On Saturday, December 11, the feast day of the Holy Martyr Irenarchus, Bishop Job of Stuttgart, vicar of the Diocese of Germany, who had been ordained the day prior, celebrated his first hierarchal Divine Liturgy in the Synodal Cathedral of the Sign in New York City.

Concelebrating with His Grace were: Archpriest Andrei Sommer (cathedral dean), Archpriest Alexandre Antchoutine (dean of New York City & Long Iskand), Archpriest Edward Chervinsky (cathedral cleric), Priest Pavel Rusakoff (cleric of "Inexhaustible Chalice" Church in Brooklyn, NY), Archdeacon Peter (Karakozoff; cleric of Joy of All Who Sorrow Cathedral in San Francisco, CA), and Hierodeacon Panteleimon (Jigalin; diocesan cleric). Praying in the altar were: Archbishop Kyrill of San Francisco & Western America, Archbishop Gabriel of Montreal & Canada, Bishop Nicholas of Manhattan, and chancellor of the Synod of Bishops Archpriest Serafim Gan.

The service was held under the aegis of the Protectress of the Russian Diaspora – the wonderworking Kursk Root Icon of the Mother of God. The Synodal choir sang triumphally under the direction of conductor Vadim S. Gan.

Cathedral parishioners and guests from neighboring parishes prayed at Liturgy and communed of Christ’s Holy Mysteries.

Fr. Alexandre Antchoutine, rector of Holy Virgin Intercession Church in Glen Cove, NY, presented Bishop Job with a commemorative panagia with an icon of the Protection of the Mother of God and hierarchal service books as a gift from the parish.

Upon completion of Liturgy, a luncheon was organized for the clergy in the cathedral hall.

Remembering his joining the monastery in 2003, Bishop Job reminisced about how his path to the monastic life was directly blessed by the Mother of God in her Kursk Root Icon.

"At that time, the Kursk Root Icon of the Most Holy Theotokos happened to be visiting the parish in Berlin, and when the priest heard that we were driving to the monastery in Munich, he asked he to take the icon with us. And so, I rode to the monastery with the icon resting on my knees. It was a 600 km [370 mile] drive; we were in the car for about 8 hours. It was then that I understood that the icon was transporting me to the monastery.

"The following day, I was given an obedience, and on the workshop wall I again saw the Kursk Root Icon. And yesterday at the festal Liturgy in honor of the Icon "of the Sign" – with the icon itself in church – I was now elevated to the episcopal rank in her House."