On May 21, the Sunday of the Blind Man, His Grace, Bishop Jerome (Shaw), paid an archpastoral visit to St. Nicholas Church in Poughkeepsie, NY. The hierarchal service was timed to coincide with the parish’s patronal feast day, which would take place the following day, May 22.

His Grace was greeted at the church entrance with bread and salt, and then celebrated Divine Liturgy, co-served by Archpriest Alexander Donchenko (parish rector) and Deacon Alexey Pnev (cleric of Nativity of the Mother of God Church at the New Kursk Root Hermitage in Mahopac, NY).

Upon completion of Liturgy, Bishop Jerome delivered two sermons. The first, in Russian, was on the "certain damsel possessed with a spirit of divination" mentioned in the reading from Acts, where St. Paul drove out the spirit even though what it made the girl say was the truth ("These men are servants of the Most High God, which shew us unto the way of salvation") ‒ lest it mislead people into thinking the apostles were connected with necromancy. This shows why our Church does not support ecumenism ‒ lest it mislead the faithful into thinking "there is no difference, they all preach the same Gospel." In English, His Grace spoke on the Gospel account of the blind man, and of the ways in which the enemy of our salvation seeks to blind us to the truth.

The service was followed by a bountiful luncheon, and the conversation among the clergy and altar servers turned on the persecutions of the Church under the Soviet regime and today in Ukraine. The rector Fr. Alexander shared some of his own experiences.

After a time enjoying the meal and exchanging Paschal greetings once more, everyone departed for home.