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August
25, 2010
Baltimore, MD: Bright days at the Holy Transfiguration Church
On
Saturday the 21st and Sunday the 22nd of August, our modest church in
Baltimore received prominent guests. The church glittered in its
festive white garments, magnificently adorned with a multitude of
beautiful and fragrant flowers.
At 1:00 Saturday
afternoon, Archimandrite Athanasy (Mastalski) arrived from
Philadelphia, bringing with him the holy myrrh-streaming Icon of Saint
Anna, mother of the Holy Theotokos. Fr. Athanasy and our rector,
Priest Ion Barbus, served a moleben with akathist before the
miraculous icon, after which the faithful venerated the open icon,
which emitted the fragrance of myrrh, and received small pieces of
cotton dipped in myrrh and bottles of holy oil from the icon, while
Fr. Athanasy told us of recent miracles from it. The holy icon and Fr.
Athanasy remained with us until the evening, in order to attend the
Vigil.
The Saturday Vigil
at our church was led by His Grace Jerome, Bishop of Manhattan, who
arrived from New York together with Protodeacon Dimitri Temidis.
Vladyka came out to serve the polyeleos together with Fr. Athanasy and
Fr. Ion. Our modest choir enthusiastically sang its usual monastic
chants, creating an especially prayerful atmosphere in the church.
After the service, Fr. Athanasy and the holy myrrh-streaming icon
returned to Philadelphia.
On Sunday morning,
Priest Vasiliy Raskovskiy, cleric of the Washington St. John the Baptist
Cathedral, who serves in our church whenever our rector is away,
joined Fr. Ion in welcoming Bishop Jerome. During the small entrance
at the Liturgy, Bishop Jerome elevated Fr. Ion to the rank of
archpriest. Everyone enthusiastically sang "Axios" ("He
is worthy") to Fr. Ion. At the end of the Liturgy, Vladyka gave a
moving homily on the significance of the Transfiguration in the life
of every Orthodox Christian.
After the liturgy,
through the caring efforts of Matushka Viorica Barbus and our
sisterhood, our cherished guests and all the faithful were offered an
abundant and delicious Lenten lunch. During the meal, which took place
in a cordial and friendly atmosphere, the parishioners were able to
converse informally with Bishop Jerome and were quite impressed by his
kindly manner toward everyone. The parishioners also congratulated
their rector, now-Archpriest Ion, upon his quite-merited promotion.
A
participant of the feast
Media
Office of the Eastern American Diocese
