On Sunday, June 14, the Church of the Holy New Martyrs & Confessors of Russia in Brooklyn, NY was presented an icon of its Heavenly patrons. The holy icon was ordered and delivered to the U.S. by two clerics of the Rostov Metropolitanate – Archpriest Dimitri Serbin and Priest Svyatoslav Badankov.

On the Sunday of all Saints who shone forth in the Russian Land, parish rector Archpriest Serge Lukianov celebrated the Divine Liturgy, co-served by Fr. Dimitri (rector of St. Nicholas Church in Chertkovo, Rostov Obl.), parish cleric Archpriest Petro Kunitsky, and Fr. Svyatoslav (rector of St. George’s Church in Kuleshovka, Rostov Obl.). The church was full, and many communed of Christ’s Holy Mysteries.

A multitude of parishioners and faithful from neighboring Brooklyn and New York parishes made a special trip to the parish that day in order to venerate the new church icon. In honor of the occasion, benefactors specially sent beautiful flowers to adorn the icon of the Holy New Martyrs & Confessors of Russia, and the church.

Upon completion of the service, Fr. Serge addressed the faithful with a sermon, noting the importance of honoring the holy, God-pleasing saints who had shone forth in the Russian land over the course of more than 1,025 years, and in whose number are the New Martyrs and Confessors of Russia. Fr. Serge thanked the priests from Rostov for their gift – an exact copy of the 1981 icon, painted by Archimandrite Cyprian (Pyzhov) for the glorification by the Russian Church Abroad of the New Martyrs & Confessors. "In Russia at that time, such a glorification was not possible," said Fr. Serge. "But the Church Abroad demonstrated our reverence for Patriarch Tikhon the Confessor, Tsar Nicholas the Passion-Bearer, and the entire body of new martyrs and confessors. Our connection to these remarkable saints is very edifying for us. These were people like us, who lived among us not long ago, and today we magnify them. It is them – our connection between Heaven and earth – that we celebrate today."

Fr. Serge congratulated all those who bear the names of Russian saints on the occasion of their namesday, and called on the faithful to follow the example of the saints and commune of Christ’s Holy and Life-Giving Mysteries, so that our bodies, too, might become the temple of the Living God.

As a sign of gratitude, Fr. Serge presented Frs. Dimitri and Syatoslav icons with a piece of the clothing of the martyred guardian of the myrrh-streaming Iveron-Montreal Icon of the Mother of God, Brother Jose Muñoz-Cortes, widely revered in the Russian Diaspora. He also presented them with oil from the lamp that burns at Jose’s grave, a jubilee book, "The First Hierarch," published in honor Metropolitan Hilarion’s 30th anniversary of hierarchal service, and two books by Protopresbyter Valery Lukianov –Lantern of Grace (about the life of the Holy Hierarch John of Shanghai & San Francisco) and Liturgical Notes.

The Rostov priests continued their pilgrimage journey from Brooklyn to Holy Trinity Monastery in Jordanville, NY, after which they will return home to Russia.