March 6, 2012 Passaic, NJ: A Joint
Service of the Rite of Orthodoxy was held in Sts. Peter & Paul MP
Cathedral
On
Sunday evening, March 4, Archbishop Justinian of Naro-Fominsk,
Administrator of the Patriarchal Parishes in the USA, and Bishop
Jerome of Manhattan, Vicar of the Eastern American Diocese, led the
Vespers service with the Rite of Orthodoxy at Sts. Peter & Paul
Church in Passaic, NJ.
The anathemas to the heretics, apostates, and schismatics, and the
Polychronia and "Memory Eternal" to the defenders of the Christian
Faith were proclaimed by Protodeacon Igor Panachev (cleric of St.
Nicholas Patriarchal Cathedral in New York City) and Deacon Leonid
Roschko (cleric of St. George’s Church in Howell, NJ).
Over fifty clergymen from parishes of the Moscow Patriarchate in the
USA, the Eastern American Diocese of the Russian Church Abroad, and
the Orthodox Church in America participated in the service (see a
complete list of serving clergy here). The festal divine service saw
the convergence of a multitude of believers from parishes in New
York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania. Members of the Eastern American
Diocesan administration and the Church administration of the
Patriarchal Parishes in the USA worked closely together in their
diligent preparation of the festal event.
Upon
completion of Vespers, Archbishop Justinian addressed the gathered
clergy and faithful with a greeting in which he said, "Today we,
commemorating the historical foundations of this Triumph of
Orthodoxy, namely ‒ the restoration of icon veneration at the
Seventh Ecumenical Council, have the right to realize that triumph
in its broader sense. We confess the Truth, which for two millennia
the Church has safeguarded and to which She has borne witness.
Unfortunately, after the Seventh Ecumenical Council, there were no
further such councils in the history of our Church. And, more
unfortunately, this gave rise in many Christians to the thought that
perhaps there needn’t be more. What’s more, they began to fear
another council! But catholicity, conciliarity, is the Church’s
normal state of being, and we realize this conciliarity today with
our joint service in this church. Together we all truly feel
ourselves to be a single people in Christ, and understand that
Orthodoxy is above any jurisdictional boundaries. We have one
Orthodox dogma, we have shared Orthodox canons, and we simply do not
have the right to live separately, each pulling Orthodoxy into our
own corners. The realization of our common Orthodoxy obliges us to
meet more frequently, and calls us to common prayer and shared
labor. We sense that we are in need of this. How many years, at
every level, have there been discussions about fortifying the unity
of the Orthodox Church? I say this, that unity will not be realized
in high-placed offices, but here – in our Orthodox churches."
Bishop Jerome also greeted those gathered, and thanked the
organizers of the feast. In turn, Archbishop Justinian presented
Hierarchal gramotas to those clerics and laymen who worked
particularly hard to prepare this significant, triumphal event:
- Archpriest Serge Lukianov (Eastern American Diocesan secretary) - Priest Stephen Kuznica
(cathedral rector) - Deacon Leonid Roschko
(cleric, St. George’s Church in Howell, NJ) - Subdeacon Theodore
Gregory (Governor of the NJ District of the Fellowship of Orthodox
Christians in America) - Reader Michael Kupec
(cathedral parishioner) - Reader Peter Lukianov
(Eastern American Diocesan Media Office staffer) - Reader Gregory Levitsky
(Eastern American Diocesan Media Office staffer) - William Kraftician
(parishioner, Holy Trinity OCA Church in Randolph, NJ) - Kenneth (parish
president) and Helen Ochab (cathedral parishioner) - Paula Brunson
(cathedral parishioner) - Ruth Glita (cathedral
parishioner) - Marge Kovach
(parishioner, Sts. Peter & Paul OCA Church in Bayonne, NJ) - Eileen Telischak
(cathedral parishioner) - Irina Gozick
(parishioner, St. John the Baptist MP Church in Little Falls
(Signac), NJ
The clergy
and faithful continued their interaction at a brotherly dinner in
the Cultural Center next door to the cathedral.
Available to our readers below is a video of the Great Vespers and
Rite of Orthodoxy:
Republication of materials must include a reference to:
"Eastern American Diocesewww.eadiocese.org."
