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St Andrew in Sydney NSW, Australia 2141 Fax: (02) 9649 5625 |
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St Andrew in Sydney NSW, Australia 2141 Fax: (02) 9649 5625 |
St Andrew's Church was designed by Sydney architects, Kevin J. Curtin &Partners with the help of their Ukrainian colleagues and followed the Byzantine Ukrainian traditional style of architecture.
The interior of the church, adorned with magnificent murals, has in the Byzantine tradition, an Iconostasis (wall of Icons) separating the Sanctuary from the nave. Our Iconostasis is unusual as the icons are made of cut coloured glass set in fibreglass in aluminium frames. They bear colourful designs painted by the Ukrainian artist Myron Levytsky of Toronto, Canada who is also the creator of all pictures and murals in the church.
The interior of the church reminds the faithful of their relation to God. The Iconostasis tells of salvation, the cupola symbolises heaven and the murals depict scenes from church history and from the lives of the Saints.
In the Sanctuary can be seen an unusual pictorial representation of the institution of the Holy Eucharist: Christ and the Apostles are standing and the Blessed Virgin Mary is also present.
A Dove, the symbol of the Holy Spirit, dominates the Sanctuary from the ceiling.
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In the Iconostasis (from left to right) we see two evangelists (St Matthew and St Mark). On the Deacon's Door there is an icon of Archangel Gabriel. Between the Deacon's Door and the Royal Doors appear St Volodymyr (the monarch who introduced Christianity to his vast empire of Kyivan -Rus - today's Ukraine) and the Blessed Virgin Mary with the child Jesus. After the Royal Doors (through which during the Divine Services only bishops and priests are permitted to enter) there are pictures of Christ the Saviour and St Olha (the mother of St Volodymyr), Archangel Michael (on the second Deacon's Door) and the remaining two evangelists, St Luke and St John. |
| In front of the main nave before the Iconostasis is a small altar (Tetrapodium or analoy) at which the sacraments of Baptism and Holy Matrimony are celebrated. On top of the analoy is placed an icon commemorating the current Feast Day. |
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On the left front wall there is an alfresco mural of POKROV (Mother of God, Patroness and Queen of Ukraine as proclaimed by Prince Yaroslav the Wise in 1037).
On the right front wall there is an alfresco of St Andrew, the Apostle of Ukraine.
Over the top front arch are two angels holding the Eucharistic Host.
On the back wall of the nave, on the right, there is a picture of Chris's Crucifixion on Calvary with the Blessed Virgin Mary and St John the Apostle at the foot of the Cross-.
On the left side there is a depiction of the Annunciation.
On the rear of the nave there is a gallery to seat a large choir. The ceiling over the gallery has a picture of St Volodymyr commemorating his Baptism in 988.
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At the back of the gallery there are pictures of two great spiritual leaders of the Ukrainian Church in the twentieth century namely, the Servant of God, Metropolitan St Andrew Sheptytsky and that of his successor, His Beatitude Patriarch Josyf Cardinal Slipyj. |
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In the right corner under the gallery rest the mortal remains of the late Father Peter Diaczyszyn who built the church and was killed in a car accident shortly after the completion of the church building on 4th August 1962.
On the side walls under the gallery there are two plaques with names of the founders and benefactors of this church as well as another two plaques commemorating two historical visits to this church by his Beatitude Patriarch Josef Cardinal Slipyj in 1968 and in 1973 and that of his successor, his Beatitude Cardinal Myroslav Ivan Lubachivskyj in 1986.
A special plaque commemorates Ukrainian Freedom Fighters whilst another plaque, that of St Volodymyr and Olha commemorates the Millennium of Ukrainian Christianity.
