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Jordanville, NY: Annual Labor Day Weekend Pilgrimage at Holy Trinity Monastery

From Saturday, August 31, to Monday, September 2, Holy Trinity Monastery in Jordanville, NY held its annual Labor Day Pilgrimage. Divine services were led by His Grace, Eastern American Diocesan vicar Bishop Luke of Syracuse.

On Saturday afternoon, a procession was held to Holy Dormition Church in the monastery cemetery to greet the wonderworking Pochaev Icon of the Mother of God, which on the feast of the Dormition of the Most Holy Theotokos is left on the altar table. The icon was then taken to the Holy Trinity Cathedral in procession, with the monastery choir chanting hymns of the feast of the Dormition. Bishop Luke awaited the icon at the entrance to the cathedral and to the pealing of the monastery bells blessed the multitude of gathered parishioners and pilgrims with the icon. A moleben with akathist was to St. Job, the patron saint of the monastery publishing house and the cathedral’s lower church. Upon the conclusion of the moleben, the Rule for Communion followed.

On Sunday morning, Bishop Luke celebrated Divine Liturgy, co-served by monastery and visiting clergy. At the Little Entrance, His Grace elevated Priest Andrei Rudenko (cleric of St. Alexander Nevsky Memorial Church in Richmond, ME) to the rank of archpriest. Specially commemorated at the Great Entrance and throughout the service were the victims of the Beslan Massacre, which took place in these days 15 years ago. After Liturgy, lunch was served for all, and pilgrims were free to walk the monastery grounds.

The pilgrimage continued with Divine Liturgy on Monday morning. Among the specially commemorated departed were Archpriest John Moses (in honor of his 40th day), Hieromonk Seraphim (Rose) and monastery cleric Hierodeacon Zosima (Nikulyak) in honor of the anniversary of their repose.

Background

Labor Day weekend in the United States, besides being a time to commemorate all those who work hard in the nation’s industry, is traditionally considered the last weekend of the summer season, a time when people often have their last vacation time and have barbeques and other festivities.

Many years ago, the brethren of Holy Trinity Monastery in Jordanville, NY, in view of this civil holiday, decided to offer the faithful a pious alternative, holding a general pilgrimage to the monastery in honor of Venerable Job of Pochaev, the first abbot of the famous Pochaev Lavra in Ukraine, and also the icon of Our Lady of Pochaev, a miraculous copy of which is found in the lower church of the monastery’s Holy Trinity Cathedral. Finally, the Labor Day Pilgrimage was a perfect complement to the Memorial Day Pilgrimage, celebrated for many decades at the start of summer in St. Tikhon of Zadonsk Monastery in South Canaan, PA, from which the first monks at Holy Trinity Monastery came.

The feast of the Uncovering of the Relics of St. Job is September 10, which is celebrated by the monastery as its main feast of St. Job, who is especially venerated by the brethren, since many of the monastery’s traditions, as well as well as many of the fathers who emigrated to the United States and joined the monastery after WWII were connected with the Pochaev Lavra and St. Job. Also, many of the pilgrims have their place of origin in Ukraine, and are spiritually close to this ancient monastery.

Thus, for many years the monastery has held special services and processions on Labor Day weekend, taking advantage of the fact that it is a long weekend which makes it more convenient for the faithful to arrive here from the neighboring cities.

Published with materials from www.jordanville.org

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Eastern American Diocese | Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia