March 31, 2015
Wayne, WV: Great Canon of St. Andrew of Crete & Akathist to the Most Holy Theotokos read at Holy Cross Monastery

On Wednesday the 25th and Friday the 27th of March, the clergy of Holy Cross Monastery in Wayne, WV, performed the appointed Lenten divine services.

On Wednesday evening, Matins was served, and the Great Canon of St. Andrew of Crete – which is divine into four parts and read on the first four days of Great Lent – was read in its entirety. The reading of the Great Canon was led by the monastery’s abbot, His Grace George, Bishop of Mayfield. Serving alongside His Grace was monastery clergy: Abbot Seraphim (Voepel; deputy abbot), Hieromonk Alexander (Frizzell; dean), Hieromonks Andrew (O’Leary), Hilarion (Heagy), and Gabriel (Hooten), Hierodeacon Sergius (Wilson), and Deacon Jeremiah Davis.

On Friday evening, Matins for the Laudation of the Mother of God was served, including the reading of the Akathist to the Most Holy Theotokos. As Bishop George was performing an archpastoral visit to Atlanta, the reading of the Akathist was led by Fr. Seraphim.

The monastic choir sang the divine services, and the church was filled to capacity with the brethren Holy Cross Monastery, local parishioners, and pilgrims, who came to offer their sincere repentance and prayers to the Mother of God as the Great Fast draws quickly to a close.

Media Office of the Eastern American Diocese