On November 21, 2024, on the feast of the Synaxis of the Archangel Michael and other Bodiless Heavenly Ghosts, Metropolitan Pavel of Khanty-Mansiysk and Surgut, Administrator of the Philippines-Vietnam Diocese, celebrated the Divine Liturgy in the Church of the Nativity of the Most Holy Theotokos in the municipality of Arakan, in the province of Cotabato, Philippines. Before the service, Metropolitan Pavel delivered an icon of Seraphim of Sarov with a particle of the saint’s relics to the church. The icon was transferred to the Church of St. Seraphim of Sarov, located in the settlement of Makalangot on the island of Mindanao, Republic of the Philippines, in response to the petition of Metropolitan Pavel, with the blessing of Metropolitan Georgiy of Nizhny Novgorod and Arzamas, from the Holy Trinity Seraphim-Diveyevo Convent for the worship of the faithful of the Philippine-Vietnamese Diocese.
His Eminence was assisted by: Secretary of the Philippine-Vietnamese Diocese Hieromonk Korniliy (Molev), Secretary of the Khanty-Mansiysk Diocese Hegumen Anthony (Kirpichev), Dean of the Nizhnevartovsk City Deanery of the Khanty-Mansiysk Diocese Archpriest Sergiy Shevchenko, clergy of the island of Mindanao. The deacon’s rank was headed by Deacon Daniil Matveyev. Special petitions were offered at the litany of supplication, Bishop Pavel read a prayer for Holy Rus’. During the Liturgy, Metropolitan Pavel ordained reader Dmitry Kahilig to the rank of deacon and performed the chirothesia of reader and subdeacon Luka Tababa. At the end of the service, the archpastor addressed those gathered: “Dear fathers, brothers and sisters! Today we celebrated the Divine Liturgy in this holy church on this special day when we celebrate the Synaxis of Archangel Michael and all the Heavenly Bodiless Ghosts. I thank you all for your common prayers and, of course, I cannot help but rejoice together with the newly ordained deacon Dmitry, who received the rank of deacon today. He studied in Russia, graduated from the seminary, is now studying at the academy by correspondence, and, of course, I am glad that there is one more cleric, a sacred deacon, who will bear the obedience of enlightening the flock here. We understand that we, as a diocese, as all the clergy, and the flock, still need to work hard on ourselves in order to truly become a strong, good diocese and a strong big Orthodox family. And we see in this the great providence of our Lord God Jesus Christ, who gives us all the opportunities, gives us everything so that we can pray with you today, celebrate the Divine Liturgy, enlighten the people in the true Orthodox Faith. Isn’t this the mercy of God? Of course, the immeasurable mercy of our Lord, who enlightens all of us! At my request, the Metropolitan of Nizhny Novgorod, who serves where the relics of Seraphim of Sarov are, blessed us to allocate a particle of the relics with an icon for our church, which is dedicated to St Seraphim of Sarov. Today I am ready to transfer this shrine with a particle of the relics of Seraphim of Sarov to this church which is dedicated to this great Russian saint. l congratulate Father Nikolai, the rector of this church, because this icon and relics are transferred to him, to his church. This is truly a shrine for us, a great saint who lived not so long ago and, of course, glorified the Lord with his service, was honored to be a saint and to perform great and wondrous miracles not only during his life, but also after his blessed death, from his holy relics. l am very glad to share the liturgical joy with you, and of course, not only to take communion, but also to communicate in such a short period of time, but we thank the Lord that He gave us such an opportunity to meet together today. Well, I want to say that the construction of the church is being completed in Panglao, we will go to see it, maybe some additions, changes need to be made, and also meet with the flock, and then, in Manila, we will serve the Divine Liturgy. We are preparing to perform the deacon’s ordination of Luka, our student, who also studied in Russia, and I hope will be a worthy servant of the altar of the Lord. And we have two more students-graduates from the St. Petersburg Theological Seminary – Stefan and Kirill, who will also be ordained in Russia and will come after graduation as priests. So our diocese will have four more clergy, which is great. Once again, I thank everyone for the common prayers, and I would like to give everyone an icon of the new martyrs of Russia, and also, the Sunday school of Nizhnevartovsk prepared today, on the day of Archangel Michael and the cathedral, figurines of angels like these for everyone. May the Lord protect everyone!”
The Bishop handed everyone an icon of the new martyrs and confessors of the Russian Church and figurines in the form of angels made by the students of the Sunday school of the Church of the Nativity of Christ in Nizhnevartovsk.
