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!”
Parish News
Thursday of the Great Canon
16
On March 30, the Thursday of the Great Canon (“Standing of St Mary of Egypt”), the service of the Great Canon of St Andrew of Crete was celebrated in Tagaytay headed by the Dean of Manila Deanery Hieromonk Alexei, with priests David Grubbs and Augustin Ponferrada co-serving. After the service, […]
Cooperation with Cossacks
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On March 26, a teleconference was held with the participation of Cossacks of the Moscow region and the Philippines. The teleconference was attended by: Ataman of the Cossack city district of the Solnechnogorsk city of the Moscow region Alexander Chizhuen, Chairman of the Board for the Cooperation with the Cossacks […]
Presanctified Liturgy translated into Cebuano
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In the third week of Lent at the Mission and Education Center of the Russian Orthodox Church in Davao City the translation of the service book for Presanctified Liturgy in Cebuano was finished. Priest Moses Cahilig and priest Joachim Gonzales first used the translated service book during the celebrations of […]
Sunday of the Cross worship
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ln the middle of the Lent the Orthodox worship the Precious Cross of Christ. The Cross is in the center of our salvation. And thus we also begin to prepare for the Holy Passions. The services in Vung Tau, Vietnam:
First week of Lent
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From Monday to Thursday of the first week of Great Lent, Great Compline is celebrated in all Orthodox churches with the reading of the Penitential Canon of St. Andrew of Crete. One of these services was served in Vung Tau today.
New church in Vietnam
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In Vung Tau, there have been some changes. The apartment that was used for the church became small, and 2 apartments were allocated for the needs of the parish instead of one. And on the eve of Lent, everyone will be able to come to the new church, so that […]
Feast of St Xenia in Hanoi
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On Sunday, February 5, on the eve of the day of St. Blessed Xenia of St. Petersburg, the Divine Liturgy was celebrated in Hanoi. Parishioners prayerfully honored the memory of the heavenly patroness of the Hanoi community.
Blessing of the ocean
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On January 21, on Saturday after Theophany, on the coast of the island of Luzon, the dean of the Manila District, Hieromonk Alexei (Lapshin), performed the rite of the Great Blessing of water in the ocean. After the rite, two parishioners of the Iveron parish were baptized. The events, which […]
Theophany
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On January 19, after the Divine Liturgy, the rite of the Great Blessing of water on Lake Taal was performed at the parish in Tagaytay. In the center of the lake there is the world’s smallest active volcano, which erupted for the last time exactly 3 years ago.
Feast of St Serafim
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The Day of the Repose of St. Seraphim of Sarov on January 15 fell on Sunday this year, so many parishioners were able to pray to the saint, those who on other days cannot be in the church because of work. The unique life of the ascetic and his instructions […]