On Thursday, May 21 – the great feast of the Ascension of the Lord and the feast day of the Holy Apostle and Evangelist John the Theologian – Metropolitan Nicholas of Eastern America & New York celebrated Divine Liturgy in the Synodal Cathedral of the Sign in New York City, co-served by Bishop Matthew of Sourozh, interim Administrator of the Patriarchal Parishes in the USA & Canada. Serving alongside the hierarchs were: cathedral dean Archpriest Andrei Sommer, acting chancellor of the Patriarchal Parishes Abbot Nicodemus (Balyasnikov), and cathedral Protodeacon Serge Arlievsky.

Liturgy was celebrated under the aegis of the Protectress of the Russian Diaspora – the wonderworker Kursk Root Icon of the Mother of God.

The cathedral choir sang beautifully under the direction of conductor Vadim S. Gan.

Numerous parishioners and guests from other parishes of the Eastern American Diocese and the Moscow Patriarchate in the USA gathered to pray at Liturgy.

Following the Augmented Litany, Metropolitan Nicholas offered a prayer of thanksgiving for the restoration of the unity of the Russian Church.

Upon conclusion of Liturgy, Metropolitan Nicholas addressed the faithful with a homily dedicated to the feast of the Ascension of the Lord and the commemoration of the Apostle John the Theologian. He called upon the congregation to emulate the spiritual struggles and example set for us by the Apostle John the Theologian, to pray and stand steadfastly with Christ at Golgotha, to confess the truth, and to hold fast to the Orthodox Faith. His Eminence informed those present that today marks the patronal feast on the Mount of Olives, the site of the Convent of the Ascension of the Russian Church Abroad.

Metropolitan Nicholas also reminded the assembly that it was precisely on the feast of the Ascension in 2007 – in the Cathedral of Christ the Savior in Moscow – that the ever-memorable Patriarch Alexey II of Moscow & All Russia and the First Hierarch of the Russian Church Abroad, Metropolitan Laurus, signed the Act of Canonical Communion, thereby bringing an end to the division between the Church in the homeland and the Church in the diaspora. Welcoming Bishop Matthew, Metropolitan Nicholas noted the cordial, brotherly relations existing between the clergy and parishioners of the dioceses of the Church Abroad and the Patriarchal Parishes in North America; furthermore, in commemoration of their concelebration on this festive day, he presented Bishop Matthew with a gift: a volume of sermons and spiritual reflections by departed hierarchs of the Russian Church Abroad.

The administrator of the Patriarchal Parishes in the USA & Canada thanked Metropolitan Nicholas for the opportunity to celebrate this solemn occasion together through the celebration of Divine Liturgy, and presented the First Hierarch with a gift: a panagia bearing the image of the Most Holy Theotokos.

The service concluded with the intonation of " Memory Eternal" for the ever-memorable Patriarch Alexey II and Metropolitan Laurus, and with a prayer for God’s assistance to the hierarchs, clergy, and faithful of the Russian Orthodox Church, both in the homeland and in the diaspora.