On December 1, events dedicated to the beginning of the construction of the church in honor of St. John of Shanghai were held on Tubabao Island. With the blessing of Metropolitan Pavel of Manila and Hanoi, the Secretary of the Philippine-Vietnamese Diocese, Hieromonk Korniliy (Molev), performed the rite of consecration of the foundation stone in the concelebration of the clergy of the diocese, Hieromonk Alexei (Lapshin), priests Moses Kahilig and Ambrose Sumagaysay.
Then, in the center of the island, at the monument in honor of the Russian-Philippine friendship, a ceremony was held to raise state flags and lay a wreath in memory of the Russian refugees who found refuge on the island.
The events were attended by the Ambassador of the Russian Federation to the Philippines Marat Pavlov and his wife, Senior Consul Yaroslav Pavlov, 1st Secretary of the Embassy Nikolai Ovsyannikov, Mayor of the municipality of Guiuan Annalisa Gonzalez Kwan, Vice-Mayor Veronica Kabakaba-Ramirez and employees of the Mayor’s office, President of the organization “Philippine Combat Systems – Russia” Alexander Pisarkin and Adviser Anton Seredkin, residents and guests of Tubabao Island.
In 1949-1951, six thousand Russian refugees from among those who emigrated from Russia to Shanghai after the Civil War found temporary shelter on this island. The spiritual leader of the community was St. John of Shanghai. Filipinos gave a warm welcome and support to the refugees and Russians have made a great cultural contribution to the life of the local people who still honor their memory. In her welcoming speech, Mayor Annalisa G. Kwan, in particular, said that she was taught ballet by a disciple of a Russian emigrant.
Saint John of Shanghai is also very revered by the locals, because miracles happen through prayers to him. In particular, people miraculously escaped during typhoons, and even typhoons themselves often bypassed the island, as it was in 1949-1951. The same miracle happened in Manila on Sunday, November 1, 2020, when the strongest super typhoon Goni, which was approaching Metro Manila, suddenly lost its strength and went south from the city immediately after the prayer service to St. John at the Iveron Parish in Manila (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Typhoon_Goni ).
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