Saint George Orthodox Church – Analog Artist Digital World

The Saint George Orthodox Church on Lake Eola (24 N Rosalind Ave, Orlando, FL 32801) holds a a weekly food share in the parking lot behind the church.

I had gone to the Library to sketch a game night event but there was no one there. Instead I sketched the food share from the library window. Behind me was a rainbow of books. It was a rainy day and the clouds loomed steel grey on the horizon.

Chairs were set up in the parking lot for people coming for food. There was music and a sermon. Hunger seems to be a motivator for saving souls.

The Straight Street program, gives anyone who has interest an opportunity to “get in where you fit in”. They currently host food shares on Tuesdays at 5:30pm and every Sunday at 4pm. The
Tuesday food share takes place in downtown Orlando at the St. George
Orthodox Church parking lot. The Sunday
event is a Pop Up Food Share that requires a bit more participation from
volunteers.

Food shares were shut down by a city ordinance in Lake Eola Park in 2006. Volunteers from Food Not Bombs were arrested for feeding the 50 to 100 people in the park. In April of 2011, the Court of Appeals ruled in a unanimous decision to uphold the city limit of twice-yearly food-sharings in public parks. After the decision, food-sharing groups can only serve meals in the
specified parks twice a year. Parties caught without a permit could be
convicted of violating the city ordinance. Individuals or groups could
be fined $500 or spend two months in jail if they continued to
distribute weekly meals.

The St. George
Orthodox Church food shares have stayed strong despite the city ordinance. The Styrofoam food containers tend to be left all over the place in Heritage Square park in front of the Orange County Regional History Center. The History Center and the Library have to do much of the clean up work.

I went to the Saint George Orthodox Church (24 N Rosalind Ave, Orlando, FL 32801) to sketch a Lamentation of Christ service. I knew nothing about what to expect so it was like going to a play without knowing the plot. This church is right on Lake Eola and each week there is a food share in the parking lot behind the church which always brings a crowd. Institutions around the church get upset that they have to clean up the Styrofoam containers that litter the area after each feeding. I’m surprised the church hasn’t considered a more ecological way of distributing food.

The Good Friday Lamentation service had a canopy set up at the front of the church which was covered in roses. A cantor in black robes walked through the space waving a golden orb that gave off a smoky incense. The service examines the grief of Mary, a mother watching her son die a torturous death, executed as a criminal, while knowing he was the Son of God. The liturgical hymns of ancient centuries probe this scene in compelling, chanted dialogue between mother and son on Holy Friday. The tone is mournful while attention is drawn to a representation of Christ’s tomb: the kouvloukion covered in flowers and holding the epitaphios, an image of the dead Christ. Incense permeates the senses. The mood is solemn as the hymns chanted by the cantors (or psaltis) contemplate the Creator who “became earthly to renew the earthly.” At this moment in the Eastern Orthodox Holy Friday ritual, the chanting is true lamentation. My primary concern was with the beauty of the service.

The Greek Orthodox Church has been serving the needs of the Orthodox community of Orlando for over 35
years, it has become an icon in Downtown. Services are held in Arabic, Greek, Slavonic and English. The Lamentation that I sketched I believe was in Slavic. Towards the end of the service everyone got up and they walked outside the church and circled the building. That was when I decided my sketch was complete.