{"id":496,"date":"2020-02-22T17:39:35","date_gmt":"2020-02-22T17:39:35","guid":{"rendered":"\/ru\/?p=496"},"modified":"2020-02-25T08:19:26","modified_gmt":"2020-02-25T08:19:26","slug":"na-filippinah-velikim-chinom-osvyashhen-p","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/phvieparchy.org\/en\/archpastoral-ministry\/na-filippinah-velikim-chinom-osvyashhen-p\/","title":{"rendered":"In the Philippines, the first temple of the Russian Orthodox Church was consecrated with the ceremony of the Great blessing"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

On\nFebruary 22, 2020, Metropolitan Pavel of Manila and Hanoi, the Administrator of\nthe Philippine-Vietnamese diocese, performed the rite of the Great consecration\nof the church in honor of St. Seraphim of Sarov in the village of Makalangot\n(Mindanao, Republic of the Philippines) and headed the divine Liturgy in the\nnewly consecrated church.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With\nHis Eminence served the clergy of the Philippine-Vietnamese diocese: the\nSecretary of the diocese, hieromonk Cornelius (Molev), priest Siluan Thompson,\nhieromonk Alexei (Lapshin), priest David Grubbs, priest Eugene Zukalo, priest\nJoakim Gonzales, priest Roman Buniel, and priest Moses Kahilig, hieromonk\nAntony (Kirpichev), Secretary of the Administrator of the Khanty-Mansi diocese,\nand Archpriest Antony Isakov and Archpriest Sergiy Shevchenko, deans of the\nSurgut and Nizhnevartovsk city deaneries of the Khanty-Mansi diocese and a\ncleric of the Resurrection Cathedral of Khanty-Mansiysk deacon Daniel Matveev.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At\nthe small entrance, by the decree of Metropolitan Pavel of Manila and Hanoi,\nthe Secretary of the Philippine-Vietnamese diocese, hieromonk Cornelius\n(Molev), was awarded the right to wear a golden pectoral cross for his diligent\nservice to the Holy Church.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

During\nthe Liturgy, Metropolitan Pavel ordained the head of the parish of St. Seraphim\nof Sarov of Makalangot (Philippines) sub-deacon Nicholas Salgado to the\ndiaconate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At\nthe end of the service, Metropolitan Pavel addressed the audience:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 “Dear\nbrothers and sisters, I cordially and sincerely greet you on this special day\nfor all of us. Today we specifically asked the Lord to send us His divine grace\nand sanctify this temple, to be present here forever, so that everyone who\ncomes to this temple will be united with God in prayer and sacraments!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“The\nhouse of God will be called the house of prayer,” as the Holy Scripture\nsays, and today we prayed for all those who have contributed to the\nconstruction of this temple. This day is special in the annals of our diocese\nalso because we performed the diaconal ordination of a parishioner of this\nchurch who took Holy orders today, and I hope that he will sincerely serve God\nand people. During 3 days of our visit, we performed three Divine liturgies and\nthree diaconal ordinations, adding these days to the history of our diocese by\nadding clergy from our parishioners who are ready to serve God. But it is\npossible to serve God only through serving one’s neighbor. I prayed for this,\nand asked deacons Nicholas, Matthew, and John to pray that the Lord would strengthen\nthem in faith for the most important service on earth \u2013 to be a worthy servant of the Lord.\nOur clergy has been replenished with three clergymen, and I am happy that our\nChurch, our Filipino diocese, is growing both in quantity and in quality. I am\nsure that the Church Foundation being laid today will be strong and reliable,\nlike this temple, the first in the history of this diocese, built and\nconsecrated by the Great blessing. I think that a good start has been made and\nthe construction of temples on the Philippines land will continue. I thank all\nof you for your prayers and participation in the construction of this Holy\nchurch. I congratulate everyone on this event \u2013 for this event is not only for this\nvillage and not only for the Philippines \u2013 it is a celebration of the entire\nuniversal Orthodoxy, the true Orthodox Catholic Church! I would like to give a\npresent to this Church, an icon of the Resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ,\nwhich we brought from Russia, so that the Risen Lord can show everyone the way\nto salvation. God bless everyone!\u00bb<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The\ncommunity of the Makalangot church converted to Orthodoxy from the Independent\nPhilippine Church, informally called “aglipayan”, in 2015, as a\nresult of the adoption of the Orthodox faith by Fr. Moses Cahilig, now the\npriest of the Philippine-Vietnamese diocese. For a long time, prayers and\nservices were performed in a bamboo hut without walls. in 2017, the Patriarchal\nExarch, Metropolitan Sergiy of Singapore and South-East Asia, blessed the\nconstruction of the temple. The Church was built with the active participation\nof benefactors from Russia. The foreman Igor Diamond and Orthodox community of\nDavao made a big contribution to the construction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n