The month of October was extremely eventful for the parishioners of St. John the Baptist Cathedral in Washington, DC. On the first weekend of the month, October 5-6, the parish held a traditional two-day Russian folk festival fundraiser, which annually draws guests in the hundreds. Parishioners spent two months just preparing all of the food that would be sold! In addition to the usual attractions at such events – sampling Russian cuisine, buying souvenirs, books, and recordings of Russian song and dance, the festival gave parishioners a wonderful opportunity to acquaint non-Orthodox guests with the cathedral, the holy icons and relics within, and tell them about Orthodoxy. God bless Protodeacon Leonid (Mickle – ed.), who with abundant love has for many years led tours of the church.

A week later, Vitaly Permiakov, professor of Liturgical Theology at Holy Trinity Seminary in Jordanville, NY, paid a visit to the parish. On Sunday, October 13, after each Liturgy (English and Slavonic – ed.) and luncheon, Vitaly delivered a lecture – one in English, one in Russian – about "The Purpose and Structure of the All-Night Vigil." Vitaly is very well acquainted with the subject: his reasoning followed a beautiful path, explaining throughout the course of his presentation the importance for Orthodox Christians of taking part in this service. This is especially true for those who are preparing to partake of Christ’s Holy Mysteries the following morning. Both of his lectures can be viewed online here.

On Saturday, October 19, parishioners of St. John the Baptist Cathedral welcomed a dear guest from Moscow – Archpriest Artemy Vladimirov. On October 19-20, Fr. Artemy took part in the parish’s divine services. At the Liturgy on Sunday, he delivered a sermon dedicated to the raising of the son of the widow of Nain. After the luncheon, Fr. Artemy led a wonderful talk in the crowded parish hall on various spiritual topics (video of his sermon and talk is available here).

Though they wanted to ask Fr. Artemy a great many questions, parishioners kept their inquiries to a minimum, since their dear guest had only limited time to see some of the capital’s attractions and get some time to rest ‒ after all, that very same Sunday he would have to present his musical-literary concert at the Catholic University!

This article’s author and the concert’s audience gathered for the first time in their lives at an event of this kind, and as a result had only a vague idea of what to expect. The evening’s theme was "Fathers & Sons." Over the course of an hour and a half, Fr. Artemy shared his creative words of wisdom, after which he would pause his thoughts and invitethe masterful pianist and composer Renara (Daria in baptism) Akhoundova to illustrate with music his priestly words. Such a unique form of homily was to great effect with the audience, allowing them to more easily delve into Fr. Artemy’s message and contemplate the eternal…

On Saturday, October 26, on the feast of the Iveron Icon of the Mother of God (the original, preserved on Mt. Athos – ed.), the myrrh-streaming "Hawaiian" Iveron Icon of the Mother of God visited the parish. The Hawaiian Icon is a small, paper copy of the myrrh-streaming "Montreal" Iveron Icon, whose faithful guardian of 15 years, Brother Jose Muñoz-Cortes, was brutally martryed in Athens on October 31, 1997.

The wonderworking icon remained in the cathedral over the October 26-27 weekend. At every divine service, the church was filled to capacity with the faithful. Every worshiper was not only anointed with myrrh from the abundantly flowing icon, but also received a piece of cotton with myrrh and a small folding icon, in prayerful remembrance of the Hawaiian Icon’s visit.

Parish cleric Priest John Johnson and rector Archpriest Victor Potapov both mentioned in their sermons that the "Hawaiian" Icon was brought to Washington on October 13/26, the feast of the Athonite Iveron Icon of the Mother of God, and on October 27 was present in church for the feast of the Holy Fathers of the Seventh Ecumenical Council, whose God-bearing participants delivered the final Orthodox theological verdict defending the veneration of icons. The Iveron Icon of the Mother of God is, itself, a martyr, having suffered during the age of iconoclasm. And her faithful guardian, Brother Jose, was martyred in kind... Video of both sermons can be found here.

After Vigil on Thursday, October 31, the eve of the feast day of St. John of Kronstadt, parish clergy served a panihida on the occasion of the 16th anniversary of Brother Jose’s martyrdom.

On Saturday, November 2, close to one hundred parishioners of St. John the Baptist Cathedral will set off on their 16th annual two-day pilgrimage to Holy Trinity Monastery, to the grave of the Montreal Icon’s guardian. However, this concerns the month of November, and we will discuss it further in next month’s installment…

Archpriest Victor Potapov
Rector

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