Liturgy on Phu Quoc

The first Liturgy on the biggest Vietnamese island of Phu Quoc was celebrated on the last day of 2022. It was performed on December 31 by Priest Eugene Tsukalo, rector of the parishes of the Vietnamese Deanery of the Philippine-Vietnamese Diocese. Believers who live on the island prayed during the service.

Anticipating Christmas

Few days before the feast of the Nativity of Christ, a meeting with young parishioners was held at the parish in honor of the Kazan Icon of the Mother of God in Vung Tau. Priest Eugene Tsukalo, rector of the parishes of the Vietnamese Deanery of the Philippine-Vietnamese Diocese, told the children about the holiday, after that the creative part of the evening began. The children themselves made gingerbread cakes, crafts, watched a themed cartoon and, of course, there was a tea party.

Special prayers in Mindanao

A period of special prayer singing has ended in Mindanao.

According to the Filipino Catholic tradition, special masses are held on 9 evenings before December 25 (Christmas according to the new calendar). Pious Catholics at this time try to visit temples daily for special prayer. According to our calendar, on these days we commemorate two great saints and wonderworkers: Nicholas of Myra and Spyridon of Trimythous. Therefore, in the spirit of the total pre-holiday atmosphere, the Orthodox Filipinos also decided to specially celebrate these days: prayer services with akathists to these two saints were performed daily in all our churches in Mindanao.

Blessing from St John of Shanghai

On December 11, on the 26th Sunday of Pentecost, at the parish in honor of the Iveron Icon of the Mother of God in Manila, a shrine was greeted – part of the vestments of St. John of Shanghai. The relic – a gift from the Ascension Church on Bolshaya Nikitskaya Street in Moscow and from its cleric, Priest Dmitry Sorokin – was delivered to the Philippines by George (Daniel) Foronda, colonel of the International Cossack Brotherhood, representative of the Cossacks in the Philippines.

St. John, as we know, was unmercenary and did not have many vestments. Probably, our parish now has a piece of the very vestments in which the saint walked around the island of Tubabao in 1949-1951. It is significant that such a greeting from the saint came to us unexpectedly, but immediately after the foundation stone of the future church in his honor was blessed on the island of Tubabao.

On the same day after the prayer service to St. John, three parishioners passed the rite of catechumens, and then the “great” blessing of 4 “chariots” was performed.

The foundation completed

The foundation of the church of the Apostle Thomas in Barangay Kinabalan has been completed. Due to the constant seismic activity, with the blessing of Metropolitan Pavel of Manila and Hanoi, with the help of the architectural department of the Khanty-Mansi Metropolia, a special project of reinforced foundation was developed for this temple, designed for earthquakes up to 9 points. Despite the novelty of the project, local workers, with the help of the parishioners of the church and under the supervision of the clergy of the diocese, coped with the work perfectly.