Prison Art

Somehow, in the prison meeting this week, we started talking about churches, and especially the difference between the Orthodox Church in Ukraine (and of course, in Russia and the other variations of that branch of Christianity). On one side of the table were two men from Latin America, and on the other, two from Ukraine. I think it all started when I asked if they knew the 10 Commandments. They knew the first one, more or less, but the second one was a complete mystery to them. When I explained that the second commandment prohibits the making of images and statues and bowing down before them, I mentioned the difference between the Western Church (Rome) and the Eastern Church (the Orthodox Churches). The Catholic Church adopted the use of statues, while the Orthodox Church prohibited statues and uses paintings instead, the icons that hang in the churches.

I talked about our impression of the orthodox churches we visited in Ukraine...the most notable difference perhaps being the almost complete absence of pews in the Orthodox Churches. The people stand for the religious ceremonies, which could last well over an hour, I'm sure. The architecture of the orthodox churches is also quite unique. At that point Mishah asked for a pen and he drew a typical Orthodox Church. One other difference: the churches and chapels tend to be round or octagonal. The drawing gives that idea, too.

It's already been a year since we were there. (See the archives for June 2005 for photos and notes on the trip.) Will we return? Only the Lord knows. Meanwhile, for those who have any interest in, or knowledge of, the World Cup (Football to the World, Soccer to the US), Ukraine is still in there for the quarterfinals. Admittedly, I'm not a fanatic for the sport, but with Portugal and Brazil still in, as well, that's three teams out of eight that we can still root for with some sort of personal interest...since the US team didn't fare so well.