On Friday, March 17, Metropolitan Nicholas of Eastern America & New York paid an archpastoral visit to St. Michael Church in Wayne, NJ, where he performed the Sacrament of Holy Unction.

Serving alongside His Eminence were: Archpriest Serge Lukianov (dean of New Jersey), Archpriest George Zelenin (parish rector), Abbot Eutychius (Dovgan; abbot of St. Nicholas Skete in Freehold, NJ), Hieromonk Theognost and Priest Andrew Podymow (clerics of Holy Virgin Protection Church in Nyack, NY), Priest Alexei Klar (cleric of Holy Dormition Convent "Novo-Diveevo" in Nanuet, NY), and Deacon Andrei Logvinenko (parish cleric).

A multitude of parishioners and faithful from other churches took part in the Sacrament.

Metropolitan Nicholas addressed those gathered with an instructive sermon on Great Lent, after which the priests anointed those participating in Holy Unction with blessed oil.

Parish rector Fr. George spoke about the new church, where two Paschas have now been served, beginning in 2021.

The parish obtained the land in 2014, on September 19 – the feast of the Miracle of the Archangel Michael at Colossæ. "Since that time, virtually all of the foundational events in the parish have taken place on that feast," noted Fr. George. "Even during the construction of the church, it turned out that, below the spot where we planned to build was an underground river, at a depth of nearly six feet. We did not expect this at all, and we had to make special engineering decisions and install a deep foundation. As a result, out church stands ‘on a spring,’ just as in the story of the miracle of the Archangel Michael.

"We searched for land to build the church for over 15 years. It was a miracle that we found this place, where there had been a Protestant church. We began to customize the property with the building of a wooden chapel dedicated to the Icon ‘Unexpected Joy,’ and we began construction of the church in 2018, completing it mostly in the beginning of 2021.

"The carved iconostasis is of white stone, as are all of the decoration materials – we ordered the granite and stone from China a year before the start of construction. The iconostasis was ordered specially to fit the icons of Archimandrite Cyprian (Pyzhov; +2001) from our old church (they are in the bottom row), while the icons of the upper row were ordered in Russia, giving the iconographers the task of painting the icons in Fr. Cyprian’s style; which, I believe, they succeeded at. Literally two weeks ago, the last of the icons were installed in the iconostasis.

"In the upper row of the iconostasis, we installed icons of the prophets featured on the Kurk Root Icon of the Mother of God. These are followed by very important icons, in my opinion, which I have almost never seen included on an iconostasis. These are icons of the Heavenly patrons of the family: the Righteous Joachim and Anna, Zachariah and Elizabeth, with depictions of the Theotokos and St. John the Baptist, respectively. These are followed by two liturgists: the Holy Hierarchs Basil the Great and John Chrysostom. In the center is an icon of the Most Holy Trinity.

"Over the summer months, we did everything: we have one professional working for us, while the other workers were all our parishioners. Thanks to their labors, prayers, and boldness, we were able to build everything as it should be."