On May 26, the Sunday of the Paralytic, His Grace, Bishop Jerome (Shaw) paid an archpastoral visit to St. Nicholas Church in Poughkeepsie, NY, where he celebrated Divine Liturgy. His Grace’s visit was timed to coincide with the parish’s patronal feast – May 9/22, the summer feast day of the Holy Hierarch Nicholas, Wonderworker of Myra in Lycia.

Concelebrating at the hierarchal Liturgy was parish rector Archpriest Alexander Donchenko, along with Deacons Konstantin Aleshin and Theodotus Conrad (clerics of Nativity of the Mother of God Church at the New Kursk Root Hermitage Mahopac, NY), with local and visiting subdeacons and altar servers.

The parish choir sang a Liturgy rich with Paschal chants, and the Epistle and Gospel were read in both Slavonic and English. Since this was Memorial Day weekend, a number of regular parishioners were out of town, but the service was also attended by some people preparing for conversion to Orthodoxy.

Bishop Jerome delivered two sermons: the first, in Russian, was on the transfer of the relics of St. Nicholas; the second, in English, was on the theme of holy water as the Grace of the Holy Spirit, which leads us through these services on this day and the ensuing services to the feast of Pentecost.

The parish sisterhood had prepared an impressive luncheon, with many traditional Russian and Eastertide dishes, served to the clergy and altar servers in the parish hall and to many people who chose to dine under a large awning outside in the spring air. Conversations at the clergy table touched upon the various liturgical traditions of the Orthodox Church and the process by which figures of popular veneration move to canonization in the calendar of saints.

The luncheon ended with a prayer in the mid-afternoon.