NEW YORK: December 16, 2016
The Celebration of the Feast Day of the Synodal Cathedral of Our Lady “of the Sign”
 On Friday and Saturday, December 9-10, 2016, all-night vigil and Divine Liturgy were celebrated on the feast day of the Synodal Cathedral of Our Lady “of the Sign” in New York. Services were led by His Eminence Metropolitan Hilarion of Eastern America and New York, First Hierarch of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia, along with members of the Synod of Bishops: His Eminence Archbishop Mark of Berlin and Germany; His Eminence Archbishop Kyrill of San Francisco and Western America; His Eminence Archbishop Gabriel of Montreal and Canada; His Grace Bishop Nicholas of Manhattan, Vicar of the Eastern American Diocese; His Grace Bishop Irenei of Sacramento, Second Vicar of the Western American Diocese, as well as His Grace Bishop John of Naro-Fominsk, Administrator of the Patriarchal Parishes in the USA. Also serving were Archimandrite Roman (Krassovsky), Chief of the Russian Ecclesiastical Mission in Jerusalem; Protopriest Andrei Sommer, Senior Priest of the Cathedral, and clergymen of ROCOR and the Moscow Patriarchate. The services were held in the presence of the magnificently-adorned Kursk Root Icon of the Mother of God "of the Sign,” as the Cathedral Choir sang beautifully under the direction of Peter Fekula. The church was filled with the cathedral’s congregants, faithful and monastics from the tri-state area, most of whom partook of the Holy Gifts of Christ.
Bishop John addressed the worshipers with a sermon on the example set by the Most-Holy Mother of God, noting that “if we recall the life of the Most-Pure Virgin, Her main characteristic was humility: She accepted God’s will in Her life God, the appearance of the Angel and the news of the Conception of the One Who would save the world, with great meekness, without deliberation or any thoughts of pride. Thanks to the state of Her heart and soul, She acquired this miraculous grace, to intercede for all of mankind before the Divine Throne.”
After the service, the hierarchs and clergymen performed a moleben service before the Kursk-Root Icon. Metropolitan Hilarion congratulated his brethren bishops, clergymen and faithful, thanked everyone for their joint prayer, and gave the senior hierarchs of ROCOR, Archbishop Mark and Archbishop Kyrill, the Order of St Raphael of Brooklyn of the Russian Church Abroad and the Antiochian Orthodox Church.
For his 20 years of priestly service and his zealous service to the Church, Protopriest Serafim Gan was given a decree of blessing from the Synod of Bishops. In recognition of his many years of service as a singer in the Cathedral Choir, Anatoly Panchoshny was given a decree of blessing as well.
The Cathedral Sisterhood then hosted a trapeza luncheon in the Synodal hall.
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