January 6, 2016
Stafford, VA: Metropolitan Hilarion leads Divine Services in St.
Herman of Alaska Church
On
Sunday, December 20, His Eminence, Metropolitan Hilarion, conducted
his first hierarchal visit to
St.
Herman of Alaska Church in Stafford, VA, since the little
"country church" transitioned from the Orthodox Church in America to
the Russian Church Abroad on January 31, 2013.
After the Metropolitan’s arrival and greeting with the customary
bread and salt by the church warden, Reader Jason Connerley, the
parish rector, Archpriest Alexander Webster, presented the holy
cross to His Eminence, who then proceeded to venerate the iconostas
and vest in the midst of the congregation. Before the beginning of
the Hierarchical Divine Liturgy, Metropolitan Hilarion tonsured
Nectarios Daniel Harrison as a reader, the fifth tonsured reader for
the parish.
Concelebrating the Liturgy was Archpriest Victor Potapov (Dean of
the South), Fr. Alexander, Hieromonk Tikhon (Gayfudinov; rector of
Holy Protection Skete in Buena, NJ), Protodeacon Patrick Mitchell
(cleric of St. John the Baptist Cathedral in Washington, DC), and
parish Deacon Alexander Laymon. The choir was directed by Jo Lu
Terrell. Following the Liturgy, His Eminence blessed the hands of
lay iconographer Matushka Joanna Laymon with a prayer derived from
Dionysios of Fourna’s Mount
Athos Painter’s Guide (18th century).
A group photo outside the chapel on a sunny winter’s day included
the fully vested Metropolitan, the clergy, and sixty parishioners
and guests.
After
the photo and the Post-Communion Prayers, the honored guests and
attendees enjoyed a delightful Lenten luncheon prepared by the
Sisterhood of Myrrhbearing Women, under the leadership of interim
Senior Sister Judith Maria Cook.
The clergy and faithful of St. Herman Church were blessed to welcome
the First Hierarch of the Russian Church Abroad and the visiting
clergy, especially on the occasion of the feast of the great
prophetic bishop, the Holy Hierarch Ambrose of Milan, and in
anticipation of the patronal feast five days hence of the humble
Russian monk, missionary, and defender of the native American
Aleuts, Venerable Herman of Alaska.
Photos of the events are courtesy of Beverly Ann Denny,
Archpriest Alexander’s daughter and a professional photographer and
journalist.
