Monday 14 August 2023

Holy Innocents Episcopal Church Labyrinth


Holy Innocents Episcopal Church is located at the south end of Front Street in Lahaina Town, Maui. It has now been destroyed, along with the rest of Lahaina, in the recent wildfire disaster. The church was founded in 1862 by British missionaries. At that time, Hawaii was still independently ruled by its traditional royal family, although the islands were under an informal protectorate relationship with Britain. The church moved to its present location in 1927, by which time Hawaii was a United States territory.

As is common in older Hawaiian buildings, the church is open to the elements to take advantage of any available cooling breeze. The church was open to the public, but no clergy or parishioners seemed to be around on the weekday we visited. However, we probably just didn't see them.


On the south side of the church, there is a little devotional grotto/garden --


And then --


A lovely little Cretan labyrinth is painted on a driveway/parking area. Privacy is provided by fencing. Colourful prayer flags are strung between the trees.


I'm glad we visited 5 years ago when we did. I would have hated to miss this little gem of a labyrinth.

[Photos © Debra She Who Seeks, 2018]

33 comments:

  1. What has happened is horrific. Is it our the world ends?

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  2. And like the phoenix, they will rise from the ashes.

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  3. Thank you for the pictures commemorating a lovely place now gone. I particularly like the labyrinth.

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  4. The photos of Lahaina are heartbreaking and the stories being told are a nightmare. Thank you for sharing the beauty today.

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  5. After reading your weekend post I was looking forward to this one. What a beautiful little church and what a shame it is now all gone. Some of what I've been hearing going on over there is quite appalling.

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  6. So much history and so many lives lost.

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  7. I was thinking that it is kind of weird that Christian churches are associated with labyrinths, and apparently I am not the only one.

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  8. @ Old Lurker -- That article made me laugh out loud, especially the assertion that labyrinths are spiritually invalid for Christians because they have "no biblical prototype or pattern" but are instead "designed by man" -- like the Bible isn't also just a book written by humans, LOL!

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  9. Lovely!
    It's such a shame that it's now gone. What happened in Hawaii is catastrophic.

    XOXO

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  10. I saw this little church a lifetime ago. Thank you for the reminder. It was lovely.

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  11. Such a tragic loss of a beautiful place.

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  12. Heathen that I am, in all the times I visited Maui I never set foot in a church. Thank you for sharing your photos and memories of this lovely place.

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  13. @ e -- If it weren't for the labyrinths, I wouldn't have either!

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  14. The labyrinth is probably the only thing that survived.

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  15. Do tell me more about the Cretan labyrinth.

    In India, we call this the Chakravyuh. It was apparently used as a war formation in Mahabhrata.

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  16. @ How do we know -- Interesting! I've never heard of the Padmavyūha or Chakravyūha (the terms used in Wikipedia) but YES, it is the same design! Here's a post I wrote a few years ago about this pagan labyrinth known as the Cretan or Minoan design --

    https://shewhoseeks.blogspot.com/2010/09/pagan-labyrinths.html

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  17. How sad... so much beauty (and not just "things") has been destroyed here... And it's happening all over the world. I read that you were often on Maui - I can understand a grief well.
    All the best from Austria!
    Traude
    🌼❤️🌼
    https://rostrose.blogspot.com/2023/08/romerstadt-carnuntum-und-die-tiere-von.html

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  18. When we leave the world, we take the memories with us.

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  19. I’m glad you showed us the photos. We can see how beautiful it was. Fire is devastating. It wipes everything off the face of the earth

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  20. Wow. The loss is barely endurable. I made the labyrinth picture as large as I could and think I have traced it. Beautiful. Thank you.

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  21. I like the labyrinth. I also like the church being open to the air, so the sounds of singing can also travel through the walls to any listeners outside.

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  22. Depressing all that's being lost to those fires.

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  23. Love the church..So sad that all this is lost..Must have been horrible to endure..still is

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  24. Thanks for bringing this back to pay tribute.
    Sigh. Peace and love and healing to all.

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  25. What a lovely church, with such a rich history.
    I'm so sad about what those people are going through.

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  26. heartbreaking..
    my daughter lives there and she's.. a lost soul and has been living on the beach..I don't know what beach or where she is..to say I'm going batshit is saying it lightly..

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  27. @ yellowdoggranny -- Wow, yes, you must be so worried! I hope she's living on one of Maui's many, many other beaches than in or around Lahaina. A prayer to the Goddess for her and you.

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  28. It shows how fragile everything is to Mother Nature eventually. Hopefully they can rebuild

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  29. ...we have been to Maui many times and Lahaina was always a favorite destination. A number of years ago my wife and I renewed our wedding vows on Valentine's Day. Thanks for the memories.

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  30. Wow. So hard to comprehend the amount of destruction. Thanks for sharing this!

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  31. How sad to lose such a lovely space! Did you walk the labyrinth?

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  32. @ Fundy Blue -- Oh yes, I walked the labyrinth!

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  33. Beautiful photos of lovely church
    I liked the Windows and environment looks serene.
    Fascinating laybernith

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