DIOCESE OF CHICAGO AND DETROIT: June 15, 2006

Celebration of the Day of the Holy Trinity at Protection Cathedral

On June 11, 2006, on the Holy Pentecost, His Grace Bishop Peter of Cleveland, Administrator of the Diocese of Chicago and Detroit, officiated at Divine Liturgy at Protection Cathedral in Chicago, and then at vespers that followed. Vladyka Peter read the "kneeling prayers" at that service.

His Grace was joined by the Senior Priest of the Cathedral, Protopriest Andre Papkov, the Dean of the First Deanery; Priest Valery Vovkovsky; Deacon Vadim Gan and Deacon Alexander Kichakov. His Eminence Archbishop Alypy of Chicago and Detroit prayed in the altar and partook of the Holy Mysteries of Christ. The choir sang magnificently under the direction of Michael Gil.

Vladyka Peter then ceremoniously welcomed Her Royal Highness Princess Maria Louisa of Bulgaria, who prayed at the Cathedral that day.

Princess Maria Louisa is the daughter of the late friend of Russia and of Russian refugees, King Boris of Bulgaria, and the sister of the present King Simeon. After the Bolshevik Revolution and the defeat of the White Army, King Boris had thrown open the doors of his country and of his loving heart to Russian exiles, for which the Russian emigration remembers him with gratitude.