On May 1, our Church was replenished with another soldier of Christ. Than Tri is a close friend of Savva, whom we baptized on April 8. Now the guys will come to the church together, participate in the divine service, and also communicate with their friends, relatives, compatriots and show them the way to God! We ask for prayers for the newly enlightened Simeon!
P.S. I asked him why Than Tri wants to be named after Saint Simeon, Bishop of Tver, and he answered me: “For the fact that St. Simeon was benevolent and kind to the oppressed and destitute, attentive to monastic and priestly rank, a zealous defender of the truth. The Nikon Chronicle tells us that this holy bishop was “good in healing and in the books of Holy Scripture; he was a teacher, a virtuous man who cared for the needy, widows and orphans, a defender of the oppressed.” I am inspired and I want to be like this Saint!”
Worship at the parishes in Vung Tau and Bacoor. In Bacoor, the rite of conversion from Catholicism to Orthodoxy through Chrismation was also performed for Nina, who due to illness could not participate in the sacrament of Baptism in Tagaytay a week ago.
The annual meeting of the Sisterhood of the Parishes of Mindanao Island was held at the parish in honor of the Resurrection of Christ in the city of General Santos. For the first time since the pandemic, members of the sisterhood from the cities of General Santos, Alabel, Kiamba, Santa Maria, Banate, Kinabalan and Arakan gathered together to discuss the current activities of the sisterhood and further development. The meeting was also attended by employees of the Department of Charity and Social Ministry of the Philippine-Vietnamese Diocese, headed by Mother Irina Grubbs. On April 29, the meeting began with a prayer service and continued with a discussion of current social projects. On April 30, the 3rd Sunday after Easter, of the holy myrrh-bearing women, the participants of the meeting prayed at the Divine Liturgy. The divine service was performed by Hieromonk Korniliy (Molev), the secretary of the Diocese of Philippi-Vietnam, in the concelebration of Priest Roman Buniel, Priest Alexei Bergado and Priest Matthew Sale.
On Bright Friday, April 21, in the assembly hall of the Embassy of the Russian Federation in Hanoi, Priest Yevgeny Tsukalo met with compatriots and embassy staff dedicated to the feast of the Resurrection of Christ.
Easter Bright Week is a special time of the year. The whole week passes as one day – the Easter service is repeated daily with processions, fasts are cancelled, all prayers are replaced with Easter hymns, and believers try to take Communion daily (where there is such an opportunity). According to Orthodox tradition, clergy and believers visit neighboring parishes this week to prayerfully share Easter joy with spiritual brothers and sisters. This tradition has already been instilled in the Philippines. On Mindanao island, Easter services were performed continuously during the Bright Week in different parishes by the clergy of the diocese, headed by the Secretary of the diocese, Hieromonk Korniliy (Molev): on Monday – in the church of St. Thomas in the village of Kinabalan; on Tuesday – in the church of the Resurrection of Christ in General Santos with priests Roman Buniel and Matthew Sale; on Wednesday – in the church of the Resurrection of Christ in Lake Cebu with the same clerics. On Bright Thursday, the Easter service was held in the church of St. Ignatius in the village of Lambayong in the concelebration of Priest Roman Buniel. On Friday, the service was held in the church of the Nativity of the Most Holy Theotokos in Arakan in the concelebration of Priest Moses Kahilig and deacons Raphael Frajillo and Anthony Aranco, and on Saturday – in the church of St. Seraphim of Sarov in Makalangot with Priest Nikolai Salgado. Deacon Juventinus Bulaqueña accompanied the Secretary of the diocese during the whole tour.
On April 23, 2017, the first parish of the Russian Orthodox Church after World War II was opened in Manila – in honor of the Iveron Icon of the Mother of God (the parish of the same name existed in Manila in the 1920s-1940s). Like today, 6 years ago it was also Antipascha, or Thomas Sunday. And now, six years later, the first Liturgy was served today at the new parish of the Manila Deanery – in honor of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker in the city of Bakoor.
On Saturday of the Bright Week, a new parish was born in Tagaytay. At the end of the Easter service, 26 people were baptized at once – the community of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker of the city of Bacoor (Manila deanery). The sacraments were performed jointly by the dean Hieromonk Alexei (Lapshin), the rector of the parish of Christ the Savior in Tagaytay, Priest David Grubbs and Priest Agustin Ponferrada. The community in Bacoor has been headed for many years by the elder Nicolas Canopen, a former bishop of one of the non-canonical denominations who converted to Orthodoxy, now together with his flock. Many years to them and to all Orthodox Christians!
Tuesday of the Bright Week is the Patronal feast of the parish of the Iveron Icon of the Mother of God in Manila. At the end of the Easter Service, the ceremony of swearing of the first ataman of the Cossacks in the Philippines, Daniel Foronda, was performed. The ceremony was attended remotely by the Ataman and the Cossacks of the Cossack Society of Solnechnogorsk city, Moscow region, the Special Cossack Society of the Moscow region, the Military Cossack Society “Central Cossack Guard”, together with the chairman of the Board for the care of the Cossacks at the Department for Interaction with the Armed Forces, law enforcement agencies and the Cossacks of the Sergiev Posad diocese, Archpriest Alexander Azarov.
Cossacks are frontliners of Orthodox laity. Historically they appeared on outskirts of Russia as defenders of Orthodox Church and Fatherland.
“This day, that the Lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad therein!” What is the eternal joy of this event of two thousand years ago? Because we have such a God! Who created the universe, and washes the feet of the disciples. Whom the angels tremble, but He ascended the Cross for us and is ready to ascend it again if it were necessary for our salvation, and is ready to forgive even a traitor. Our God truly loves us and waits for us. That’s why we can’t help but be happy today.
TO THE GOD–LOVING FLOCK OF THE PHILIPPINE-VIETNAMESE DIOCESE.
“Take heart: I have overcome the world.” (John 16:33)
Beloved fathers in the Lord, dear brothers and sisters! Having passed the saving path of Great Lent, we celebrate the feast of the Bright Resurrection of Christ in spiritual joy and heartfelt rejoicing. During the days of Holy Fasting, each of us sought to resist sin, purify the soul with prayer and good deeds in order to prepare for the meeting with the Risen Lord. And the words of the Angels addressed to the myrrh-bearing women who came to the empty Tomb of the Lord sound to us as an invaluable reward: “What are you looking for the Living among the dead? He is not here: He is risen” (Luke 24:5-6)! On this saving and radiant night, I greet each of you, my dear ones, with the words of an ancient and eternally new greeting that inspire true joy and unbreakable hope: Christ is Risen! This life-affirming greeting always pleases our heart, filling it with Easter jubilation and festive celebration. Easter is a truly Bright day of our life, which without it would seem like a dead, dreary desert. God has granted us the grace to celebrate it again, and we are all in a hurry to exchange our greetings with each other. May the heart of every Christian be opened to receive the great mystery of salvation, and may it be illuminated with divine light, so that through faith we may become sons of light, to the feeling of the Kingdom of God, which “is within us.” May our Lord, who has risen from the dead on the days of Holy Easter, renew our faith, our love for Him, our willingness to bear everything for His sake. My dear ones, I cordially congratulate all of you on the luminous feast of Holy Easter. “Come, all ye believers, let us worship the holy resurrection of Christ, for joy to the whole world is coming with the Cross….” I prayerfully wish that with the light of His Resurrection Christ would illuminate our souls and our sorrows, so that He would turn into unfading spiritual joy, which, according to His divine word, no one and nothing can steal from us. Christ is Risen! CHRIST IS TRULY RISEN!
The events dedicated to the Victory Day in the Great Patriotic War, organized by the Russian Embassy in the Philippines, were held at the Consulate of the Russian Federation in Manila and at the construction site of the temple in honor of the Icon of the Mother of God “Quick […]
On Thursday of Bright Week, the Secretary of the diocese, Hieromonk Cornelius (Molev), celebrated the Divine Liturgy at the Church of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Arakan. All the priests of the North Cotabato deanery served with him: Priest Moses Cahilig, Priest Nikolai Salgado, Priest Ambrose Sumagaysay, […]
The feast of St. Righteous Matrona of Moscow at the parish in Davao in her honor (this year postponed from May 2 due to Holy Week). Throughout the Bright Week, the same Easter services are held in the Church as on the first day of the Feast of Holidays. These […]
Pascha is Christ the Redeemer Who opens Paradise for us… This Easter, the Vietnamese Deanery of the Philippine-Vietnamese Diocese was replenished with another cleric. With the blessing of Metropolitan Pavel of Manila and Hanoi, Hegumen Micah (Selyakov) was appointed rector of the parish in honour of St. Ksenia of St. […]
