The first feast of the ecclesiastical year is the Nativity of the Most Holy Theotokos. This is very apt since the birth of the Mother of God is, as we sing at Vespers, the beginning of the construction of our salvation: "Today the gateway of the barren woman is opened, and the divine Virgin portal cometh forth! Today grace beginneth to bear fruit, revealing to the world the Mother of God, through whom those on earth are united to those in Heaven, for the salvation of our souls."

On Monday the 20th and Tuesday the 21st of September, His Grace Luke, Bishop of Syracuse and abbot of the monastery, presided at the Polyleos during the festal All-Night Vigil, and celebrated Divine Liturgy the following morning.

During the Hours, Bishop Luke tonsured seminarian Peter James, a third-year graduate student, a subdeacon. After the Eucharistic Canon, His Grace ordained Subdeacon Romano Regalo, a graduate student from the Philippines, to the diaconate.

Holy Trinity Seminary offered its sincere congratulation to both seminarians and pray that God will strengthen them in their desire to serve Christ’s Church and the faithful.