On February 15, 2023, on the feast of the Presentation of the Lord, Metropolitan Pavel of Manila and Hanoi celebrated the Divine Liturgy at the church in honor of the Resurrection of Christ in General Santos in the province of South Cotabato, on the island of Mindanao. His Eminence was co-served by the Secretary of the Philippine-Vietnamese Diocese, Hieromonk Cornelius (Molev), the rector of the church, Priest Roman Buniel, and the clergy of the Philippine-Vietnamese diocese. The deaconess rank was headed by Hierodeacon Nikodim (Pirkhovsky). By the Metropolitan’s decree, for the diligent service to the Holy Church, the rector of the parish in honor of the Resurrection of Christ, General Santos, Priest Roman Buniel was awarded the right to wear a loincloth. During the Liturgy, Metropolitan Pavel ordained the reader Juventinus Bulakvenya as a deacon. At the end of the service, Metropolitan Pavel addressed the audience: “Dear fathers, brothers and sisters! Allow me to congratulate everyone on the feast of the Presentation of the Lord! On this day, Saint Simeon the God-Receiver took Christ into his own hands and thanked God: “Now let Your servant depart in peace, Master, according to Your word!”, for it was promised to him – until he sees Christ, he will not die. It is said in the Holy Scriptures that Simeon the God-Receiver was a man of holy life and was honored to take into his hands the God-Child and thus sum up his earthly life. He was expecting this event. One can only imagine what joy he had when the Lord promises and you get what you ask for, and he asked for a meeting with God. Each of us desires a meeting with God, so that the Lord will guide us in this earthly life and in eternity, everyone truly desires this. But the Lord does not appear to everyone during His lifetime, only to those who live holy on Earth. And we follow this path, waiting, hoping, trusting the Lord that He is with us, even if we are unworthy of meeting Him now. The fact that He makes it possible to perform the Sacrament of Holy Communion with His Body and Blood, and to unite with Him, is a great providence of God for each of us. It is not for nothing that the Lord says: “Whoever does this in my memory will not see death”. And we know that everyone is alive with God, the soul is immortal. Having lived an earthly life, the soul goes to God and remains in Eternity with him. May God grant us to follow this right, true path, on which the Lord has chosen and set us. I am very glad to meet you, celebrating the Divine Liturgy here, praying together, and I hope that the Lord will give us the strength to see each other more often. The Lord has given us the opportunity during these two weeks of our visit to the Philippines to increase our church with pastors — priests and deacons. We have performed the seventh ordination today and I thank God that our church is developing and growing both flock and pastors. I congratulate you, I wish you spiritual and physical strength, God’s help to all! I thank everyone for the service, for the common prayers!”
Category Archives: Archpastoral ministry
On the eve of the feast of the Meeting of the Lord metropolitan Pavel celebrated the All-night vigil in General Santos
On February 14, 2023, on the eve of the feast of the Presentation of the Lord, Metropolitan Pavel of Manila and Hanoi held an all-night vigil in the church in honor of the Resurrection of Christ in General Santos in the province of South Cotabato, on the island of Mindanao.
His Eminence was co-served by: the rector of the church, Priest Roman Buniel, Priest Alexy Bergado. The deacon rank was headed by Hierodeacon Nicodemus (Pirkhovsky).
At the end of the service, Vladyka addressed the audience:
“Dear fathers, brothers and sisters! Let me congratulate you on the feast of the Presentation of our Lord Jesus Christ and thank you for the common prayers! The Lord has shown His mercy and has vouchsafed us to come to this land after 3 years to meet you again and share the joy of the festive day. I am doubly pleased to meet with the clergy whom I ordained both in Khanty-Mansiysk and here, to meet our former students. Some, like Dmitry, have already graduated, some are still studying. I am glad to offer prayers to the Lord together with all of you, so that He will hear us and send us everything we need in our life. I wish that each of us would take the God-Child into the arms of his soul. When the Lord is in our soul, then we are not afraid of any adversity. It is easy to go through life with God, but it is impossible without God. Just as Simeon the God-Receiver took the Lord into his own hands, so we should accept our Savior with our heart and soul and, of course, His teaching, so that we live exactly according to the commandments of God. God help us in this!”
Metropolitan Pavel visited parish in Alabel
On February 14, 2023, Metropolitan Pavel of Manila and Hanoi visited the parish in honor of St. Isidore of Rostov in Alabel, Sarangani province. Vladyka was accompanied by: Secretary of the Philippine-Vietnamese Diocese Hieromonk Cornelius (Molev), Secretary of the Khanty-Mansi Diocese Abbot Anthony (Kirpichev), Dean of the Surgut deanery of the Khanty-Mansi Diocese Archpriest Anthony Isakov, Dean of the Nizhnevartovsk deanery of the Khanty-Mansi Diocese Archpriest Sergiy Shevchenko, Priest Oleg Gordeev, Chairman of the Department for Church-Society Relations and the media Priest Anthony Dolgushin, Hierodeacon Nikodim (Pirkhovsky), president of the Literary Fund “The Way of Life” Dmitry Mizgulin. The administrator of the Philippine-Vietnamese diocese performed a prayer service at the parish and gave the archpastoral blessing to the parishioners. In his speech to the audience, Vladyka noted: “Dear Father rector, dear fathers, brothers and sisters! I am very glad to visit your church. I remember 3 years ago we also prayed here together. The time of the pandemic interrupted our prayer communication, so 3 years later we met with you here again and offered a prayer to the Lord, and to the heavenly patron of this temple. I hope that God’s mercy and help will accompany us to meet more often and glorify our Heavenly Creator. I would like to congratulate Father Alexiy on taking the priesthood, and I would like to congratulate all of you on the spiritual acquisition of your clergyman in this church, who will constantly serve Divine services. Of course, he still has to go through training, a special practice, learn how to properly perform these services and then independently begin his ministry here. Now everyone needs to pray diligently that the Lord will bless and arrange everything, so that the temple will be reconstructed, and the community will become stronger and multiply. The most important thing is that we are following the right, saving path for our Lord Jesus Christ. Our Catholic Orthodox Church has always remained it from its establishment by our Lord to this day. I am very glad that today the true faith is being established on the Philippine land, and in your village. The Lord wants to save everyone and points out his saving, right path that leads us to the Kingdom of Heaven. And we only need to succeed in this, to work hard for our salvation, because the Kingdom of Heaven is taken by labor and effort, by prayer. Help us, Lord, to succeed in this! I thank you once again for the common prayers and rejoice with you in our meeting!”
Metropolitan Pavel visited parishes of Davao deanery
On February 13, 2023, Metropolitan Pavel of Manila and Hanoi visited the parishes of the Davao Deanery in Mindanao Island. Vladyka was accompanied by: Secretary of the Philippine-Vietnamese Diocese Hieromonk Cornelius (Molev), Secretary of the Khanty-Mansi Diocese Abbot Anthony (Kirpichev), Dean of the Surgut deanery of the Khanty-Mansi Diocese Archpriest Anthony Isakov, Dean of the Nizhnevartovsk deanery of the Khanty-Mansi Diocese Archpriest Sergiy Shevchenko, Priest Oleg Gordeev, Chairman of the Department for Church-Society Relations and the media Priest Anthony Dolgushin, Hierodeacon Nikodim (Pirkhovsky), president of the Literary Fund “The Way of Life” Dmitry Mizgulin. The administrator of the Philippine-Vietnamese Diocese performed prayer services at the parishes of the Epiphany of the Lord in Talas, the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Banate and the Apostle Thomas in Kinabalan, gave his archpastoral blessing to the parishioners, held meetings with the clergy and flock of the parishes. Metropolitan Pavel also inspected the construction site of a new church in honor of the Apostle Thomas in the Kinabalan. Active work is ongoing on the site-the foundation has already been filled in, the construction of walls begins.
Meeting of the clergy of the Philippine-Vietnamese diocese
On February 12, 2023, a diocesan meeting of the clergy of the Philippine-Vietnamese Diocese was held in the Church of the Nativity of the Most Holy Theotokos of the municipality of Arakan. Metropolitan Pavel of Manila and Hanoi made a report summarizing the work of the diocese over the past 3 years, complicated by the pandemic period.
To date, there are 34 parishes in the Philippine-Vietnamese Diocese. The number of clergy of the diocese is steadily growing. During his current visit to the diocese, Vladyka performed 6 ordinations of the clergy, and it is also planned to perform 2 more. Metropolitan Pavel expressed his desire that Filipino priests could visit Russia, visit churches and monasteries, and, if possible, meet with Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia. His Eminence also recalled his intention to erect a temple in the Philippines capable of accommodating a large number of parishioners. “We met with the Mayor of Davao City about the allocation of land,” Metropolitan Pavel noted, “and of course, we would like to build not only a temple, but also a theological school that would train clergymen here in the Philippines. A meeting is also planned with the Mayor of Manila, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of the Philippines and the Ambassador of the Russian Federation to the Philippines on the construction of our large Orthodox center in Manila. Let’s hope that the Church in the Philippines will grow architecturally, but more importantly, the Church is primarily people, and we need to grow internally,” Metropolitan Pavel stressed. Let’s hope that we will see each other more often, since my visit as part of a large delegation to Vietnam is planned in June 2023, and if it takes place, I will come to the Philippines as well.”
At the meeting it was decided to separate the North Kotobato deanery from the Davao deanery, as well as to include the Davao del Sur deanery in the Davao deanery and establish a parish in honor of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker in Dipolog. Vladyka blessed the creation of a new parish in honor of St. George the Victorious in the settlement of Balilai. The parishioners of the settlement are ready to donate a lot of land for the construction of the temple. Decisions have also been made on the formation of the diocesan Department for Prison Service and the Youth Department. Vladyka Pavel also spoke about the specifics of the documentary work in the diocese, the appearance of the clergyman and other topical things
ON SUNDAY OF THE PRODIGAL SON, METROPOLITAN PAVEL CELEBRATED THE DIVINE LITURGY AT THE CHURCH OF THE NATIVITY OF THE MOST HOLY THEOTOKOS IN ARAKAN
On February 12, 2023, on Sunday of the Prodigal Son, Metropolitan Pavel of Manila and Hanoi celebrated the Divine Liturgy in the church in honor of the Nativity of the Most Holy Theotokos in Arakan, Cotabato Province, Mindanao Island. His Eminence was co-served by: Secretary of the Philippine-Vietnamese Diocese Hieromonk Cornelius (Molev), Secretary of the Khanty-Mansi Diocese Abbot Anthony (Kirpichev), Dean of the Surgut City Deanery of the Khanty-Mansi Diocese Archpriest Anthony Isakov, Dean of the Nizhnevartovsk city deanery of the Khanty-Mansi Diocese Archpriest Sergiy Shevchenko, Priest Oleg Gordeev, clergy of the Philippine-Vietnamese Diocese. The deaconess rank was headed by Hierodeacon Nikodim (Pirkhovskiy).
By decree of Metropolitan Pavel of Manila and Hanoi, for diligent service to the Holy Church, the rector of the church in honor of the Nativity of the Most Holy Theotokos of the municipality of Arakan, Priest Moses Kahilig was awarded the right to wear a loincloth.
During the Liturgy, Metropolitan Pavel ordained Deacon Matthew Sale, a cleric of the church in honor of St. John of Shanghai in Kiamba into rank of Priest and the reader Raphael Fragillo into rank of Deacon.
At the end of the service, Metropolitan Pavel addressed the audience: “Dear fathers, brothers and sisters! I am very glad to have a meeting with you today at the Divine Liturgy! This is a special service when we all glorify our Heavenly Creator together. It is said in the Holy Scriptures that there is no greater glory than to glorify God together. This service is special because we haven’t seen you for a long time. Despite this, we prayed for each other, being far from each other, because prayer has no borders and continents. The Lord is over us all, no matter where we are — in Russia or in the Philippines, we pray to Him, and He sends us His divine grace. I know that you have been praying for me, I have always prayed and pray for all my pastors who are here together with the flock, I try to remember everyone so that the Lord will not leave us and be merciful to us. Today, during liturgy we performed two ordinations. I thank the Lord that He has given us the opportunity and strength to multiply our pastors. The more churches there are, the more often the divine liturgy will be celebrated, under the grace of which every person who takes part in this important service is. Why does the Lord say in the commandment: “Do your own work six days, and dedicate the seventh to the Lord your God”? Because the Lord created the world during six days, and He Himself rested on the seventh day. Subsequently, the day of the Lord for believers became the day that He sanctified with His Resurrection. Therefore, Sunday is a holy, special day for every Christian who glorifies his Lord. The Lord gave us the way to eternal life and gave us all the saving means so that each of us would have eternal life not only on Earth, but also after earthly existence. Let us glorify our Heavenly Creator, thank Him for His great mercy and for the good deed He did to save the human race. We will try to spend every Sunday with God in the house of God for the Divine Liturgy. This is the most important thing that we unite with God in the sacrament of confession and communion. We strengthen our physical and spiritual strength by accepting the Holy Gifts and connecting with the Lord. Help us, Lord, in this way of salvation! The whole life of a Christian is like this: the struggle with the enemy of the human race, and of course, it is very important not to stray from the right path, from the true path of God! God bless everyone”
Metropolitan Pavel performed the monastic tonsure of nun Maria Buniel
On February 7, 2023, Metropolitan Pavel of Manila and Hanoi performed the monastic tonsure of the nun Maria Buniel, with name Olga, in honor of the holy Equal-to-the-Apostles Princess Olga. The monastic tonsure took place in the church in honor of St. Matrona of Moscow in Davao. After the Sacrament, Metropolitan Pavel said to the nun Olga: “We were praying now that the Lord would accept your labors, your prayers, your soul’s aspiration for the Lord, and I know that you are doing everything and will do it, and God willing, you will still work in the field of Christ, saving yourself and teaching the way of salvation to those around you. In prayer, when taking the tonsure, it is said about the light of Christ, so that those who have dedicated their lives to Christ shine like lamps, illuminating everything around them. I wish you physical and spiritual health, strength, so that the Lord and your heavenly patroness will keep you, helping you on the path of life. I see it as a craft. Just as Princess Olga brought holy Orthodoxy to Russia, so you, Mother, taking vows, the feat of the first our nun in the Philippines, will bring Orthodoxy to everyone you meet on the path of life. And you are already fulfilling this obedience. May the Lord help you. Through the prayers of your heavenly patroness, the equal-to-the-Apostles Princess Olga, may the Lord strengthen you so that all problems with your health will pass by, so that the Lord will heal you for many years of service to Him.”
***Richel (Maria) Buniel, was born on October 14, 1977 in Kidapawan, Philippines. Since childhood, she dreamed of dedicating her life to God. Richel grew up in a family far from religion, but she attended services in a Protestant church. Richel Buniel received the Orthodox sacrament of baptism in 2015 with the name Catherine. With the blessing of the Patriarchal Exarch of Southeast Asia, Metropolitan Sergius of Singapore and Southeast Asia, she underwent obedience at St. Nicholas Convent in Ukraine, where she took monastic vows with the name Maria, in honor of St. Mary of Radonezh.
Ambassador of Russia to the Philippines and Metropolitan Pavel met with the Mayor of Davao
On February 7, 2023, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Russian Federation to the Republic of the Philippines Marat Pavlov and Metropolitan Pavel of Manila and Hanoi met with the Mayor of Davao Sebastian Duterte. Before the meeting, a presentation of Davao City’s investment proposals was held. During the meeting, which took place in a friendly atmosphere, the interlocutors discussed a wide range of issues related to the development of Russian-Filipino humanitarian contacts. One of the issues related to the project of expanding and strengthening the mission of the Russian Orthodox Church in Davao city concerned the allocation of land for the needs of the mission. The meeting was also attended by: Nikolay Ovsyannikov, Economic Adviser to the Embassy of the Russian Federation in the Philippines, Hieromonk Cornelius (Molev), Secretary of the Philippine-Vietnamese Diocese, Abbot Anthony (Kirpichev), Secretary of the Khanty-Mansi Diocese, Priest Anthony Dolgushin, Chairman of the Department for Church Relations with Society and the Media of the Khanty-Mansi Diocese. At the end of the meeting, Metropolitan Pavel presented the Mayor of Davao with an icon of the Mother of God “Iverskaya” and a newly published Orthodox prayer book in Cebuano language.
Archbishop Liturgy on Sunday of Publican and Pharisee in Davao
On February 5, 2023, the Sunday of Publican and Pharisee and of Synaxis of the New Martyrs and Confessors of the Russian Church, Metropolitan Pavel of Manila and Hanoi celebrated the Divine Liturgy in the church in honor of St. Matrona of Moscow in Davao. His Eminence was co-served by: Secretary of the Philippine-Vietnamese Diocese Hieromonk Cornelius (Molev), Secretary of the Khanty-Mansi Diocese Abbot Anthony (Kirpichev), dean of the Surgut City Deanery of the Khanty-Mansi Diocese Archpriest Anthony Isakov, cleric of the church of St. Isidore of Rostov in Alabel Priest Alexy Bergado. The deacon rank was headed by Hierodeacon Nicodemus (Pirkhovsky). During the Liturgy, Metropolitan Pavel ordained Deacon John Mahinay, a cleric of the church of
St. John of Shanghai in Santa Maria, in the rank of Priest, and Anthony Aranco in the rank of Deacon. He also performed the consecration of a reader Elijah Aleria. At the end of the Service, Metropolitan Pavel addressed the audience:
“Dear fathers, brothers and sisters! Let me congratulate you on the feast of the Resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ! This is the most important day – the Resurrection of Christ. Our Lord accomplished a saving mission by coming to Earth, He lived with a man, showed a saving path, suffered for us and by His Resurrection gave each of us the opportunity to live forever. And we must always remember the saving mission of our Lord Jesus Christ. We treat Sunday in a special way — as the little Easter, the great event that happened to Christ for the salvation of the human race. St. Seraphim of Sarov, our saint, greeted all those who came to him for spiritual consolation with the words: “My joy, Christ is Risen!” He lived by the Resurrection of Christ all his life. And he is for us an example of the attitude to the Resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. This Sunday we celebrated the Divine Liturgy, performed 2 ordinations – diaconal and priestly. I congratulate Father John and Deacon Anthony on taking holy orders. I hope that they will faithfully serve God, truly, giving all their strength so that the Lord will not leave them and the flock they will lead by His mercy. I congratulate all our parishioners, the entire flock of the Philippine Diocese on the increase of the clergy and hope that the flock will increase. On this special day, I would like to thank the secretary, Hieromonk Cornelius, for the missionary labors he carries here, helping me to manage the parishes and I give him the cross so that the Lord comforts him and helps him carry out his ministry.”
After the Divine Liturgy, Metropolitan Pavel, met with the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Russian Federation to the Republic of the Philippines M.I. Pavlov.
On the eve of the Sunday of Publican and Pharisee, Metropolitan Pavel prayed at the all-night vigil at the church in honour of St. Matrona of Moscow in Davao
On February 4, 2023, on the eve of the Sunday of the Publican and Pharisee, of the Synaxis of the New Martyrs and Confessors of the Russian Church, Metropolitan Pavel of Manila and Hanoi prayed at the all-night vigil in the church in honor of St. Matrona of Moscow in Davao. The divine service was performed by a cleric of the church of St. Isidore of Rostov in Alabel, Priest Alexy Bergado, the deacon rank was headed by a cleric of the church of St. John of Shanghai in Santa Maria Deacon John Mahinay. At the end of the all-night vigil, Metropolitan Pavel performed the consecrations of readers Anthony Aranco, Raphael Fraggillo and Juventinus Bulaquenya.