On Wednesday, June 12, the Leavetaking of Holy Pascha, Metropolitan Nicholas of Eastern America & New York, First Hierarch of the Russian Church Abroad, celebrated Divine Liturgy in Holy Trinity Church, constructed by Russian émigrés in Belgrade 100 years ago.

Concelebrating with His Eminence were Metropolitan Mark of Berlin & Germany, Bishop Ilarion of Novo Brdo (vicar of His Holiness, Patriarch Porfirije of Serbia, rector of the Visoki Dečani Monastery); parish rector Archpriest Vitaly Tarasev, clergy of the Serbian Patriarchate and Russian Church Abroad. Praying in the altar and communing of Christ’s Holy Mysteries were Archbishop Gabriel of Montreal & Canada and Bishop Job of Stuttgart.

The service was held under the aegis of the Kursk Root Icon of the Mother of God of the Sign.

At the end of the service, the rector, Fr. Vitaly, greeted the First Hierarch of the Russian Church Abroad, expressing his joy at the service of His Eminence in the church, where his predecessors ‒ Their Beatitudes, Metropolitans Anthony (Khrapovitsky) and Anastassy (Gribanovsky) ‒ had prayed, and presented him with a copy of the Dečani Icon of the Mother of God. Metropolitan Nicholas then addressed those gathered with words of greeting and edification, presenting Fr. Vitaly a copy of the Kursk Root Icon in a sewn cover that once adorned the wonderworking icon.

After refreshing themselves with tea in the parish house, the delegation of the Russian Church Abroad headed to the New Cemetery in Belgrade. Here, His Eminence served a memorial litia in the crypt of His Beatitude Metropolitan Anthony and Archimandrite Theodosius (Melnik).

That same day in the evening, members of the delegation prayed with a host of archpastors and clergy of the Serbian Orthodox Church, led by His Holiness Patriarch Porfirije, at a solemn vesper service in the Church of the Ascension of the Savior in Belgrade, in the presence of the Kursk Root Icon and the relics of Venerable Justin (Popović) of Ćelije. At the end of the service, His Holiness hosted a supper.

Metropolitan Nicholas is accompanied by members of the Synod of Bishops: Their Eminences Mark, Metropolitan of Berlin & Germany; Gabriel Archbishop of Montreal & Canada; and Peter, Archbishop of Chicago & Mid-America; Their Graces Irenei, Bishop of London & Western Europe and Job, Bishop of Stuttgart; as well as Archpriests Serafim Gan, (chancellor of the Synod of Bishops and secretary of the First Hierarch of ROCOR), Luka Novakovic and Ljubo Milosevic (clerics of the Eastern American Diocese), and Gregory Joyce (secretary of the Mid-American Diocese), and Reader George Konyev.

www.synod.com