On Monday, August 6/19, 2024, His Eminence KYRILL Archbishop of San Francisco and Western America presided over the patronal feast day of Holy Transfiguration Cathedral in Los Angeles, CA, as well as two ordinations.

After the Great Entrance, Deacon Joseph MacPherson was ordained priest.  After the consecration of the Holy Gifts, Subdeacon Patrick Gill was ordained deacon. Both men are assigned to All Saints of North America Orthodox Church in Phoenix, AZ, the parish that they have served for many years.

After the communion of the faithful, His Eminence led a throng of the faithful in procession around the cathedral at which time he performed the Rite of Blessing the First Fruits.

A festal meal followed in the church hall, bursting with parishioners.

Many years to the Father Rector, Protopresbyster Alexander Lebedeff, Archpriest Janis Terauds, and all of the clergy and faithful of Holy Transfiguration Cathedral, and the newly ordained Priest Joseph MacPherson, and Deacon Patrick Gill!

With the blessing of His Eminence Archbishop Kyrill, Archbishop of San Francisco and Western America, the 31st Annual Orthodox Church Musicians’ Conference will be hosted in Los Angeles at the Holy Transfiguration Cathedral from October 2-6, 2024. The theme of the conference: "The Future of Church Singing: Paths to Performance." Lectures, master classes, and rehearsals will be held in the Cathedral.

Among the guests are Archpriest John Drobot and Protodeacon Alexander Kedrov (Paris). The conference will close with a Divine Liturgy presided by a hierarch.

You can get detailed information and register here.

"Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord” (Romans 12:19)

Today we heard that legislation was adopted in Ukraine to prohibit the canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church.

Alas, this is not the first form of persecution, and as we know from history, not the last as predicted in the Apocalypse.

This lawlessness can only be characterized by the words of the Holy Scripture: “For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way” (2 Thessalonians 2:7).

What could we expect from those who adopt such laws, who think that the Church of Christ is a political society, adhering to nationalistic viewpoints or other social tendencies?

Most Reverend Brother-Archpastors, Reverend Fathers,

Dear in the Lord Brothers and Sisters!

I cordially greet you all with the ongoing Dormition Fast, when we are once again called to temperance and the active doing of good deeds, that we might worthily prepare ourselves for the upcoming Pascha of the Theotokos!

Attached to this appeal by my unworthiness to the Fullness of the Russian Church Abroad is a video about the history and significance of the Synodal Residence in New York City, which is the House of the Kursk Root Icon of the Mother of God “of the Sign,” the Protectress of the Russian Diaspora. Please familiarize yourselves with this short film, prepared by the Diocese of Germany, about the building that houses our spiritual and administrative center, and provide us with all possible assistance in the major renovation of the Synodal Residence.

Since the arrival in the United States of Metropolitan Anastassy (Gribanovsky) - second First Hierarch of the Russian Church Abroad - in 1950, and then of the wonderworking Kursk Root Icon of the Mother of God, Russian Orthodox émigrés took care to acquire a more spacious church and worthy premises for the Metropolitan’s residence and the chancery of the Synod of Bishops. This search was resolved many years ago in 1957, when the Synod of Bishops received a very generous gift in the form of a large house on the corner of 93rd Street and Park Avenue in New York City. The house was purchased with a donation from Serge Yakovlevich Semenenko, first vice-chairman and director of First National Bank in Boston, as well as a director at many other corporations. Serge Semenenko hailed from a pious Russian family that lived in Odessa before the revolution. His parents, Iakov and Maria, were well known to Metropolitan Anastassy, who visited them many times both in Odessa and Constantinople. They were generous donors toward the needs of the Church. It was in their memory that Serge Semenenko, whom Metropolitan Anastassy had known since he was 11 years old, made his donation.