Joint Commission of Eastern and Oriental Orthodox Churches Announces Third Annual United Nations Prayer Service

New York, NY [SCOBA/SCOOCH]—The Joint Commission of the Standing Conference of Oriental Orthodox Churches (SCOOCH) and the Standing Conference of the Canonical Orthodox Bishops in the Americas (SCOBA) has announced the date of the third annual Orthodox Prayer Service and Reception for the United Nations Community. The service will take place at 6:30 p.m. on October 6th, 2003 at Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Archdiocesan Cathedral, 319 East 74th St, New York, NY. His Beatitude, Metropolitan HERMAN, Primate of the Orthodox Church in America, will host this year’s event, which will include a Vespers Service and a short program of speakers from the UN community.

Last year’s service, hosted by His Eminence, Archbishop Khajag Barsamian, Primate of the Diocese of the Armenian Church of America (Eastern) at St. Vartan Armenian Cathedral, drew over 200 participants, including SCOOCH and SCOBA heads of churches and ambassadors to the UN from Armenia, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Cyprus, Finland, Moldova, Russia, Syria and the Ukraine. Distinguished speakers included His Excellency Sergey Lavrov, Permanent Representative of the Russian Federation to the UN, and Mr. Benon Sevan, Undersecretary-General of the United Nations, Executive Director of the Iraq Programme.

Members of the Metropolitan New York Orthodox community are encouraged to attend this annual prayer service. For more information, please contact Mr. David Wagschal (516) 922 0550.