On Saturday night the 15th and Sunday the 16th of April, divine services for the great feast of Christ’s Resurrection were served in Holy Trinity Monastery in Jordanville, NY, led by the monastery’s abbot, Archimandrite Luke (Murianka). For the sixth year now, to the joy of the clergy and faithful, the divine services for Passion Week and Pascha at the monastery took place under the aegis of the myrrh-streaming Icon of the Most Holy Theotokos "Softener of Evil Hearts." 

On the evening of Great Saturday, April 15, people started to gather at the Church of the Nativity of the Mother of God at the New Kursk Root Hermitage), in Mahopac, NY. After a prayerful beginning of the service, people began the procession around the church, holding lit candles and singing. When His Grace, Bishop Jerome, joyfully pronounced "Christ is Risen!"...

On Monday, April 17, the second day of the feast of the Glorious Resurrection of Christ – Pascha, the clergy and faithful of St. Alexander Nevsky Diocesan Cathedral in Howell, NJ, welcomed His Eminence Hilarion, Metropolitan of Eastern America & New York. Preceding the beginning of the Liturgy, clergy and faithful met the myrrh-streaming icon of the Mother of God “The Softener of Evil Hearts,” which concludes its journey across the parishes and monasteries of the diocese. Afterwards came the solemn greeting of Metropolitan Hilarion, who brought with him a great sanctity: the Holy Fire, delivered to America from Jerusalem the previous evening. 

On Saturday the 15th and Sunday the 16th of April, the feast of the Glorious Resurrection of Christ – Pascha, Metropolitan Hilarion of Eastern American & New York, First Hierarch of the Russian Church Abroad, led the festal divine services in the Synodal Cathedral of the Sign in New York City. His Eminence was co-served by Bishop Irinej of Eastern America (Serbian Orthodox Church), Eastern American Diocesan vicar Bishop Nicholas of Manhattan, and cathedral clergy.

With the blessing of His Eminence Metropolitan Hilarion of Eastern America and New York, First Hierarch of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia, the Synodal Chancery, with the support of the St Andrew the First-Called Foundation, will have the Holy Fire brought from the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem to New York.

Beloved in the Lord Right Reverend archpastors, all-honorable presbyters and deacons, God-loving monks and nuns, dear brothers and sisters! On a night imbued with Divine light, replete with great solemnity and spiritual joy in the Master of the world Who has vanquished death, I address you all with the ancient exclamation that testifies steadfastly to our immutable hope: CHRIST IS RISEN!

With a heart filled with the endearing sensation of Paschal joy, I congratulate the hierarchs, clergymen, monastics, parishioners, and worshipers of our churches, scattered throughout the whole world, on the joyful celebration of the glorious Resurrection of Christ...

Vespers for Great Friday precedes Matins for Great Saturday, during which the Church commemorates the Burial of the Lord Jesus Christ, when the Savior’s Body was taken down from the Cross and placed in a new tomb. The touching singing of the cathedral clergy and the Synodal Choir lent the service a truly prayerful tone.

At Great Friday Matins on Thursday evening, Christ’s Church triumphally proclaims the tidings of the sufferings and death of the God-man, divided into 12 Gospel readings, called the Passion Gospels. The reading of the Twelve Gospels on Great Thursday, April 13, in the Synodal Cathedral of the Sign in New York City was led by Metropolitan Hilarion of Eastern America & New York, co-served by Bishop Nicholas of Manhattan, cathedral senior priest Archpriest Andrei Sommer, and cathedral clergy.

On April 13, Thursday of Passion Week, the feast of the Mystical Supper, Metropolitan Hilarion of Eastern America & New York, First Hierarch of the Russian Church Abroad, celebrated Divine Liturgy in the Synodal Cathedral of the Sign in New York City, co-served by diocesan vicar Bishop Nicholas of Manhattan.

On Friday, April 7 – the great feast of the Annunciation of the Most Holy Theotokos – Metropolitan Hilarion of Eastern America & New York celebrated the festal Divine Liturgy in honor of the patronal feast of Holy Annunciation Church in Flushing, NY. The First Hierarch of the Russian Church Abroad was met at the entrance to the church by parish rector Archpriest Ion Arama...

On Lazarus Saturday, April 8, Metropolitan Hilarion paid a traditional visit to the Stavropegial Metochion in Brooklyn, NY – the Church of our Lady "The Inexhaustible Chalice" – and celebrated Divine Liturgy there. At the entrance to the church, His Eminence was greeted with flowers and bread and salt by the parish’s head sister and treasurer.

On Great Monday, April 10, the clergy and faithful gathered in the Synodal Cathedral of the Sign in New York City to bid farewell to the newly reposed Archdeacon Eugene Burbelo. For many years, Fr. Eugene served as the Primatial Archdeacon, and had served as a deacon since 1954 when he was ordained by the First Hierarch of the Russian Church Abroad, Metropolitan Anastassy (Gribanovsky; +1965).

His Eminence, Metropolitan Hilarion, First Hierarch of the Russian Church Abroad and ruling bishop of the Diocese of Great Britain & Ireland, arrived in London on Monday, March 13, for his second archpastoral visit to the Diocese in 2017. Together with Protodeacon Dionysius Lvov, Metropolitan Hilarion was accompanied by Protectress of the Russian Diaspora – the wonderworking Kursk Root Icon of the Mother of God.

On Friday, April 7, the great feast of the Annunciation of the Most Holy Theotokos, His Grace, Bishop Jerome, paid an archpastoral visit to St. Panteleimon Church in Hartford, CT, where he celebrated Divine Liturgy. Upon arrival at the church, Bishop Jerome was greeted by the parish warden with bread and salt, and then by parish rector Archpriest Dionisy Nalitov. 

On April 2, the Sunday of St. Mary of Egypt, His Grace, Eastern American Diocesan vicar Bishop Nicholas of Manhattan, led the Sacrament of Holy Unction in Holy New Martyrs & Confessors of Russia Church in Brooklyn, NY.

Both before and during the Sunday of St. John Climacus, parish life at St. John the Baptist Cathedral in Washington, DC was filled with many spiritually informative and enriching events. On Saturday, March 25, Bishop Nicholas of Manhattan, vicar of the Eastern American Diocese, visited the cathedral and, on the eve of the fourth Sunday of Great Lent – the Sunday of Venerable John Climacus – served the All-Night Vigil.