Monks create Santa Rosa church's new fresco

Just before dawn, Father Moses Fredricks smooths plaster in preparation for the fresco painting of the Prophet Joel on the dome at St. Seraphim of Sarov Orthodox Church.

Story by ANN HUTCHINSON / Santa Rosa Correspondent

Photos by BETH SCHLANKER / The Press Democrat

Walking into Saint Seraphim of Sarov Orthodox Christian Church in southeast Santa Rosa is like stepping back in time.

Father Patrick Doolan adds the finishing touches to a fresco painting of the Prophet Elias.

The cross-shaped building is reminiscent of ancient European cathedrals and Eastern Orthodox churches, with pillars, altar and dome. But since July, its center has been filled with modern scaffolding that supports Father Patrick Doolan and Father Moses Fredricks as they fill the dome with a fresco of Christ, angels and prophets.

The monks hope to be finished in late July, completing a project that has taken more than a decade to plan, finance and prepare. Its the most expensive of the frescoes envisioned for the church on Mountain View Avenue.

The fresco project is the largest, and maybe the only, project of its kind in a Christian Orthodox Church in the United States. Just the dome project will cost $112,000, financed with a $50,000 bequest and a fundraising campaign that continues after 15 years.

About 47 smaller frescoes remain on the uncommissioned list, priced at $3,000-$20,000 each.

Fredricks and Doolan have worked on and off since overseeing the first layers of special plaster 10 years ago, taking measurements, drawing sketches and completing many frescoes on the churchs interior walls.

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Monks create Santa Rosa church's new fresco