I am staying at a room in the Praha (Prague) area of Warszawa (Warsaw), Poland. After finding the place and taking a minute to have a sandwich and some coffee, I decided to see what sights were nearby. Two blocks from my flat is a collection of bronze statues who form a silent band of joyful artists. The banjo player caught my eye; my father played banjo as a young man. Just beyond the collection of delightfully-foolish romantics was a grand brick structure, and I am ever drawn to those.
St. Florian’s Cathedral is also known as the Cathedral of Saint Micheal the Archangel and Saint Florian the Martyr. How an angel can be considered a saint is a question I am sure has been the source of a few church schisms, but I am not a Catholic and so my education on the matter is more limited than it might be. All at once grand, and quiet, solemn yet fastidiously clean and bright; the Cathedral was my partner in conversation for exactly 90 photographs.
Churches are road signs for the Church, the Body of Christ. Where the State is not involved in the collection of funding for a structure, cathedrals like this one are a symbol of sacrifice, perseverance, and the Body’s commitment to the thriving of a city community. The cathedral was completed in 1972 because the church which stood in place before it was destroyed for having been a hiding place for Jewish people during the Second War. Is that not a beautiful idea; a Church Body which is willing to sacrifice all of its sacred things to protect the lives of the followers of another Faith.
The church building is a sanctuary, but not because the building is protected by special codes or laws. The church building is a sanctuary because its walls stand between the executioner and the bullets he is loosing against those he has cast lot to murder. Can we, the American Church remember this always? Can we be walls of protection, sanctuary, and sacrifice? Yes, I think. What do you think?
albaniacalling 