Iconostasis & Church Furniture

St. Isaacs is now pleased to offer custom made Iconostases & Church Furniture
To contact for more information email stisaac@skete.com or call 1-800-814-2667 


            (Attention – Churches and Clergy)


 


           


 New Custom Products from the Artisans on Staff and Working with Orthodox Byzantine Icons


 


            It has always been a desire of Orthodox Byzantine Icons to find local and nearby artisans to work with us on hand-crafting very fine church furniture and custom iconostases, as well as larger custom icon reproductions for use in the many churches that we communicate with and service, to provide spiritual resources at a quite reasonable price.   In the completion of the new St. Nicholas Orthodox Church here at our Mission Center at St. Isaac of Syria Skete this last October 22, 2007, and in the acquiring of specialty new reproduction equipment for finer custom icon enlargements just before it, we have made that dream finally come through.  


 


This is just the beginning of being able to offer to churches and clergy particularly those specialty items of church furnishing that have always had to be either imported from overseas in the old country, or from friends or parishioners who were not versed in the production of such specially designed items, such as altar tables, proskomede tables, and iconostases.  Later we hope to expand this collection with other fine examples of church furnishings without the hidden costs of high shipping expense, frequent damage, assembly expenses, and frequent inferior materials available from many overseas suppliers, not to mention the inexactitude of pictured advertisements with the actual products that arrive.  If you have ever ordered any such items from overseas, you will know what this means.
 


 


            Lustrous Iconostases for Churches




 














 

  
    Iconostasis at St. Nicholas Orthodox Church
          


   


          What could be more helpful to beautify your church than a hand-crafted iconostasis made from handsome Wisconsin hard-woods and custom designed to fit your space, graciously show your principal icons, and so enhance your visual sight with the richness of fine wood-working?  Our own iconostasis was made predominantly with a mixture of cherry and walnut hardwoods shaped and carved, turned and finished, then assembled to make this wonderful iconostasis a stunning central showpiece to surround the holy principal icons on it.  It is covered by a clear finish that brings out the luster of the wood, and it is finished on both sides, so that the Holy Altar inside is just as beautiful as outside.














 

Iconostasis           
               View from Choir Loft                                       View from back of Church


   
















 

               
Holy Doors and Arch with Collumns                        Close-up          


   















 

           
Close-up of Columns                                Close-up of detail


   



 


  



 


Three priests and three laymen artisans came together on the design, carving the panels, turning the columns, and building the frame and assembling this iconostasis, and they agreed that it was a most fulfilling work that they would like to do again soon.  Unlike the carving of iconostases made overseas, which are made of soft woods easy to carve, these carved panels are solid cherry wood and can be made with some transparency if so desired.  The columns are solid cherry wood too, as are the edges and trim, while the large solid faces are walnut.  This is just an example of what can be done, and we can work up almost any design with you for a fine wood iconostasis to fit your church’s special space.  Please look carefully at the pictures and then call us and ask about what would be best suited for your church.  We would be glad to help.
 


    


 


Church Furniture: The Holy Altar Table and the Proskomede Table


 


Preparing to consecrate our new church here at the Skete brought to our awareness the scarcity of known fine furniture builders readily available in the U.S. with traditional designs and exacting skills to build such items as Altar and Proskomede Tables.  We even ordered a Holy Altar Table from Russia, but when it arrived it was made out of inferior woods and inexact workmanship, so that we turned to a local artisan to finish the design and fine woodwork needed for such an important and essential part of the church, where the Holy Relics would be installed, and the Holy Mysteries would be offered and sanctified during the Divine Liturgy.  It is a wonderful piece of workmanship, made out of sold cherry wood without any nails or fasteners.















 

         
 The Proskomede Table (left) and Holy Altar Table (right) being delivered to the Church


   















 

       
               Metropolitan Joseph in front of and wiping Holy Altar during Church Consecration


   



 














 

        
               Metropolitan Joseph in front of dressed Altar


   



  


 


 


In the Greek and Bulgarian traditions a metal box is constructed and installed just in the center of the altar table top large enough to take the relics in a smaller box and the Act of Consecration (listing all the names to be remembered) and covered and filled with the wax mastic during the Consecration.  The top cover (made out of the same material as the top) is also sealed in by the wax mastic.  In the Russian tradition the box for the relics is placed in a special reliquary on top of a center column not far up from cross bracing near the floor.  The same relics and names are placed there immersed in wax mastic.


 


      We can build your altar in any size and in either the Greek and Bulgarian traditions, or in the Russian tradition.  A fine hand-rubbed finish completes each altar.  The Proskomede Table was made in the same style and with the same materials and finish, all cherry hard-woods.  There is no reliquary either at table height or on a fifth column in the Proskomede Table, and it is usually rectangular rather than the square Holy Altar, but otherwise the construction is the same.    The tops of both tables were drilled so that fluted pegs attached the tops to the body of the Holy Altar and Proskomede when assembled in the Consecration ceremony with the wax mastic.   Our tables were covered with altar cloths and vestments which set off the altar and proskomede from the surrounding floor and nearby iconostasis.   These are really exquisite workmanship and beautiful to behold, therefore fitting to celebrate the great mysteries of the Church on them. 

 


          Church Furniture: Other













 

New Cabinets     
               Church Cabinetry at side of Altar and by Church entrance


   


 To contact for more information email stisaac@skete.com or call 1-800-814-2667