July 14, 2016
Howell, NJ: Double Hierarchal Liturgy celebrated for Patronal Feast
of Our Lady of Tikhvin Church
On
Saturday, July 9, the feast day of the Tikhvin Icon of the Mother of
God, Metropolitan Hilarion of Eastern America & New York celebrated
Divine Liturgy in Our Lady of Tikhvin Church at St. Alexander Nevsky
Diocesan Cathedral in Howell, NJ. His Eminence was co-served by
Bishop Nicholas of Salavat & Kumertau (Republic of Bashkortostan,
Russia), currently visiting the Western & Eastern American Dioceses
with the blessing of the hierarchy of the Russian Church Abroad, and
who had taken part in the celebrations in honor of the 50th
anniversary of the repose of the Holy Hierarch John of Shanghai &
San Francisco, held in San Francisco, CA.
The
hierarchs were co-served by diocesan and visiting clergy:
Protopresbyter Valery Lukianov (dean of New Jersey, pastor emeritus
of the church), Archpriests Serge Lukianov (diocesan secretary, dean
of St. Alexander Nevsky Cathedral), Mark Burachek (rector of Our
Lady of Kazan Church in Newark, NY), Rafael Melendez (Albanian
Orthodox Church), Petro Kunitsky (cleric of Holy New Martyrs &
Confessors of Russia Church in Brooklyn, NY), Boris Slootsky (parish
cleric), George Zelenin (rector of St. Michael’s Church in Paterson,
NJ), and Zoran Radovic (rector of St. George Serbian Church in
Elizabeth, NJ); Priests Alexey Bykon (cleric of New Martyrs Church),
Seraphim Chemodakov (parish cleric), and Serge Ledkovsky (deputy
rector of St. Vladimir Memorial Church in Jackson, NJ); Protodeacons
Vasily Milonow (cleric of Holy Protection Memorial Church in Ottawa,
Canada), Nicholas Lukianov, Leonid Roschko, Paul Drozdowski (parish
clerics), and Dionysius Lvov (cleric of the Synodal Cathedral of the
Sign in New York City).
Prior
to the start of Liturgy, His Eminence awarded parish altar server
Mykola Ivanchuk the right to wear the orarion.
Present
during the festal divine services on Friday evening and Saturday
morning in the Tikhvin Church was a wonderworking copy of the
Tikhvin Icon of the Mother of God, given to the church by Olga V.
Astori-Astafiev. The icon owes its nickname – the "Royal Icon" – to
its origins: the holy image originally belonged to the Empress
Alexandra Feodorovna, who in the year of the 300th Anniversary of
the Romanov Dynasty bestowed it as a blessing upon her seamstress
Trofimova – Olga’s mother.
Upon conclusion of the Liturgy, a multitude of the faithful communed
of Christ’s Holy Mysteries. Metropolitan Hilarion congratulated the
clergy and parishioners on the occasion of their patronal feast day,
and addressed the faithful with a sermon. His Eminence noted that
the original Tikhvin Icon, just as the Kursk Root Icon of the Mother
of God, wound up in America after the Second World War, and remained
for many years in Chicago. However, unlike with the Protectress of
the Russian Diaspora, not many were given an opportunity to pray
before this icon, and because of its large dimensions, the Tikhvin
Icon rarely traveled. Only before its return to Russia in 2004 were
the faithful of New York able to pray before the wonderworking
image.
Metropolitan
Hilarion spoke about the Tikhvin Icon’s history: "The holy icon was
painted by the Apostle and Evangelist Luke, and was located in the
Church of our Lady of Blachernae. When the Turks captured
Constantinople, the icon vanished, only to reappear in Rus’ in the
14th century miraculously: the people saw the icon on Lake Ladoga,
floating above the water. The holy icon was housed in a church near
the city of Tikhvin, from whence the icon received its name. During
the reign of Tsar Ivan the Terrible, a monastery was built in place
of the church, and the icon remained there until the Second World
War – and has remained there hence since returning to Russia.
Church dean Fr. Serge Lukianov greeted the Metropolitan and Bishop
Nicholas and noted that this year marks the 80th anniversary of the
parish’s founding; he also pointed out that this is the only church
in America and in the entire Church Abroad named in honor of the
Tikhvin Icon of the Mother of God. On behalf of the clergy and
parish, Fr. Serge presented Metropolitan Hilarion with a carved
wooden panagia, and presented Bishop Nicholas with an identical
panagia, as well as an icon of the Holy Right-Believing Great Prince
Alexander Nevsky with a commemorative plaque.
The parish sisterhood invited the clergy, guests, and faithful to a
festal luncheon, after which Fr. Serge acquainted Bishop Nicholas
with St. Alexander Nevsky Cathedral and its icons and relics.
Media Office of the Eastern American Diocese
