GENERAL CONCEPTS OF HOLY TRINITY’S STAINED GLASS WINDOWS

 

BY LEONIDS LINAUTS

 

 

Holy Trinity Lutheran Church is a fine example of Gothic architecture of today, offering a great opportunity for all types of visual arts to assemble here, to glorify the eternal Kingdom of God. An exquisite product of the art of space (Architecture,) the building offers an opportunity for a stained glass “Message in Color and Light.” 

 

For many hundreds of years, after the first golden period of Stained Glass Art (during the eleventh to sixteenth centuries,) pictorial and other false principles made stained glass into a “lost art.”  The present time is again a second “Golden Period,” where America is in the leading position. 

 

It is necessary to mention, that first of all, a stained glass art window is a filter, or a screen, which transforms ordinary light into glorified light.  Composed of many other elements such as; colors, symbols, subject, etc., it serves many functions for sensitive worshippers, at the same time becoming a decorative element for the architecture.

 

A stained glass window is not a picture or illustration of events concerning biblical themes, and not an abstraction either, but is a meaningful message related to all that surrounds it.  A window speaks to everyone for decades and for centuries to come.

To organize all the fifty-two windows in the proper way, it was necessary to create them in the following order (according to their locations, sizes, groupings, etc.):

 

1.) Chancel- large window above the altar.  Theme:  “The Holy Trinity.”

2.) Balcony- large window above the main entrance.  Theme:  “Nativity of Our Lord,” or “Incarnation.”

3.) Nave/Clerestory- 24 windows, 3 windows in a group.  General Theme:  “Chosen Men of God,” from the Old and         New Testaments.

4.) Nave/Side Aisle- 14 windows, grouped in pairs, dedicated to Jesus Christ.

5.) Working Sacristy- 2 window unit:  Dedicated to service for Church.

6.) Pastor’s Sacristy- 2 window unit:  Christ and His Ministry, Pastor and his ministry.

7.) Stairways around the Narthex- 4 windows, dedicated to various subjects of faith.

 

I would like to say that many problems on this subject matter were worked out in close cooperation with the late Reverend Dr. Daniel D. Kistler, the Pastor of the Church, who suddenly was called away from his earthly life to follow his Lord in the Heavenly Kingdom.  Many late hours at night which I spent with him, resulted in a work completed years after.  Discussions and intensive argumentations on subject matters brought us close together, creating an everlasting friendship, and source of inspiration to complete my work.