Mysterious Woman
In recent months, there has been a visitor to church that only I seem to notice. My priest remains oblivious to her presence; a few parishioners (around one or two) have noticed her, but have not given much thought to it otherwise.
Her presence has captivated me, for a number of reasons. She arrives about an hour late usually, and strangely enough, never stays for longer than ten minutes at most. She stops short of entering the sanctuary – those who are familiar with the layout of Holy Resurrection will know what I’m talking about – standing beside the iconstasis, she lights a candle. Her head tilted up toward heaven, she remains there for the next few minutes, in prayer. I have never seen her smile; the only expression she wears is one of sadness. The most striking feature of her face is that of her eyes – bluish grey orbs that look as if they’ve spent the night before in tears. After she prays, she exits the sanctuary into the narthex, where she might wait for a few minutes before leaving.
All I can guess at this point is that she is either Russian or Eastern European. She seems to be around her late twenties to mid thirties. She has very fair, almost snowy complexion. Most of her hair is kept hidden from view by her grey silk headscarf, but one is able to see the dark brown bits that show. That is all I know about her for now.
A sketch I made of her earlier with MS Paint. It's inaccurate - her eyes ought to be smaller.
Who is this woman who shuns from participating in the Divine Liturgy? Who is this woman that seems to be wrought with sorrow? My parish lacks the “little old lady at the back” stock character and it has fallen on me to fulfill the duties the “little old lady” would normally perform – namely, finding out about every parishioner. My prospective godmother likes to joke about how our parish lacks an old lady but has an 18 year old boy. I swear I will find out who this mysterious lady is the next time she comes. I will literally chase after her to find out her identity.
In the meantime, I ask my readers to remember her in your prayers, whoever she may be.
Her presence has captivated me, for a number of reasons. She arrives about an hour late usually, and strangely enough, never stays for longer than ten minutes at most. She stops short of entering the sanctuary – those who are familiar with the layout of Holy Resurrection will know what I’m talking about – standing beside the iconstasis, she lights a candle. Her head tilted up toward heaven, she remains there for the next few minutes, in prayer. I have never seen her smile; the only expression she wears is one of sadness. The most striking feature of her face is that of her eyes – bluish grey orbs that look as if they’ve spent the night before in tears. After she prays, she exits the sanctuary into the narthex, where she might wait for a few minutes before leaving.
All I can guess at this point is that she is either Russian or Eastern European. She seems to be around her late twenties to mid thirties. She has very fair, almost snowy complexion. Most of her hair is kept hidden from view by her grey silk headscarf, but one is able to see the dark brown bits that show. That is all I know about her for now.
A sketch I made of her earlier with MS Paint. It's inaccurate - her eyes ought to be smaller.Who is this woman who shuns from participating in the Divine Liturgy? Who is this woman that seems to be wrought with sorrow? My parish lacks the “little old lady at the back” stock character and it has fallen on me to fulfill the duties the “little old lady” would normally perform – namely, finding out about every parishioner. My prospective godmother likes to joke about how our parish lacks an old lady but has an 18 year old boy. I swear I will find out who this mysterious lady is the next time she comes. I will literally chase after her to find out her identity.
In the meantime, I ask my readers to remember her in your prayers, whoever she may be.
posted by Constantine at 12:38:00 am
3 Comments:
Greetings from Brazil!
I enjoyed very much your blog. Although I´m Catholic, I felt touched by some of your words. Anyway, I am really interested about my brothers in Christ, doesn´t matter if they are Catholic, Orthodox, Lutheran, Calvinist...
I believe we know the most essencial truth - and we disagree in some particular issues (some of them very important, but some of them not).
I wish you the peace of Christ!
dude. i bet she's some saint.
oh. and hello. i see you read my xanga and when i clicked on my site tracker i saw your blog was pretty interesting. i'm a huge fan of ms paint myself. and the passion bearer anastasia. so, that's cool.
hello.
The lady could be Russian. Many religious Russians during the communist era were afraid to be seen in churches so they came in, lit a candle, and said a few prayers then left rather quickly like your mystery lady. Old habits die hard and many Russians (in Russia and elsewhere) still haven't adjusted to the fact nothing will happen to them now.
I live in the US and there have been several Russian visitors to my parish who have done like the aforementioned lady.
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