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.