December 4, 2013
"Let us give thanks unto the Lord!" Church Celebrations in
Washington
On
Saturday the 23rd and Sunday the 24th of November, celebratory
services were held at
St. John the Baptist Cathedral in Washington, DC, that will long
remain in parishioners’ memories. Metropolitan Hilarion of Eastern
America & New York, First Hierarch of the Russian Church Abroad,
visited during these days in order to pray alongside parishioners on
the feast of the Montreal Iveron Icon of the Mother of God, as well
as perform two ordinations.
In the days leading up to the First Hierarch’s arrival, a group of
parishioners carried out a general clean-up of the cathedral, during
which was polished the silver
riza (cover) adorning the cathedral’s copy of the same icon
guarded by Brother Jose Muñoz-Cortes for 15 years until his martyric
death in 1997.
The Washington copy of the "Montreal" Icon was written by the
Athonite Archimandrite Chrysostomos – the same iconographer who
created the icon guarded by Brother Jose since 1982. According to
Fr. Chrysostomos, the Washington icon was a gift "from love to
love;" that is, the icon is given to all those who love and venerate
the Mother of God and honor the martyred guardian of her
wonderworking icon.
On the first anniversary of the death of Brother Jose, the new icon
was brought to the American capital by a friend of Brother Jose’s,
the Athenian jeweler Emmanuel (Manolis) Agriris. He had adorned the
icon with an exact copy of the silver
riza he had once made for
the "Montreal" Icon. The riza
is covered in precious and semiprecious jewels, donated by the
faithful across the Diaspora. Throughout the year, the Washington
copy of the wonderworking icon is kept in a large
kiot, specially made for
the "Montreal" Icon and which remained in the home chapel of Br.
Jose for five years. The kiot
and Br. Jose’s other personal items were given over to the cathedral
for safekeeping.
Over the last several years, parishioners began to notice that the
Washington icon would become covered in a thin white film which
smelled of myrrh. With the blessing of the rector, it was decided to
clean the film from the icon. Parishioner and professional restorer
Irina Belyakov scrupulously shone a special infrared light across
the entire surface of the icon, as a result of which the film slowly
changed into myrrh, and was easily removed with cotton. On Friday,
November 22, Irina cleaned the icon for a third time. The following
day, the film of dried myrrh returned once more, and it was decided
not to repeat the cleanings…
A
copy of the "Montreal" Iveron Icon was place on the central
analogion in preparation for Metropolitan Hilarion’s arrival. Next
to it was placed an icon of the Holy Warrior-Martyr Victor of
Damascus with a piece of his holy relics, since his feast day
coincides with that of the "Montreal" Icon.
At Vigil on November 23, two choirs sang outstandingly as always –
one in Slavonic, under the direction of maestro Youri A. Petcherkin,
and one in English, under the able direction of Paula Genis.
Throughout the entire evening service, the four cathedral priests
(rector Archpriest Victor Potapov, Priest John Johnson, Priest
Alexander Resnikoff, and Priest Victor Klimenko) confessed the many
faithful who wished to cleanse themselves of their sins and be able
to commune of Christ’s Holy Mysteries on the following day. Serving
the Vigil was Hieromonk Tikhon (Gayfudinov; the Metropolitan’s cell
attendant). He was co-served by the four parish deacons ‒
Protodeacon Leonid Mickle and Deacons Patrick Mitchell, Damian
Dantinne, and John Dean. During the Polyeleos, the Magnification was
sung to the "Montreal" Iveron Icon of the Mother of God.
Metropolitan Hilarion anointed all those who venerated the Gospel
and festal icons with myrrh from the myrrh-streaming "Hawaiian"
Iveron Icon.
After Vigil, the sisterhood arranged a delicious dinner for the
clergy and select guests, which gave the Metropolitan an opportunity
to interact with clergy and active parishioners in an informal
setting.
The following morning, November 24, the First Hierarch was greeted
with the peal of bells. At the entrance to the cathedral, parish
warden D.M. Zaretsky met His Eminence and delivered a short
greeting, in which he thanked the ROCOR Primate for his visit to the
parish and asked his holy prayers for the community’s spiritual
prosperity.
At the end of the Sixth Hour, parish Reader Gregory Trubetskoy was
ordained a subdeacon.
After
the Great Entrance, Deacon Damian Dantinne was ordained a priest.
Fr. Damian was born in the USA and was baptized as an infant into
the Orthodox Faith. For most of his life, he lived in South Jersey,
where he finished high school. In 1998, he graduated Rutgers
University with a B.S. in Computer Science. Fr. Damian spend ten
years in the U.S. Army Reserve; in July 2008, he was ordained to the
diaconate, and in the summer of 2011 came to serve in St. John’s
parish. Fr. Damian and his Matushka Anastasia live in Crofton, MD
with their two sons – Matthew (11) and Andrew (6).
A video recording of Fr. Damian’s ordination is available
here.
After the Eucharistic Canon, Subdeacon Gregory Trubetskoy (nephew of
Matushka Maria Potapov) was ordained a deacon. Gregory A. Trubetskoy
was born in Moscow and baptized Orthodox in infancy. When he was 16
years old, he moved to the USA with his mother, Ekaterina, and
sister; they settled in Washington. The new deacon studied
Information Technology at Montgomery College. He has sung tenor in
the parish’s Slavonic choir since 2001, and has taken active part in
the life of the choir and many events related to church singing. At
present, Fr. Gregory lives and works in Vienna, VA with his Matushka
Tatiana and their children ‒ Alexander (17) and Michael (13).
A video recording of Fr. Gregory's ordination is available
here.
At this especially memorable Liturgy, a multitude of the faithful
communed of Christ’s Holy Mysteries from four chalices. Also praying
in church during the Liturgy was the former Primate of the Orthodox
Church in America (OCA), His Beatitude, Metropolitan Jonah
(Paffhausen). Upon completion of the service, prior to the
dismissal, Metropolitan Hilarion delivered a thoughtful sermon on
the "Montreal" Iveron Icon of the Mother of God and its faithful
guardian, the murdered Brother Jose. His Eminence’s sermon can be
seen
here.
After
the Liturgy, the sisterhood prepared a bountiful luncheon for the
faithful, during which words of congratulation were offered to the
newly ordained Priest Damian and Deacon Gregory, as well as to those
celebrating their namesdays: rector Archpriest Victor Potapov,
Priest Victor Klimenkov, and Priest John Johnson.
Among the guests in attendance at the luncheon was Suzanne Massie,
author of the renowned book
Land of the Firebird: The Beauty of Old Russia, dedicated to the
history of Russia, and a series of other works. She delivered a
short greeting and spoke about her recently published book,
Trust but Verify: Reagan,
Russia and Me. In her new book, Massie speaks about her role as
an advisor to President Reagan during his historic negotiations with
Mikhail Gorbachev in the 1980s.
Three years ago, Suzanne Massie converted to Orthodoxy…
Joyous weekdays followed the departure of the First Hierarch. Every
day all week, the newly ordained Priest Damian and Deacon Gregory
concelebrated their first independent Liturgies. Throughout the
week, the Washington copy of the "Montreal" Icon remained in the
center of the church.
We ask readers to fervently pray for the new laborers in the
Vineyard of Christ – Priest Damian and Deacon Gregory – and for the
parishioners of St. John the Baptist Cathedral in Washington, DC.
May the Lord Almighty preserve you all!
Archpriest Victor Potapov
Rector
Republication of materials must include a reference to:
"Eastern American Diocese www.eadiocese.org."
