February 11 is the memorial day of St. Ignatius the God-Bearer (transfer of relics). In the parish of Lambayong village (Sultan Kudarat Province, Mindanao Island), the patronal feast was celebrated on this day. The Divine Liturgy, which unexpectedly gathered a lot of people, was conducted by the Secretary of the Diocese, Hieromonk Korniliy (Molev), Priest Roman Buniel and Deacon Matthew Sale. After the liturgy and the procession, the celebrations ended with a festive meal.

From the St. Petersburg Theological Academy:

This semester, students of the Faculty of Foreign Students perform a joint divine service on Saturday mornings, at which they read and sing independently. On January 22, the Divine Liturgy was celebrated with the participation of foreign students. And starting from January 29, foreigners independently perform divine services in a lay rank in the Church Slavonic language. So the Third and Sixth hours were read in the Assumption Academic Church. Then, under the guidance of the 1st year undergraduate student of the Faculty of Ecclesiastical Arts Georgy Shevyakov, the students sang the Typica and read the extracts of the day from the Apostle and the Gospel. Such services contribute to better understanding of the structure of the services of the daily circle and in the future will be useful for organizing services in parishes where there is not always a priest.

On January 30, the rector of the Parish of Christ the Savior in Tagaytay, Priest David Grubbs, after the Divine Liturgy, performed the blessing of the water on Lake Taal. Then parishioners and employees of the Charity and Social Ministry Department of the Philippine-Vietnamese Diocese visited the refugees affected by the eruption of the Taal volcano 2 years ago, brought them humanitarian aid and gifts.

On January 29 the Divine Liturgy was celebrated in Catmon Cebu. The service was headed by the Dean of Manila Deanery Hieromonk Alexei Lapshin.

The parish in honor of the Baptism of our Lord Jesus Christ (Epiphany) in Talas, Davao del Sur, celebrated its patronal feast. The festive divine service was performed by Priest Joachim Gonzales, Deacon John Mahinay, along with many believers from different parishes of the deanery.

“The nature of the waters is sanctified today…” On the feast of the Epiphany, according to tradition, many parishes of the Russian Orthodox Church bless water sources. At the end of the service, the Great Consecration of the Ocean and the baptism of handmaid of the Lord Mary were performed at the nearest accessible place to Manila.

A new Filipino seminarian has arrived in Russia to continue his studies. Joasaph (Rolly Melano Nunez) has successfully completed preparatory courses at the training center of St Matrona of Moscow in Davao and was enrolled in the St. Petersburg Theological Seminary, but because of the pandemic, he had to study remotely for the first half of the year. Now there is an opportunity to come to Russia for full-time education. We wish Joasaph God’s help in teaching the Russian language and theological sciences. We hope that having received an education, he will bring many benefits to the Church in the Philippines.

Hearken all ye nations, for God is with us!

Despite the fact that the coronavirus again mixed up our plans (half of the parish in Manila fell ill, the number of infections in the country reached a record 21800 per day, a curfew was imposed in Manila and Tagaytay), festive services were held in the parishes of the diocese, although with a minimum number of parishioners. The rest were able to participate in the joint prayer remotely – the service was broadcast from several parishes.