All Faiths Chapel
All Faiths Chapel is in Mitscher on the ground floor next to the Laboon Center, and through the years has been used for worship by many different faith traditions. In 2011, All Faiths Chapel became home to our Eastern Orthodox Christian community and has provided a dedicated space for them to gather and to celebrate the services of the Ancient Church of the East. Each Sunday the Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom is celebrated, which was first used by Christians in Constantinople and Antioch in the late 4th Century.
As visitors or worshipers enter the All Faiths Chapel, they will be greeted with a large icon of the Incarnation - the Virgin Mary holding the infant Jesus - and may smell incense or beeswax in the air or see thin devotional tapers lit by those who have stopped by to pray. All of the senses are engaged in prayer in the Orthodox Christian tradition.
Separating the altar area from the sanctuary is a two-piece iconostasis, holding icons of both the Infant and Risen Christ, and also the Archangels Gabriel and Michael. These icons, and the others adorning the walls, are "windows into Heaven" in the Orthodox tradition, reminding us of "our True God, before whom we stand" and the "great cloud of witnesses" standing with us every time we pray.
The All Faiths Chapel provides a place of quiet and simplicity for Orthodox and other Christians interested in the Ancient Church to meet, pray, meditate, and worship. A small, 100-volume Orthodox Christian lending library and reading corner in the rear of the chapel allows all who enter to learn more about the Ancient Faith of the Christian East.
