Kulich

Total time: 3 hours 5 minutes
Initial oven temperature: 110° C (210° F)
Preparation time: 20 minutes
Rising time: 1 1/2 hour
Baking time: 1 1/4 hour
Cost: Very reasonable
Difficulty: Moderate

The classic kulich was begun several days before Easter. It contained candied fruit, almonds, and raisins, flavored with rum and saffron, and prepared like a bread. It was always baked in a special kind of pan - tall and cylindrical, sort of like a coffee can. When the cake was done, it was decorated with white frosting drizzled down the sides. On the side, spelled out in pieces of candied fruit, were the letters XB, representing the Cyrillic letters for "Christos voskres" -- "Christ is risen."
Often the kulich were carried to church and set out on long tables to be blessed by the priest. (In the old days, the priest would often make a "house call" to his wealthier parishioners to bless the food at home.)
The cake forms a hat shape, since the dough swells above the mould and becomes wider. Russians often trim off the brim and place it in the center of a serving plate. The cake is then cut in half horizontally and sliced. These slices are arranged around the brim. Kulich is traditionally served with Fresh Cheese Pashka.

• 1.25 to 1.5 liters (5-6 cups) white flour
• 500 ml (2 cups) icing sugar
• 340 ml (1 1/3 cups) warm milk
• 3 packets of yeast
• 125 ml (1/2 cup) sultanas
• 125 ml (1/2 cup) blanched almonds
• 125 ml (1/2 cup) candied fruits
• 65 ml (1/4 cup) dark rum
• 225 g (1 cup) softened butter + 5 tbsp.
• 10 egg yolks, lightly beaten
• 2 tsp. salt
• 1 tsp. vanilla
• 1/2 tsp. sugar
• 1/2 tsp. powdered saffron

Icing

• 500 ml (2 cups) icing sugar
• 4 tbsp. cold water
• 2 tsp. lemon juice
• Soak the raisins in the rum for 10 minutes; drain; mix the saffron with the rum and set aside;
• in a bowl, dissolve the yeast and 1 tbsp. sugar in 125 ml (1/2 cup) warm milk; let sit 10 minutes; add the vanilla, egg yolks, rum and saffron;
• combine the flour, icing sugar and salt; make a well in the centre;
• gradually pour the yeast and egg mixture into the well, gradually blending in the flour to form a dough;
• place on a floured work surface and knead for about 10 minutes until the dough is smooth and elastic, while gradually incorporating pieces of the butter;
• place into a lightly greased bowl; cover with a cloth and let rise until doubled in volume;
• in a bowl, toss the almonds, candied fruit and raisins with 1 tbsp. of flour until well coated;
• punch down the dough; mix in the fruits and almonds and knead for 2-3 minutes;
• butter a rectangular bread tin; line with a sheet of buttered brown paper, with the unbuttered side facing out;
• place the dough into the pan; cover with a cloth and let rise 30-45 minutes until well risen;
• place into a preheated 110° C (210° F) oven for 15 minutes; increase the oven temperature to 180° C (350° F) and bake for 1 hour longer.

Icing

Combine all the icing ingredients; pour slowly over the top of the cake so that it drizzles down in thin streams.

ИИСУС-ВОСКРЕС!!!!

Greetings from Moscow as the city prepares for one of it’s biggest holidays, the resurrection of Jesus Christ. (Please take note of the poster of Jesus Christ and the children.) This is one example of posters that every business is required to post in celebration of Easter. The one pictured here says translated in English “with celebration of the light of the Passover or Easter.” Other posters declare Jesus has risen. Every where you turn in the city these posters are displayed. On Sunday almost the entire city will greet one another with these words. « ИИСУС-ВОСКРЕС, ВОИСТИНУ-ВОСКРЕС !!!!» “ CHRIST HAS RISEN-INDEED HE HAS RISEN!!!” Please pray for our city that the reality of these words would speak to hearts and the power of the resurrection would become alive to many !! Jesus said” "I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live.” John 11:25.

One of the traditions here in Russia during Easter is a wonderful cake called a Kulich. (See picture) I found a receipt and so if you want to give it a try you can.

Regarding our search for a permanent location for the church, we found a service that for a fee provides a data base of every building for rent in our area. Tomorrow we will be looking at one place in our region. We will keep you updated.
God Bless you and use this time as most of the world is focused on the resurrection of Christ. That God would give you opportunity to speak bolding of what the resurrection means to you. dean

"BIG SKY" MOSCOW... what a beautiful day!

Over 3500 years of the Passover feast

Today Natasha and I had the privilege to join with Jews for Jews as they celebrated the Passover. Mira, who works with JFJ. (If you have followed the Blog you know about her) the JFJ take full advantage of every Jewish feast to invite believing Jews and non believing Jews who have not received their Messiah. Moscow has a large Jewish population, and it has been said that 1 out of 5 Jews speaks Russian. The Celebration of the Passover is an amazing Celebration that has been celebrated for 3500 years as God delivered the children of Israel out of bondage under the Pharaoh in Egypt. This is an amazing fact that until this day the Jews have observed the Passover especially in light of the amount of times the Jews have suffered circumstances that have caused them many times through their history to be scattered throughout the world. But yet to this day the Passover is kept. The Jewish nation is a Testimony to the inerrancy of the Bible. If you want to know what is going to happen to the nation of Israel just read the Bible, and you will find who it will be that brings the long awaited peace to that nation. He is known in the Bible as the Prince of Peace, Jesus Christ.

Music complex

Moscow's new Music hall

Spring knocking on the door...

Hello everyone, all is well here as spring is actually knocking on our door, and let me tell you the entire city rejoices at the absence of snow. It has been the shortest winter I believe record here. Today we had a great service in our temporary hall as we have not found a permanent place. But a perfect peace rules in our heart as we know that the Lord loves His church. Yesterday I had the privilege at teaching at CC Toshino, as pastor Chris and Sasha are in the states visiting friends and relatives. At our 24 hour prayer a couple of weeks ago had a good group with even two (almost) teenagers Dima and Sveta, and their teenage sister Veronica. It was a sweet time at our favorite retreat center. Please pray for Sasha, he is the one lying down on the bed, he is undergoing and operation I believe tomorrow. Sasha whom I mentioned in an earlier email has tuberculosis of the spine. The doctors will be operating to remove the infected area that is affecting his nervous system. Dr. Tom pictured next to him has been sharing with him about the Lord. Tom himself just underwent surgery on his lung as the doctors removed a growth. Tom has been sent home for 6 weeks and will return to have hip replacement surgery. Vova our worship leader and my roommate just left tonight on the train for his home town Tombov. Vova received word from his mom that his dad was very sick. Please pray for his father to be open to Jesus Christ, and that the Lord would touch his physical body. That God would use Vova as he spends time with his Mom. I talked to Geno the other night, he sends his greetings to all, Geno has been rapidly learning the Hebrew language, Geno no doubt will one day be a fluent speaker as he has a gift for foreign language. Also Geno has been having a difficult time with having his Sunday service in the common hall. He has been some what persecuted for their gathering and look upon as a sect but the Lord has His hand on the situation. Geno told me that one of the administrators of the prison came to talk to him. They had heard Geno plays the guitar, and they wanted him to represent their prison among many others in the prison system because they are going to have a talent show competition between the prisons. Geno told them that he would be happy to represent them but first they needed to resolve the issue of the time for their Sunday meeting time. which the administration is now willing to do. God is good!

Woman's Day March 8

Today here in Russia we celebrated National Woman’s Day. It is one of the most popular holidays and obviously pays tribute to all women. Every where you looked today on the streets and in the Metro women carried colorful flowers always in odd number: 1, 3, 7, 9, and so on. It is considered bad luck to give an even number of flowers. I only made the mistake once!

Tomorrow we are going away for a 24-hour prayer retreat. We will be going outside of Moscow where we usually have our 3 day prayer retreat. However this time we will not visit the cafeteria, and will do our best to fast during our 24-hour prayer time. We felt that at this most interesting time the Lord has our church it would be a great time to seek Him together. God Bless, dean

New look

Dear friends, you’ve probably noticed that our blogsite is experiencing some changes. Please, note that we have a little media player on the sidebar, so you can listen to the worship songs in Russian while reading our news. However, for some unknown to me reason a few songs were saved in double speed, which sounds pretty funny :-), but I was not able to fix this problem yet. I will try to do it ASAP. You can also download our worship songs in the MP3 format (normal speed :-) if you follow this link. I am also going to put a permanent link for CCSokol Worship on the sidebar. I hope you’ll enjoy it. God bless you! Natasha

The feast of Purim.

The feast of Purim also known by Jews around the world as the Feast of Esther, holds a dear place among the Jewish feasts. In short summary it is the Bible account of the deliverance of the nation of Israel from extinction. God for such a time in the life of Israel chose Esther, a Jewish woman, whom God placed in the court of a pagan king of Persia. Esther by God’s divine providence became Queen so that God at a time when a wicked man by the name of Haman who served in a high level of the king and sought to exterminate every man woman and child of Jewish descent, would use her for His purposes. The Bible records that Haman’s plan turned against him and he was hung on the very gallows he had prepared for Mordecai, the uncle of Queen Esther. And so the feast of Purim, where the story of Esther is read from the Bible and every time the name Haman is mentioned children shout, stomp their feet, and twirl noise makers to drowned out the mention of his name. During this most festive of Jewish feasts, children dress up in costume as characters of the book of Esther. A special pastrie is served called(ha-man-tash-en) which means Haman’s ears.
Natasha, Vova and myself yesterday were invited to the celebration of the feast of Purim with the Jews for Jesus. Jews for Jesus celibate every Jewish feast and they use the opportunity to reveal Jesus in every feast to Jews in the community that have not received Jesus. Jesus is found in the middle of every Jewish feast, and the Jews for Jesus here in Moscow have seen the great fruit of Jews receiving their true Messiah. It is said that 1 out of 5 Jews speak Russian. Please pray for Mira, and the team of Jews for Jesus her in Moscow.

Update Dr. Tom.

The doctors removed a cyst from his lung on Monday and he is recovering well and awaits a much needed hip replacement he has been in the hospital for almost 4 months now. Please pray for Sasha the young man that is next to Tom in the hospital. Sasha is an orphan and is suffering from the effects of Tuberculosis that has infected his spine. We have had the opportunity to tell him about Jesus. Apart from Christ Sasha is in a very desperate place. Please remember him in your prayers.

Thank you for praying for Daniel.

Thank you for praying for Daniel. Here he is home from the hospital with Mom and Dad and baby sister Masha. Daniel was not able to keep food down for more than a week and was on drips. The doctors never found out what was wrong but what ever the problem was it is gone. Continue to pray for Yuri and Valya as they parent Daniel and Masha.

Shalom

I just received this picture of Geno. Since Geno has Jewish ancestry he has decided to learn Hebrew. Geno learned English on his own while in prison so we probably will be soon have a missionary that speaks Hebrew. (Note Hebrew text books we sent him) Please continue pray for his ministry, and with all 50 plus of his roommates. God Bless, dean

Bible Study at Mira's

Today Natasha, Vova, and me were invited to the weekly bible study of the Jewish believers. It is lead by Mira, (means peace, or world in Russian) Mira has lead them all to the Lord and disciples them. Mira has lead so many Jews to Jesus. Today I was asked by Mira to teach on the blood covenant the believer has with Christ, and also on baptism. Vova lead us in worship and it was a great blessing for us to fellowship with them all. Some of the ladies have been attending our church. Mira not only has the gift of evangelism, but she also has the gift of hospitality. And as always we had a wonderful Russian Jewish meal. Also after the meeting we left to look at the possible new location for the church. We all three decided that it is not the place for us, and so we continue our search for our new church home. Thanks for all the prayers, dean

Some news

Hello everyone, please pray for little Daniel he has been in the hospital for one week. He can not keep any food down and the doctors do not know what the problem is. He is in a special infection hospital for children where Valya is able to stay with him. (Photo of Valya,Yuri and Daniel.)

Winter is here finally and we have the white stuff in abundance.

I love it !!!!

Update on the building search, we are going to look tomorrow for a possible location. Pray for God's leading. We continue to meet at the All Russian Society of the Blind.

During our transition period I have taken a little break from our verse by verse study of the Book of Matthew and have for the last 4 weeks looked at little snap shots of the earlier churches found in the Bible. It has been a great encouragement to me in keeping a healthy perspective on just who we are as the church of Jesus Christ. God Bless, dean

Greetings in this New Year

Greetings in this New Year. It is now the holiday season in Russia and from January 1 to the 10 everything is closed and it is not the best time to be looking for a new location for our church. However what confidence we have in the Lord knowing that He cares more for His church than we could ever care. Last week Natasha and I spent most of the week before the holiday looking at future locations where we will be able to rent our own place. I was very encouraged in the fact that there are places in our region that can be rented on a full time basis. We will continue our search after the holidays. We also continue to look for a place where we can at least rent temporarily for our Sunday service. We had a few possibilities but because of the holiday season we were not able to provide a place for last Sunday. Now the 7th of January is coming soon, (the Russian Christmas) and no place to meet as of today.

Our last service at the Hotel Sokol.

We had received news during our staff meeting two weeks ago that we would not have the opportunity to continue meeting at the hotel. We were told that the mid week service would be our last day.

It just so happens that same day Natasha and I were invited by Jews for Jesus to attend their Hanukkah service that night. (As Natasha mentioned on an early post). At that Hanukkah service Tanya, who works for Jews for Jesus, (I married her and her husband John about two years ago), showed me pictures of their new baby boy. Tanya wanted to dedicate little Emanuel on the next Sunday. Only one problem, we could no longer meet at the Hotel. The next day we went to meet with the assistant director of the hotel, to see if we could at least meet one more Sunday, which we had planned for our Christmas service and also we needed to inform the church members that we could no longer meet at the hotel. They graciously granted our request and so the 24th of December was our last service. The worship team read from the gospels the recorded Birth of Christ. With each section of scripture we sang a worship song appropriate to the scripture. Then I taught on the birth of Christ. What made our celebration of the birth of the Savior such a special time was that we were able to dedicate little Emanuel to the Lord. It could not have been a more fitting time to have John and Tanya bring their little baby and dedicate him to the Lord and was such a blessing for our church. Thank you all for praying for our situation here in Moscow. God Bless you and all the Lord has called you to do for His kingdom. dean