On June 14, the Second Sunday after Pentecost, that of All Saints who shone forth in the Russian Land, Metropolitan Nicholas of Eastern America & New York celebrated Divine Liturgy in the Synodal Cathedral of the Sign in New York City. Concelebrating with His Eminence were the cathedral clerics: dean Archpriest Andrei Sommer and Hieromonk Theognost (Kogan).

The Synodal Choir, under the direction of conductor Vadim S. Gan, sang at Liturgy.

The service was held under the aegis of the Protectress of the Russian Diaspora – the wonderworking Kursk Root Icon of the Mother of God.

Many parishioners, faithful from other churches, and numerous children – many of whom had been baptized in the cathedral – prayed at Liturgy. Most of the worshippers communed of Christ’s Holy Mysteries.

The Church established this day to honor the memory of all the holy saints who shone forth in the Russian land. Their number is vast, so the Church united them into a single, common feast.

The feast originated in the mid-16th century under Metropolitan Macarius of Moscow, following two church councils held in 1547 and 1549 that glorified a large number of Russian saints. It was subsequently forgotten, but was restored by the Local Council in 1918, at the initiative of Boris Alexandrovich Turaev, a professor at Petrograd University.

According to the Holy Hierarch John of Shanghai & San Francisco, this is a feast of "all the saints whom the Russian Church and the Russian land have brought forth." The feast is considered the namesday of all believers bearing the names of Russian saints.

Metropolitan Nicholas served a short moleben before the icon of the feast, honoring all the saints who have shone forth in the Russian land.

The cathedral’s sisterhood organized a meal for the clergy and the faithful.