On December 14, the 27th Sunday after Pentecost and the feast of Righteous Philaret the Merciful, with the blessing of Metropolitan Nicholas of Eastern America & New York, Western American Diocesan vicar Bishop Theodosius of Seattle visited Holy Virgin Protection Church in Nyack, NY where he celebrated Divine Liturgy, co-served by parish clergy.

His Grace was visiting New York in conjunction with the recent patronal feast of the Synodal Cathedral of the Sign in New York City and the meeting of the Synod of Bishops. During Liturgy, the Litany for the Departed was intoned in memory of Metropolitan Philaret (Voznesensky; +1985), who celebrated his namesday this day.

Upon conclusion of Liturgy, the Polychronion was intoned for all those who celebrated their namesday in the past week. Despite the first significant snowy weather of the season, the church was filled with the faithful, wishing to meet and pray with the visiting hierarch.

As a thank you for his visit, Bishop Theodosius was presented with gifts, along with a bouquet of flowers by the junior sisterhood. The junior sisterhood is an old Nyack tradition, which was recently renewed among the parish’s young girls. Their duties during the service are to maintain order with all the candle stands, to monitor bringing prosphora to the altar for commemoration, learning about the services and participating in the choir.

In his remarks, Bishop Theodosius noted that, when he was still in Ukraine in the 1990s, one of the first books that they used to teach about the Orthodox Faith was a copy of The Law of God, written by the esteemed rector and parish church builder Archpriest Seraphim Slobodskoy (+1971). He spoke of the impact it made to the faithful there, and how important it was to the renewal of Orthodoxy, along with other efforts to support the church in Ukraine by ROCOR, especially by the ever-memorable Metropolitan Hilarion (Kapral; +2022). He expressed his gratitude to the clergy, choir, and parish for their hospitality, saying he was very eager to visit Nyack and happy to have the opportunity this year.

After the service, His Grace joined the parish for a festal luncheon. As a happy coincidence, the parish also hosted a Gingerbread Fair for the children of the parish and Russian School on this day, and the bishop toured the efforts of the children, giving them support and praise.

After lunch, Bishop Theodosius was given a tour of the Russian School and the church grounds. All were very thankful to His Grace for his visit and invited him back again in the future.