Feast on the Iveron parish in Manila

Today, the Iveron parish in Manila celebrated the Patronal feast, moved from October 26. The history of the Iveron icon of the Mother of God is connected with the history of iconoclasm, condemned by the 7th Ecumenical Council, whose memory is also celebrated today.
With the Philippines now second in Southeast Asia in terms of coronavirus infections, the quarantine in Manila is still quite strict: temple occupancy is allowed at 30%, and children are still prohibited to attend services.
After the Divine Liturgy, the parishioners prayed for the safe journey of our regent Roman to the Jordanville monastery (ROCOR, USA). We pray that the Lord will grant him the kind of spiritual experience that can only be obtained in the most famous Orthodox monastery in America.

Feast of St Thomas in Kinabalan

On October 19, the Orthodox community in barangay Kinabalan celebrated the patronal feast of St. Thomas.
The Administration of the barangay allowed the holiday to be held with all precautions due to the quarantine.
The festive service was led by hieromonk Korniliy (Molev) in concelebration with the priests Joachim Gonzales and Roman Buniel.
After the Liturgy, there was a procession to the place where the new Church is to be built. In February 2020, during his visit, the Metropolitan Pavel of Manila and Hanoi performed the rite of consecration of the Foundation stone of the Kinabalan temple, but due to pandemic, work on the construction of the temple was suspended.
The community in Kinabalan converted to Orthodoxy in 2013, but did not have a permanent priest for a long time. In 2018, the community came under the omophorion of the Russian Orthodox Church, and in 2019, a priest was ordained to serve the community – fr Joachim Gonzales, who was born near the Barangay. The decision to build a new temple was taken, as the current building is in poor condition.

Patronal Holiday in Kapehan

October 12 is the feast of uncovering of the relics of St John of Shanghai (1993).

In Kapehan (Santa Maria) at the parish of St John of Shanghai a festal Divine service was held. The Liturgy was led by hieromonk Korniliy (Molev), the Secretary of the Philippines-Vietnamese diocese, with participation of priest Joakim Gonzalez and deacon John Mahinay.

A baptism of 6 catechumens was held after the Liturgy