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!”
