November 20, 2015
New York City: Bishop Nicholas of Manhattan leads Liturgy & Panihida in Synodal Cathedral

On Sunday, November 15, Bishop Nicholas of Manhattan, vicar of the Eastern American Diocese, celebrated Divine Liturgy in the Synodal Cathedral of the Sign in New York City, co-served by cathedral clergy: Archpriest Andrei Sommer (senior priest of the cathedral), Archpriest Vasiliy Raskovskiy, Hieromonk Eutychius (Dovganyuk), Priest Vitaliy Lalyukov, Hieromonk Zosimas (Krampis), Protodeacon Nicolas Mokhoff, and Deacons Nazari Fataliev and Dionysius Lvov. A mixed choir of 40 singers performed the Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom by P.I. Tchaikovsky, under the direction of Peter Fekula.

Tchaikovsky was the first Russian composer to write the music of the Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom as a single and complete composition. "The Liturgy" is one of Tchaikovsky’s most significant spiritual works. The composer acknowledged that his work was an attempt to restore a sense of uniqueness to Russian church music. Over 200 people prayed at the service.

Upon completion of the Liturgy, His Grace, co-served by the clergy, led a panihida for the hierarchs, clergy, and faithful, in connection with the 95th anniversary (November 14, 1920) of the evacuation of the White Army – under the command of General Wrangel – from Crimea. As Bishop Nicholas noted, among those who evacuated alongside General Wrangel were the founders of the Russian Church Abroad. It was providential, then, that the Protectress of the Russian Diaspora – the Kursk Root Icon of the Mother of God – returned to Crimea in time to accompany the exiles in their evacuation.

Today, the Synodal Cathedral of the Sign is home to the battle standards of the 2nd and 3rd Regiments of the Drozdovsky Rifle Division, which were unfurled that Sunday in honor of the memorial event. During the litiya for the departed, the standards were carried into the church by descendants of Russian cadets – cavaliers of the Orders of the Kursk Root Icon of the Mother of God Prince Vladimir K. Galitzine and longtime cathedral Subdeacon George Schatiloff.

Upon completion of the service, the cathedral sisterhood prepared a bountiful luncheon for the clergy and faithful in the church hall.

Media Office of the Eastern American Diocese