July 14, 2013
Coronado: Parish Life in Costa Rica

From Thursday the 13th to Monday the 17th of June, Eastern American Diocesan secretary Archpriest Serge Lukianov held an official visit to the ROCOR mission in Costa Rica, headquartered at the Church of our Lady of Vladimir in Coronado. Our Lady of Vladimir Mission was recently left without a priest, and the goal of Fr. Serge’s visit was to normalize the situation in the parish, meet with parishioners, and sign over the deed of the church property to the Diocese.

On Saturday evening, a parish council meeting was held. The following morning, Fr. Serge celebrated the Divine Liturgy, co-served by Priest Ignacio Miranda from the local Antiochian Church (with the blessing of Metropolitan Hilarion of Eastern America & New York, Fr. Ignacio visits Our Lady of Vladimir Mission twice a month to lead services and care for parishioners). After Liturgy, with the blessing of Metropolitan Hilarion, the following benefactors and church helpers were awarded diocesan Gramotas:

Matushka Elena Aragon (widow of former rector Priest Rodion Aragon)
Nikolai Zakharov – warden
Lidia Kondrashova – treasurer
Natalia Plescheeva – secretary
Alexey Anaskin
Lubov Anaskina
Irina Burkaltseva
Larisa Gradovich
Lilia Bakalets
Irina Verkhova
Olga Dyakova
Oksana Lysova
Larisa Kharina
Svetlana Soboleva

While in Coronado, Fr. Serge was also able to performed a wedding, joining together a Russian émigré woman and a Costa Rican convert to Orthodoxy.

Our Lady of Vladimir Mission is in great financial difficulty. Although the parishioners have managed to erect a church building, it remains without a cupola, ceiling, or iconostasis, and is also in need of icons to adorn the nave. We ask our brothers and sisters, all who are willing and able, to donate to the struggling parish in Coronado. Payment can be made on PayPal on this website, or checks can be sent to the diocesan administration at:

Eastern American Diocese
 Re: Our Lady of Vladimir Mission
55 East Third Street
Howell, NJ 07731

Republication of materials must include a reference to: 
"Eastern American Diocese www.eadiocese.org."

Media Office of the Eastern American Diocese