December 11, 2011
Miami, FL:
Celebration of Metropolitan Hilarion’s Namesday concludes the Winter Pastoral Conference

Due to the First Hierarch’s being outside the Diocese on his namesday (November 3), the event was officially celebrated on December 8, the last day of the Winter Pastoral Conference in Miami, FL. The First Hierarch celebrated the Divine Liturgy in St. Vladimir’s Church, co-served by his vicars, Their Graces, Bishops George of Mayfield and Jerome of Manhattan, and participants of the clergy conference. During the Divine Liturgy, special prayers were read for the health and length of days of the Metropolitan, as well as for Bishops George and Jerome, who this week celebrate the third anniversary (December 7 and December 10) of their respective consecrations to the episcopate.

Prior to the start of Liturgy, Metropolitan Hilarion tonsured Innocent Correa, a parishioner of Holy Optina Elders Church in Winter Garden, FL, a reader. With the blessing of His Eminence, Reader Innocent has begun collaborating with the Eastern American Diocesan Media Office, where he will work on filming and producing documentaries within the framework of the Pastoral Resources Program (PRP). Reader Innocent is currently working on a documentary about the Winter Pastoral Conference and on video recordings of the lectures.

At the Small Entrance, for their zealous service to Christ’s Holy Church, the Metropolitan bestowed awards upon the following clerics:

- Archpriests Andrey Pastukh and Daniel McKenzie were awarded the jeweled cross.
- Archpriest Nicholas Bargoot was awarded the palitsa.
- Priest Mark Mancuso was elevated to the rank of archpriest.
- Priest Gregoire Legouté was awarded the kamilavka and gold cross.
- Priests Gregorio Justiniano and Viktor Orda were awarded the nabedrennik and purple skufia.
- Priest Steven Webb was awarded the nabedrennik.

With the blessing of Metropolitan Hilarion, Archimandrite Meletios (Webber) delivered the sermon. Click here to read the sermon.

Upon completion of the Liturgy, diocesan secretary Archpriest Serge Lukianov congratulated His Eminence on his namesday, presenting him with a carved wooden icon of the Savior and the Theotokos "Weep not for Me, O Mother." The icon was but one of several the Metropolitan would receive from his grateful flock and the diocesan clergy, many of whom came to Miami to congratulate their hierarch.

"Every time I serve with the Metropolitan, I feel an influx of new spiritual strengths," said Archpriest Mark Mancuso. "He exudes a tangible love for the Church and her clerics. We among the clergy have been granted a tremendous grace: to be able to be present here and show him our love. Clergy came here to celebrate His Eminence’s namesday from Maine in the north of the Diocese to Haiti in the south, just to congratulate him and thank him for his fatherly care for us."

Bishops George and Jerome were also presented gifts in honor of the third anniversary of their hierarchal consecrations. In gratitude for their labors in organizing the conference, the First Hierarch presented the rector, Fr. Daniel, and the entire St. Vladimir’s parish a diocesan gramota.

In the parish hall, a festal banquet was held in the First Hierarch’s honor, during which many warm words of congratulation and thanks were spoken. The parish sisterhood presented Metropolitan Hilarion a large, homemade pie prepared for his namesday. The Metropolitan thanked the sisterhood for the hospitality and love they had shown to the clergy and hierarchs during the conference. In gratitude for their hard work, His Eminence gave each sister a small gift.

After the banquet, Metropolitan Hilarion thanked the participants for the time they had dedicated to the conference, as well as for the well-wishes and love shown to him on his namesday. His Eminence called down God’s blessing on all present, thereby officially concluding the Winter Pastoral Conference.


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Media Office of the Eastern American Diocese