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July 14, 2011
Novo-Diveevo: Metropolitan Hilarion led the 50th anniversary of Archpriest Alexander Fedorowski's clerical service

On Sunday, July 10, the First Hierarch of the Russian Church Abroad, His Eminence Hilarion, Metropolitan of Eastern America & New York, paid an archpastoral visit to Holy Dormition Stavropegial Convent "Novo-Diveevo" in Nanuet, NY, to honor longtime monastery cleric Archpriest Alexander Fedorowski, who on April 1 this year marked the 50th anniversary of his ordination. Father Alexander has been serving as the senior cleric at the Novo-Diveevo convent for 33 years.

At the triumphal Liturgy, His Eminence was co-served by Archpriest George Larin, dean of the New England Deanery, and convent clerics: Fr. Alexander, Archpriest Gleb Wleskoff, and Protodeacon Sergei Arlievsky. During the Small Entrance, for his many years of faithful service to Christ’s Holy Church, Metropolitan Hilarion awarded Fr. Alexander the right to wear the second cross. The church was filled to capacity, and a multitude of parishioners and the faithful communed of Christ’s Holy Mysteries.

Upon completion of the Liturgy, His Eminence congratulated Fr. Alexander from the bottom of his heart with the momentous anniversary, and thanked him for his myriad labors on behalf of Holy Dormition Convent and Christ’s Holy Church. On behalf of the nuns and parishioners, Fr. Alexander was presented with two jewelled crosses, and on behalf of Russia’s National Awards Committee and with the blessing of His Holiness, Patriarch Kyrill, Mr. V.S. Balakirev, presented Fr. Alexander a prestigious award "for his peacemaking and zeal for the triumph of Orthodoxy." The Polychronion was then intoned.

At the end of the divine service, other clergy who regularly service the convent arrived to congratulate their brother in Christ: Archpriest Mark Burachek (rector of Our Lady of Kazan Church in Newark, NJ), Archpriest George Zelenin (rector of St. Michael’s Church in Paterson, NJ), and Priest Dmitri Don (rector of Sts. Cosmas & Damian Church in Passaic, NJ), as well as Archpriest Ilya Gorsky (cleric of Holy Virgin Protection Church in Nyack, NY).

After the Liturgy, a bountiful lenten luncheon was served in the convent’s refectory, during which congratulatory and grateful words were spoken on the occasion of the anniversary. Fr. George Zelenin then presented Fr. Alexander a cross that once belonged to longtime ROCOR cleric Archimandrite Amvrossy (Pogodin). The parishioners and faithful were overjoyed at the opportunity to congratulate their beloved spiritual father.

Media Office of the Eastern American Diocese