday of the Holy Cross and the Feast of the Annunciation

[Anhelyna]

OK folk - I need help.

Our priest Served his final Liturgy with us last week - he moves South this week to his new Parish.

Our new Priest takes over this Sunday BUT we do not have access to the Church till about 10am on Sunday [ do NOT ask why we haven't got the keys ]

Father was having a mild panic about the flowers for the Cross on Sunday before Liturgy, so I , naturally , said I would look after that.

Cometh 10 am on Sunday I'll head into Church with red roses , red carnations and lots of green leaves . I have a tray , I know to remove the Icon and Crucifix from the tetrapod .

Any tips for the nOOb in doing this ? Believe it or not this is something Father has always done and the Parish has just taken it for granted. There is a flower fund but I'm not expecting , nor do I want , to be re-imbursed .

I really want to get this right for our new priest - he's very very much on 'probation' as far as the Parish is concerned. As a non-Uke and a non-Ukie speaker in a very Uke Parish, it is not going to be easy for him , but we really do need him.

 

[MariaRegina]

Does the parish have a wooden form that you use?

In my former OCA parish, there was a wooden form that a parishioner had built for the Feast of the Holy Cross. We would place the crucifix in the center of that form, then surrounding the cross, there was room to place pieces of plastic wrap, then pieces of green nursery foam presoaked with water.

We would stick the cut flowers into the green foam, and then stick the green leaves in the foam adjacent to the Cross to hide the plastic and also near the outside edge of the foam.

 

[Anhelyna]

As far as I can recall - remembering this is but twice a year and I'm only there on Sundays - there's nothing Our sub-deacon ~ thinks ~ there is a tray in the Sacristy - but I have memories of Father coming out holding the cross in one hand and supporting flowers behind it with the other .

Hence I've made sure there is a tray and on Sunday the s-d can go and find me an aer or something similar in size in red to cover the tray .

I was intending to take some plastic film to protect the cloth and then place the leaves so the plastic was hidden and then arrange the flowers.

I always panic when doing anything for the first time - and this is no exception - Ukes are so very very fond of flowers - and since it's me doing it , any shortcomings will be made known very strongly and verbally to all present .

Maria - you have given me ideas for the future - thanks

 

[Mary of Bethany]

I'm not very experienced with this, but the only thing I know is that you should buy florists' foam that you soak in water to arrange the flowers in. We have a wooden frame that holds the foam on each side, with the Icon or Cross sitting in the middle.

Mary

 

[Anhelyna]

Well - since there is no frame - I'll just improvise

Necessity is the Mother of Invention

 

[Mary of Bethany]

It will be beautiful, I'm sure!

 

[Wesley1982]

Hi <wave> please pray for me at Liturgy. Thank you.

 

[Anhelyna]

Of course I will Wes

 

[Anhelyna]

Well - the decoration , though I say it myself was a success.

I had some beautiful deep velvety red roses and some slightly lighter red carnations, and was given some elderly [ ] red Amaryllis by the florist [ couldn't be sold but for my purpose would be very suitable ] and a pile of Aspidistra leaves.

The Cross was larger than I remembered , by quite a bit and didn't fit on the small tray I had taken - fortunately I'd found a bigger one and taken that too.

I was given a 'spare' red Aer to use [ 2 sets of vestments and 4 Aers ?? - all in red ] so got on with the job . Aer on the tray then a bed of leaves going across the tray , then the Cross on them and then I tucked 2 carnations and 1 rose in each corner , hiding the stems under the leaves. The 6 amaryllis flowers came in very useful - they went along the top and bottom of the Cross - so basically it was resting on the leaves and flowers .

Father was more than happy

Sorry - no photographs were taken - personal reasons for that [ not up for discussion either. ]

Now I know what I'm doing , if I have the job to do in September I'll be more confident and have some ideas to make it easier too

 

[Mary of Bethany]

It's too bad we can't see, but it sounds lovely!

Mary