On Tuesday, February 15, the great feast of the Meeting of the Lord, His Grace, Bishop Jerome, celebrated Divine Liturgy in Nativity of the Mother of God Church at the New Kursk Root Hermitage in Mahopac, NY. Serving alongside His Grace were parish clergy: rector priest George Temidis and Deacons Alexey Pnev and Konstantin Aleshin.

Upon conclusion of Liturgy, Bishop Jerome addressed the gathered faithful with a sermon, in which he spoke on the history of the feast, which at one time was considered to be solely a feast of the Lord, and was then extended to be a joint feast of the Lord and of the Theotokos (as well as of the Righteous Symeon). His Grace touched on the various traditions that accompany the celebration of the Meeting of the Lord. He then called the attention of the faithful to the meeting we have with ourselves, in which we see what is our greatest desire (as did Symeon) and, ultimately, our meeting with the Lord in the heavens.

The sermon was followed by the traditional blessing of candles, after which Fr. George sprinkled the whole church with holy water.