April 9, 2010 New York:
Archbishop Justinian of Naro-Fominsk celebrated the Divine Liturgy in
the Synodal Cathedral of the Sign
On
Bright Friday, April 9, 2010, with the blessing of His Holiness Kyrill,
Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia, and of His Eminence Metropolitan
Hilarion, First Hierarch of the Russian Church Abroad, the
Administrator of the Patriarchal parishes in the USA, His Eminence, Archbishop
Justinian of Naro-Fominsk, celebrated his first Divine Liturgy in
ROCOR's Synodal
Cathedral of Our Lady of the Sign in New York. His Eminence was
co-served by Eastern American Diocesan Vicar Bishop Jerome of
Manhattan, Archimandrite Ioann (Magramm), Archpriest Andrei Sommer
(Senior Priest of the Synodal Cathedral), Archpriest Alexander Abramov,
Igumen Joseph (Kryukov; cleric of St. Nicholas Patriarchal Cathedral),
Archpriest Evgeny Goncharenko (personal secretary to Archbishop
Justinian), Priest Ion Radu (Synodal cleric), Protodeacon Igor
Panachev (cleric of St. Nicholas Cathedral), and Deacon Ivan Voloshchuk.
Upon
completion of the Liturgy, Archbishop Justinian addressed the
worshipers with an archpastoral sermon, in which he said in part,
"It is both responsible and touching for me to pray here, for I feel
myself to be in a piece of Holy Russia that has remained unharmed, as
a little ship upon the sea; led by the Cross, it remained afloat. And
this little ship carries on the many thousands of faithful children of
the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad. Of course, with some trepidation
do I cross the threshold of this church, and I can only imagine how
many generations have entered this church, for whom it was not only a
symbol of their personal salvation, but a symbol of the fact that the
Russian Diaspora preserved the very best traits of the Russian
Orthodox people, and that sooner or later the long-awaited
reunification of the whole Russian Orthodox Church would transpire,
when God’s people abroad might travel unencumbered to Russia, might
venerate Her holy places and relics, when we might once more feel
ourselves to be one people, divided by no one and nothing, no
conditions, and no boundaries." His Eminence was greeted on
behalf of the Synodal clergy by His Grace Bishop Jerome. After the
Liturgy, a luncheon was offered in the Synodal refectory.
