www.byzcath.org Forums General Discussions Town Hall Wedding scene from the Deer Hunter

How accurate is the famous wedding scene from the movie "The Deer Hunter"? I know that it was filmed in an actual Orthodox church in Cleveland and yes, that is a real priest officiating. However, besides obviously being edited for time, were there any flaws in the portrayal of an Byzantine marriage ceremony?

The wedding in the film is done, not in Byzantine style, but in Slav style - and obviously has been edited for the film. I would be certain that Father T. Steven Kopestonsky is not the man to allow any departures from the Orthodox wedding service.

Fr. Serge

I thought it was actually filmed in a Greek Catholic church. That the reception takes place in Lemko Hall is kind of telling.

Nope--St. Theodosius RO Cathedral

Yes John is correct about the church. "The filming of the church scene took place at St Theodosius Russian Orthodox Cathedral, located at 733 Starweather Ave, Cleveland, OH 44113".

So what is the history of this parish? Is it "Russian Russian", or is it one of those parishes that began Greek Catholic and became Russian down the road?

It used to be a Byzantine Catholic parish, but became Orthodox during the early 20th century.

St. Theodosius [sttheodosius.org]

I remember the priest at my former Byzantine Catholic parish saying that Holy Ghost Byzantine Catholic church, a few blocks away on Kenilworth Avenue, was considered for filming the wedding scene, but the domes were being repaired or were damaged at the time, so St. Theodosius was chosen.

I was in the parish about 20 years ago when I was out that way. I remember in some of the iconography on the wall if you looked real close you could see tsar Nicholas and Alexandra.

I was Rector of Holy Ressurrection ROCOR church in Cleveland from 1983 to 1990.The same Fr.Stephen was Rector of St.Theodosius during most of this time.Although the Church was founded by mostly ex-Greek Catholics,there were some "real Russians there as well.Most of the Russians from Latvia went there,some of them were leery of the ROCOR Russians who were mostly"second wave"i.e.,those who had grown up in the old Soviet Union.This second wave produced three ROCOR and one Byelorussian church.The longtime Rector from the 1920's until his death in 1962 was Fr.Jason Kappanadze,a Georgian who actually in supposed to have known Stalin from the seminary in Georgia!Fr.Jason was not pro-Soviet,however,quite the opposite.He not only spoke Russian,but "po-nashomu" as well.A grandson of his,also Fr.Jason Kappanadze,became Rector about 1988,after Fr.Stephan left for another parish.I recall an elderly Ukrainian priest there also,Fr.Alexander Marciniuk,who had been ordained in Tsarist Russia in 1916.He reposed in 1990 just before I left Cleveland,aged 96.Had he lived one more year,he would have been a priest 75 years!

Every time I see that film I blink at Father Stephen speaking a few words of Russian to an old lady. I suspect that this was inserted at the insistence of the film-makers, although I could be mistaken.

I never actually met Father Jason Kappanadze, but he is a legendary figure of Russian Orthodoxy in the USA. One of the most noted of the "old missionaries". His biography would probably be of considerable interest. So would a full history of Saint Theodosius Cathedral.

Fr. Serge

In a similar vein . .

Upon watching the young girl being sent to the principal's office in Sister Act, my father announced, "That's not the principal's office!"

He was *quite* familiar with the principal's office at that school,

hawk, who survived childhood by behaving better than his father