May 8, 2011
Howell, NJ: Bishop George’s Namesday in St. George’s Church
On
Thursday the 5th and Friday the 6th of May, on the feast day of the
holy Great-Martyr and Trophy-Bearer St. George, festal divine
services were held in
St. George’s Church
at the diocesan center on the occasion of the parish’s patronal
feast day and the namesday of His Grace, Eastern American Diocesan
vicar Bishop George of Mayfield.
On Thursday evening, Bishop George led the All-Night Vigil,
co-served by New Jersey Dean Protopresbyter Valery Lukianov, Priest
Jonah Campbell (parish cleric), and Priest Sergio Silva and Deacon
Nathan Mousselli (clerics of St. Alexander Nevsky Cathedral in
Lakewood, NJ). Also praying in church and singing in the choir were
rector Archpriest Serge Lukianov and parish cleric Deacon Leonid
Roschko, as well as clerics of St. Vladimir Memorial Church in
Jackson, NJ: deputy rector Priest Serge Ledkovsky and Deacon Paul
Drozdowski. The singing of the male choir under the direction of Fr.
Serge Lukianov lent the service an air of particular splendor.
The following morning, His Grace celebrated the Divine Liturgy,
co-served by Archpriest Victor Tseshkovsky (rector of the Nativity
of the Mother of God Church at the New Kursk Root Hermitage in
Mahopac, NY), Fr. Serge Lukianov, Archpriest Paul Shafran (pastor
emeritus of St. Vladimir Church in Trenton, NJ), Archpriest Sergius
Kuharsky (cleric of Holy Annunciation Church in Brick, NJ), Priest
Ilya Gun, Priest Boris Slootsky (rector of the Church of the Mother
of God in Mays Landing, NJ), Fr. Jonah Campbell, Fr. Sergio Silva,
and Fr. Leonid Roschko. Upon completion of the Liturgy, a procession
was held around the church, and a moleben was served to St. George.
On behalf of His Eminence, Metropolitan Hilarion, His Grace, Bishop
Jerome, and the entire Eastern American Diocese, Archpriest Serge
Lukianov greeted Bishop George on the occasion of his namesday, and
presented His Grace with an icon of St. George.
After the service, the parish sisterhood prepared a bountiful
luncheon in the Cossack hall next door in honor of the feast day and
His Grace’s namesday. The luncheon was adorned by the singing of a
gypsy band under the direction of Vasily Yankovich (Romani), which
performed Russian and gypsy classics and folk songs.
