On Sunday, September 26, the feast of the Dedication (Reconsecration) of the Church of the Holy Resurrection (Holy Sepulcher) in Jerusalem, a significant event took place in the life of Our Lady of Pochaev Church in North Port, FL.

With the blessing of the First Hierarch of the Russian Church Abroad, His Eminence Hilarion, Metropolitan of Eastern America & New York, the head of St. Boniface Benevolent Fund, Matushka Natalia Mezentsev of Moscow, gifted the church two reliquary icons, containing pieces of the relics of the Holy Hieromartyr Cyprian of Carthage and the Holy Archdeacon and Protomartyr Stephen. Matushka Natalia also presented an icon of the Protection of the Most Holy Theotokos containing a piece of the omophorion of the Mother of God.

After Divine Liturgy, parish rector Archimandrite Stefan (Khilchuk) addressed parishioners and thanked Matushka Natalia for the holy gifts. In turn, she spoke about the work of the Fund, its mission, and the history of how it came to be.

This is not Matushka Natalia’s first visit to North Port. A year prior, with the blessing of Metropolitan Hilarion, she brought other sacred items: reliquary icons of the Holy Hierarchs Nicholas the Wonderworker and Spyridon of Tremithus, the Holy Great Martyr Barbara, Venerable Seraphim of Sarov, the Holy Righteous Admiral Theodore Ushakov, the Holy Hierarch Luke of Simferopol, the Venerable Nun-Martyr Elizabeth Feodorovna, and Blessed Matrona of Moscow. She also presented the parish with a cross containing a piece of the Life-Giving Tree of the Cross of the Lord and a bell.

Parishioners gave thanks to God, noting the symbolic parallel that, on the feast of the renewal of the Church in Jerusalem, the church in North Port was likewise renewed with new sacred icons and relics.