April 3, 2013
Jordanville, NY: The Northern Clergy Retreat concluded with the
Hierarchal Presanctified Liturgy
Wednesday,
April 3, marked the final day
of the
Northern Lenten Retreat
for clergy of the Eastern American Diocese and the Patriarchal
Parishes in the USA at Holy Trinity Monastery in Jordanville, NY.
The retreat concluded with the Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts,
led by the First Hierarch of the Russian Church Abroad, His
Eminence, Metropolitan Hilarion. The First Hierarch was
concelebrated by His Grace, Bishop George, and retreat participants.
During the Little Entrance, Priest Job Watts (rector of St.
Nektarios Church in Lenoir City, TN) was awarded the kamilavka.
The Liturgy was an expression of the spiritual unity that has dwelt
among the clergy, and is characteristic of past lenten retreats in
the Diocese. "Our unity as the Body of Christ is manifested when we
partake of the one Holy Bread," said Fr. Job. "That unity is the
basis from which everything else flows. Roundtable discussions and
lectures will bring us no benefit if we are not mystically tied
together through the Holy Bread."
Archpriest
Mark Shinn (rector of St. Andrew’s Patriarchal Cathedral in
Philadelphia, PA) echoed his sentiments:"Love
reigns at the altar table. Prior to communing, we embrace one
another with the words, ‘Christ is in our midst – He is and ever
shall be.’ One cannot imagine the Church without this understanding
of love and unity, centered on the Holy Eucharist. It is the living
incarnation of what it means to be the Church."
Afterthe Liturgy, a
farewell luncheon was held in the monastery refectory, followed by
an akathist in the main cathedral to St. Luke, the Surgeon of
Simferopol, before a piece of his holy relics. The Northern Clergy
Retreat thus concluded, and participants departed to their home
parishes, spiritually energized for the remainder of the Fast.
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