On
Thursday, October 20, on the feast day of St. Jonah of Hankou, His
Grace, Eastern American Diocesan vicar Bishop George of Mayfield,
prayed with the brethren at the Midnight Office and celebrated the
Divine Liturgy in Holy Trinity Monastery’s Trinity Cathedral. His
Grace was co-served by Archimandrite Luke (Murianka), monastery
clergy, and participants of the clergy conference. During the Small
Entrance, with the blessing of the First Hierarch of the Russian
Church Abroad, His Eminence Hilarion, Metropolitan of Eastern
America & New York, Hieromonk Cyprian (Alexandrou; monastery cleric)
was awarded the gold cross for his dedicated and zealous service to
the Holy Church. After the Liturgy, the clergy served a short
moleben before the wonderworking Kursk Root Icon of the Mother of
God and an icon of St. Jonah.
After a luncheon with the monastery brethren, conference
participants gathered in Holy Trinity Cathedral for a thanksgiving
moleben and the conference’s closing ceremonies. After the moleben,
Archpriest Victor Potapov (member of the Diocesan Council and Dean
of the South) addressed the participants with a word of thanks on
behalf of the Diocesan Council. Bishop George then presented a
gramota to Fr. Luke and the monastery brethren in gratitude for
their help, which read in part:
"These pastoral
conferences are a time for clergy to come together and support each
other in a spirit of brotherly love and mutual respect. We are
sincerely grateful to you for opening your doors to host our
archpastors and clergy and their spouses. You have given the clergy
of the Eastern American Diocese an opportunity to unite around the
holy altar table and partake of the Holy Mysteries as brothers in
Christ, fortifying themselves in the fear of God and to continue
carrying the heavy cross of pastoral service to the Church."
His Grace thanked
everyone for taking the time to attend the pastoral conference and
called down God’s blessing on all present. This concluded the
conference. Glory be to God!
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