The Annunciation Orthodox Church

This is the facade of the Annunciation Orthodox Church in Parañaque. 

The regular Eucharistic celebration is usually done for two hours, which is only using the St. John Chrysostom liturgy, but when we visited on March 4, 2012 the liturgy was too long. We started from 7:45 am until 11:30am since the Orthodox priest used the St. Basil Rite of the Eucharistic Celebration. At the same time, our Orthodox sisters and brothers were celebrating the Orthodox Sunday of the 1st Sunday of Lent of their calendar. It is remembered that the veneration of images was restored in the time of Empress Theodora against the Iconoclast controversy of their predecessor emperor, who was so against the images for they represent pagan idols or promote idolatrous activity. Orthodox Sunday is a commemoration of the restoration of venerating the images. So, our brothers and sisters made a simple procession within the United Parañaque subdivision to remind the people that actions proper to images is veneration for adoration belongs to God alone. 

This is the traditional altar of the Orthodox Church, wherein beyond the beautiful graffiti of images is the altar and on the other side is the place of the faithful. The structure of their churches is patterned like that of the Temple of Jerusalem. The altar table is like that of the  Holy of holies of the Jerusalem Temple and faithful are not allowed to enter the altar. A door on the divider wall is kept open all throughout the mass so that people can still see what's basically happening inside. 

People joined the priest to procession for the commemoration of the Sunday of Orthodoxy. 

An ecumenical dialogue between the two priests, from Catholic and Orthodox Church.