November 2, 2013
Washington, DC: Church Life at St. John the Baptist Cathedral
The
month of October was extremely eventful for the parishioners of
St. John the Baptist Cathedral in Washington, DC. On the first
weekend of the month, October 5-6, the parish held a traditional
two-day Russian folk festival fundraiser, which annually draws
guests in the hundreds. Parishioners spent two months just preparing
all of the food that would be sold! In addition to the usual
attractions at such events – sampling Russian cuisine, buying
souvenirs, books, and recordings of Russian song and dance, the
festival gave parishioners a wonderful opportunity to acquaint
non-Orthodox guests with the cathedral, the holy icons and relics
within, and tell them about Orthodoxy. God bless Protodeacon Leonid
(Mickle – ed.), who with abundant love has for many years led tours
of the church.
A week later, Vitaly Permiakov, professor of Liturgical Theology at
Holy Trinity Seminary in Jordanville, NY, paid a visit to the
parish. On Sunday, October 13, after each Liturgy (English and
Slavonic – ed.) and luncheon, Vitaly delivered a lecture – one in
English, one in Russian – about "The Purpose and Structure of the
All-Night Vigil." Vitaly is very well acquainted with the subject:
his reasoning followed a beautiful path, explaining throughout the
course of his presentation the importance for Orthodox Christians of
taking part in this service. This is especially true for those who
are preparing to partake of Christ’s Holy Mysteries the following
morning. Both of his lectures can be viewed online
here.
On Saturday, October 19, parishioners of St. John the Baptist
Cathedral welcomed a dear guest from Moscow – Archpriest Artemy
Vladimirov. On October 19-20, Fr. Artemy took part in the parish’s
divine services. At the Liturgy on Sunday, he delivered a sermon
dedicated to the raising of the son of the widow of Nain. After the
luncheon, Fr. Artemy led a wonderful talk in the crowded parish hall
on various spiritual topics (video of his sermon and talk is
available
here).
Though
they wanted to ask Fr. Artemy a great many questions, parishioners
kept their inquiries to a minimum, since their dear guest had only
limited time to see some of the capital’s attractions and get some
time to rest ‒ after all, that very same Sunday he would have to
present his musical-literary concert at the Catholic University!
This article’s author and the concert’s audience gathered for the
first time in their lives at an event of this kind, and as a result
had only a vague idea of what to expect. The evening’s theme was
"Fathers & Sons." Over the course of an hour and a half, Fr. Artemy
shared his creative words of wisdom, after which he would pause his
thoughts and invite
the masterful pianist and composer Renara (Daria in baptism)
Akhoundova to illustrate with music his priestly words. Such a
unique form of homily was to great effect with the audience,
allowing them to more easily delve into Fr. Artemy’s message and
contemplate the eternal…
On Saturday, October
26, on the feast of the Iveron Icon of the Mother of God (the
original, preserved on Mt. Athos – ed.), the myrrh-streaming
"Hawaiian" Iveron Icon of the Mother of God visited the parish. The
Hawaiian Icon is a small, paper copy of the myrrh-streaming
"Montreal" Iveron Icon, whose faithful guardian of 15 years, Brother
Jose Muñoz-Cortes, was brutally martryed in Athens on October 31,
1997.
The
wonderworking icon remained in the cathedral over the October 26-27
weekend. At every divine service, the church was filled to capacity
with the faithful. Every worshiper was not only anointed with myrrh
from the abundantly flowing icon, but also received a piece of
cotton with myrrh and a small folding icon, in prayerful remembrance
of the Hawaiian Icon’s visit.
Parish cleric Priest John Johnson and rector Archpriest Victor
Potapov both mentioned in their sermons that the "Hawaiian" Icon was
brought to Washington on October 13/26, the feast of the Athonite
Iveron Icon of the Mother of God, and on October 27 was present in
church for the feast of the Holy Fathers of the Seventh Ecumenical
Council, whose God-bearing participants delivered the final Orthodox
theological verdict defending the veneration of icons. The Iveron
Icon of the Mother of God is, itself, a martyr, having suffered
during the age of iconoclasm. And her faithful guardian,
Brother Jose, was martyred in kind... Video of both sermons can be
found
here.
After Vigil on Thursday, October 31, the eve of the feast day of St.
John of Kronstadt, parish clergy served a panihida on the occasion
of the 16th anniversary of Brother Jose’s martyrdom.
On Saturday, November 2, close to one hundred parishioners of St.
John the Baptist Cathedral will set off on their 16th annual two-day
pilgrimage to Holy Trinity Monastery, to the grave of the Montreal
Icon’s guardian. However, this concerns the month of November, and
we will discuss it further in next month’s installment…
Archpriest Victor Potapov
Rector
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