On Saturday the 30th and Sunday the 31st of May, the great feast of Pentecost was celebrated with the usual solemnity in Holy Trinity Monastery in Jordanville, NY. In preparation for the feast, Holy Trinity Cathedral was decorated with green saplings and bouquets of flowers.

Hierarchal Liturgy began after the meeting of the monastery abbot, Bishop Luke of Syracuse, with compunctious singing of the joint monastery-seminary choir under the direction of Deacon Nicholas Kotar.

During the 6th hour, His Grace ordained seminarian Reader Thomas Lyall a subdeacon.

At the Little Entrance, with the blessing of Metropolitan Nicholas of Eastern America & New York and the ROCOR Synod of Bishops, Bishop Luke awarded Archpriest Serge Kotar the right to wear the miter.

After the Cherubic Hymn, Bishop Luke ordained Deacon Ivan Golovin (cleric of Holy Trinity Monastery) to the holy priesthood. Priest Ivan will continue his service in the monastery.

On Monday, June 1, Holy Spirit Day, many visiting clergy arrived from near and far to participate in the monastery’s patronal feast day. Bishop Luke was greeted triumphally at the refectory staircase. Despite its being a workday, the church was filled with pilgrims. Concelebrating with the monastery abbot was Eastern American Diocesan vicar Bishop Michael of Boston.

Following the Great Entrance, Bishop Luke ordained Deacon Timothy Zelinski to the holy priesthood, for service in Nativity of the Mother of God Church in Albany, NY.

At the end of Liturgy, a moleben was served to the Most Holy Spirit with a procession around the church, stopping at all four corners for the petitions and sprinkling of holy water. Again, after the service, His Grace invited all to a festal luncheon in the refectory. After the luncheon, all were invited to the abbot’s quarters for a reception.