On Saturday the 23rd and Sunday the 24th of November, celebratory services were held at St. John the Baptist Cathedral in Washington, DC, that will long remain in parishioners’ memories. Metropolitan Hilarion of Eastern America & New York, First Hierarch of the Russian Church Abroad, visited during these days in order to pray alongside parishioners on the feast of the Montreal Iveron Icon of the Mother of God, as well as perform two ordinations.

In the days leading up to the First Hierarch’s arrival, a group of parishioners carried out a general clean-up of the cathedral, during which was polished the silver riza (cover) adorning the cathedral’s copy of the same icon guarded by Brother Jose Muñoz-Cortes for 15 years until his martyric death in 1997.

The Washington copy of the "Montreal" Icon was written by the Athonite Archimandrite Chrysostomos – the same iconographer who created the icon guarded by Brother Jose since 1982. According to Fr. Chrysostomos, the Washington icon was a gift "from love to love;" that is, the icon is given to all those who love and venerate the Mother of God and honor the martyred guardian of her wonderworking icon.

On the first anniversary of the death of Brother Jose, the new icon was brought to the American capital by a friend of Brother Jose’s, the Athenian jeweler Emmanuel (Manolis) Agriris. He had adorned the icon with an exact copy of the silver riza he had once made for the "Montreal" Icon. The riza is covered in precious and semiprecious jewels, donated by the faithful across the Diaspora. Throughout the year, the Washington copy of the wonderworking icon is kept in a large kiot, specially made for the "Montreal" Icon and which remained in the home chapel of Br. Jose for five years. The kiot and Br. Jose’s other personal items were given over to the cathedral for safekeeping.

Over the last several years, parishioners began to notice that the Washington icon would become covered in a thin white film which smelled of myrrh. With the blessing of the rector, it was decided to clean the film from the icon. Parishioner and professional restorer Irina Belyakov scrupulously shone a special infrared light across the entire surface of the icon, as a result of which the film slowly changed into myrrh, and was easily removed with cotton. On Friday, November 22, Irina cleaned the icon for a third time. The following day, the film of dried myrrh returned once more, and it was decided not to repeat the cleanings…

A copy of the "Montreal" Iveron Icon was place on the central analogion in preparation for Metropolitan Hilarion’s arrival. Next to it was placed an icon of the Holy Warrior-Martyr Victor of Damascus with a piece of his holy relics, since his feast day coincides with that of the "Montreal" Icon.

At Vigil on November 23, two choirs sang outstandingly as always – one in Slavonic, under the direction of maestro Youri A. Petcherkin, and one in English, under the able direction of Paula Genis. Throughout the entire evening service, the four cathedral priests (rector Archpriest Victor Potapov, Priest John Johnson, Priest Alexander Resnikoff, and Priest Victor Klimenko) confessed the many faithful who wished to cleanse themselves of their sins and be able to commune of Christ’s Holy Mysteries on the following day. Serving the Vigil was Hieromonk Tikhon (Gayfudinov; the Metropolitan’s cell attendant). He was co-served by the four parish deacons ‒ Protodeacon Leonid Mickle and Deacons Patrick Mitchell, Damian Dantinne, and John Dean. During the Polyeleos, the Magnification was sung to the "Montreal" Iveron Icon of the Mother of God. Metropolitan Hilarion anointed all those who venerated the Gospel and festal icons with myrrh from the myrrh-streaming "Hawaiian" Iveron Icon.

After Vigil, the sisterhood arranged a delicious dinner for the clergy and select guests, which gave the Metropolitan an opportunity to interact with clergy and active parishioners in an informal setting.

The following morning, November 24, the First Hierarch was greeted with the peal of bells. At the entrance to the cathedral, parish warden D.M. Zaretsky met His Eminence and delivered a short greeting, in which he thanked the ROCOR Primate for his visit to the parish and asked his holy prayers for the community’s spiritual prosperity.

At the end of the Sixth Hour, parish Reader Gregory Trubetskoy was ordained a subdeacon.

After the Great Entrance, Deacon Damian Dantinne was ordained a priest. Fr. Damian was born in the USA and was baptized as an infant into the Orthodox Faith. For most of his life, he lived in South Jersey, where he finished high school. In 1998, he graduated Rutgers University with a B.S. in Computer Science. Fr. Damian spend ten years in the U.S. Army Reserve; in July 2008, he was ordained to the diaconate, and in the summer of 2011 came to serve in St. John’s parish. Fr. Damian and his Matushka Anastasia live in Crofton, MD with their two sons – Matthew (11) and Andrew (6).

A video recording of Fr. Damian’s ordination is available here.

After the Eucharistic Canon, Subdeacon Gregory Trubetskoy (nephew of Matushka Maria Potapov) was ordained a deacon. Gregory A. Trubetskoy was born in Moscow and baptized Orthodox in infancy. When he was 16 years old, he moved to the USA with his mother, Ekaterina, and sister; they settled in Washington. The new deacon studied Information Technology at Montgomery College. He has sung tenor in the parish’s Slavonic choir since 2001, and has taken active part in the life of the choir and many events related to church singing. At present, Fr. Gregory lives and works in Vienna, VA with his Matushka Tatiana and their children ‒ Alexander (17) and Michael (13).

A video recording of Fr. Gregory's ordination is available here.

At this especially memorable Liturgy, a multitude of the faithful communed of Christ’s Holy Mysteries from four chalices. Also praying in church during the Liturgy was the former Primate of the Orthodox Church in America (OCA), His Beatitude, Metropolitan Jonah (Paffhausen). Upon completion of the service, prior to the dismissal, Metropolitan Hilarion delivered a thoughtful sermon on the "Montreal" Iveron Icon of the Mother of God and its faithful guardian, the murdered Brother Jose. His Eminence’s sermon can be seen here.

After the Liturgy, the sisterhood prepared a bountiful luncheon for the faithful, during which words of congratulation were offered to the newly ordained Priest Damian and Deacon Gregory, as well as to those celebrating their namesdays: rector Archpriest Victor Potapov, Priest Victor Klimenkov, and Priest John Johnson.

Among the guests in attendance at the luncheon was Suzanne Massie, author of the renowned book Land of the Firebird: The Beauty of Old Russia, dedicated to the history of Russia, and a series of other works. She delivered a short greeting and spoke about her recently published book,Trust but Verify: Reagan, Russia and Me. In her new book, Massie speaks about her role as an advisor to President Reagan during his historic negotiations with Mikhail Gorbachev in the 1980s.

Three years ago, Suzanne Massie converted to Orthodoxy…

Joyous weekdays followed the departure of the First Hierarch. Every day all week, the newly ordained Priest Damian and Deacon Gregory concelebrated their first independent Liturgies. Throughout the week, the Washington copy of the "Montreal" Icon remained in the center of the church.

We ask readers to fervently pray for the new laborers in the Vineyard of Christ – Priest Damian and Deacon Gregory – and for the parishioners of St. John the Baptist Cathedral in Washington, DC.

May the Lord Almighty preserve you all!

Archpriest Victor Potapov
Rector

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