From Saturday the 17th through Tuesday the 20th of July, the brotherhood of the Monastery of St. Dionysios the Areopagite in St. James, NY, was blessed to host the wonderworking Kursk Root Icon of the Mother of God.

That Saturday morning, after concelebrating Divine Liturgy with Archpriest Serafim Gan at St. Seraphim of Sarov Memorial Church in Sea Cliff, NY, Archimandrite Maximos (Weimar) and Abbot Silouan (Justiniano), respectively abbot and deputy abbot of St. Dionysios brotherhood, returned to the monastery with the wonderworking icon. That evening, following Great Vespers, the brotherhood and parish community sang the akathist dedicated to the icon, joined by Archpriest John Klingel (rector of St. Andrew OCA Church in Dix Hills, NY) and visitors from his parish.

On Sunday, the monastic brotherhood celebrated Matins and Divine Liturgy in the presence of the icon. In his homily, Hieromonk Vasileios (Willard) provided a brief history of the icon and the miracles worked through it by the intercessions of the Most Holy Theotokos, including an account of its journey to its present home in New York City. He preached about how the sacramental reality of such icons points to the centrality of God's continuing work in His good creation, but that our faith cannot rely on either miracles or philosophy for its strength.

When Monday evening arrived, the brotherhood sang the Akathist Hymn to the Most Holy Theotokos. Fr. Maximos noted, "The joy of having the icon in our midst feels as if it were a second Pascha."

On Tuesday afternoon, the monks were pleased to welcome His Grace Nicholas, Bishop of Manhattan, who shared dinner and conversation with the brotherhood. Afterward, the icon was returned to his safekeeping.

St. Dionysios Brotherhood expressed their deep gratitude and appreciate to all who came and worshipped with them, and who served so generously in providing festal meals after the divine services.