In 1999 Richard Giles was appointed Dean, with a brief to completely re-think the liturgical space. In 2002 a comprehensive renovation of the cathedral’s interior was completed, designed by architect George Yu.

The original building by Burns was a basilica in shape, though not in internal layout, and the renovation sought to remedy this. The basilica was the first form of Christian church building, adapted from the public assembly hall of the Roman Empire. The cathedral interior you now see before you replicates the layout of a place of Christian worship in the 4th century. An visitor from the Orthodox Church described the space using a phrase from the Orthodox Rite of Burial; “homeland of my heart’s desire.”

“Homeland of my heart’s desire.”

Layout and Design

Each component in the renovated cathedral teaches us about who we are and where we have come from in our Christian journey. The space articulates with clarity the basic elements of Christian liturgy, giving prominence to the four basic elements—initiation, word, sacred meal, and Episcopal presidency. Each of these is expressed by a single item of liturgical furniture, without duplication.

The baptistry is given special prominence, as a sign of our common baptismal covenant. The cathedral is essentially an assembly hall for the baptized. The font incorporates the old font from the former Church of the Saviour together with a new pool to allow baptism by immersion (rather than submersion), water flowing continually between them. In this way the fusion of the old and new, past and future, is symbolized. Around the edge are inscribed words from Revelation 22.3: The angel showed me the river of the water of life, bright as crystal, flowing from the throne o f God and the lamb, through the middle of the street of the city. The font is a gift from the people of the Southeastern Pennsylvania Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, partners with the Episcopal Church since 2001 in the Call for Common Mission.

The ambo is the place from which God’s word in the sacred scriptures is proclaimed. In the first Christian buildings the ambo served as both lectern and pulpit, the functions of which became separated in a later era. The design is based on the bema or reading desk of the synagogue, at which Jesus himself would have read the Scriptures (Luke 4. 16- 17).

The ambo, like the altar table, is set in the midst of the assembly. In this way we are reminded that the people of God are fed at the two central tables—word and sacrament. The ambo is set on the central axis at the west end of the nave, facing east, as it would have been placed in the Christian basilica of the early centuries. The ambo is inscribed in Hebrew with the words from Psalm 16.8: I am ever aware of the presence of the Eternal.

The altar-table is the central liturgical focus in Christian worship, for it is symbolically both a place of sacrifice (where we recall the sacrifice of Christ and offer ourselves sacrificially to God), and a place of communion (where we gather to celebrate the presence of the Risen Lord in the breaking of the bread).

It is square in shape, symbolizing the centering of the community, and indicative of the equal access to God’s table enjoyed by all members of the household of faithful. It is set in the midst of the assembly of faith, not set apart at the east end, to symbolize the rediscovery of the Eucharist as a participatory sacred meal, instead of a distant ritual celebrated exclusively by the ordained.

It is neither fenced off by rails, nor distanced from us by steps, for it belongs to the whole people of God. It is movable, reminding us we are a pilgrim people like out spiritual forebears the Jews who carried the ark with them, and to allow for many different configurations in the same place.

In accordance with ancient tradition, the cathedra, the seat of the Bishop of Pennsylvania is not a separate chair, but set in the midst of a presbyterium or synthronos (the semi-circular stone bench on which the bishop was seated among his presbyters and deacons), symbolic of shared oversight. This was its place in the first Christian buildings of the fourth century.

The Episcopal Church takes its name from episcopacy, i.e., the government of the church by bishops, a form of church order which the Anglican Church (along with the Roman Catholic and Orthodox Churches) considers an essential mark of its character. The bishop’s cathedra therefore and quite properly dominates the layout of the space, albeit with simple dignity rather than with ostentation.