May 26, 2009
Parish feastday of St. Nicholas Church in Poughkeepsie

     St Nicholas Parish in Poughkeepsie, NY, marks its feast day in the spring, May 22 according to the new calendar. This year, the date fell on a Friday, so on the following Sunday, His Grace Bishop Jerome of Manhattan officiated at Divine Liturgy at the church. His Grace was joined in the service by Parish Rector Protopriest Alexander Donchenko and Priest Ilya Gun. Before Divine Liturgy, His Grace ordained Vladimir Komendantov to the rank of reader; Vladimir is a grandson of the late Protopriest Peter Nikolaev, the first Rector of St Nicholas Church.  

     After Liturgy and a procession of the cross with a moleben to St Nicholas the Miracle-worker of Myra, the Parish Sisterhood invited all the worshipers to a trapeza luncheon with an enormous selection of delicious food. The weather was magnificent, and those in attendance did not soon depart. During lunch, Tatiana Labodina, who participated in the construction of St Nicholas Church in 1951, gave the Parish a photograph as a gift taken during the consecration of the church by the late Archbishop Nikon (Rklitsky, +1976). 

Alexei Klimoff