Roadside New Jerseyana; Exhibit 2

Diaristwoman was still back home in the old Country last weekend but that didn't stop your diarist and diaristdaughter from continuing our quest of drinking our way across the "Garden State".  One of the best parts of tracking down vineyards sequestered out in the piney woods and hinterlands is that you drive down small roads you otherwise never would and in doing so you get to see odd and curious things such as a Russian Orthodox Church on a back road near Buena, NJ.

I knew there were Quakers, Free Thinkers, Nudists and even a few Episcopalians hiding out in the piney woods but I'd never have guessed I'd trip across Russian Orthodoxy.  Dig those onion domes.

We were driving along, minding our own GPS lady's commands when the above church complete with iconic onion domes popped out of the woodwork.  I slammed on the brakes and did a double take.  That church would be right at  home on the outskirts of just about any dusty Russian village--but here?  In South Jersey?  I parked the wagon as best I could on the narrow grass shoulder of the country road we were on and took a few pix.  Now most churches have signs proudly indicating the name of the church, the year built, times of services, etc. but not this one.  I looked in vain and found not a clue of its identity. It was very mysterious.  Finding no one to question we eventually moved on.  After all there were wineries to visit and vintages to sample.  I figured I could google it once I was home.  And so I did.  It turns out that this is the Sviato Pokrovskiy (Holy Protection) Russian Orthodox Church and this church is perhaps the final battleground of the Cold War.  It seems that the mother church back in Russia wanted to impose a new prelate, but the parishioners said the new man was ex-KGB and wanted nothing to do with him.  The issue of who owns the church went to court and is apparently a stalemate.  You can read about all that here.  Who knew that the Jersey pine barrens are such a hot bed of international intrigue?  It kind of reminds me of the hoopla surrounding some Episcopal parishes that want to divorce themselves from the main church organization (and retain ownership of valuable historic church buildings) because they don't like the National Church's liberal "all are welcome" stance which awkwardly (for them) includes gay Bishops and female Priests.  The difference of course is that for the Episcopalians this dispute involves Americans whereas with the Russian Orthodox church pictured above there's an international twist to the story.  This all goes to show that a drinking man never knows quite what's just around the corner.