On December 21, the 28th Sunday after Pentecost, diocesan secretary Hieromonk Korniliy (Molev) and diocesan cleric Priest Dimitry Cahilig baptized five people at the Blessed Matrona of Moscow Mission Center in Davao, Philippines. Two more were catechumenated.
The sacrament of baptism took place in a mountain river on Samal Island.
The newly baptized were given the names Alexei, Angelina, Ekaterina, Vera, and Matrona.
Four of them are members of the same family living in northern Mindanao. They regularly attend the Church of Blessed Matrona, traveling approximately eight hours, and became the first Orthodox Christians from their region.
Matrona is a young woman who discovered Orthodoxy on her own, began attending services, and expressed a desire to be baptized.
