Metropolitan Herman joins Patriarch Aleksy for Celebration of 10th Anniversary of OCA Representation Church in Moscow

St. Catherine the Great Martyr Church, OCA Representation Church to Moscow Patriarchate.

SYOSSET, NY [OCA Communications]—His Beatitude, Metropolitan Herman, will join His Holiness, Patriarch Aleksy II of Moscow and All Russia at the celebration of the 10th anniversary of the Orthodox Church in America’s Representation Church of the Great Martyr Catherine in Moscow on Monday, December 6 and Tuesday, December 7, 2004.

A delegation from the OCA, including His Eminence, Archbishop Nathaniel of Detroit and the Romanian Episcopate; His Grace, Bishop Seraphim of Ottawa and Canada; His Grace, Bishop Nikon of Boston and the Albanian Archdiocese; Protopresbyter Robert Kondratick, OCA chancellor; and the Very Rev. Leonid Kishkovsky, assistant to the chancellor for external affairs, will accompany Metropolitan Herman.

“In 1994, Patriarch Aleksy made the church, which stands prominently on a major thoroughfare in central Moscow, available to the OCA for use as its representation to the Russian Orthodox Church,” said the Very Rev. John Matusiak, OCA Communications Director. “During the Soviet period, the church was used by the Grabar Institute, an art restoration studio, while its auxiliary buildings fell into disrepair. During the past decades, thanks to the tireless efforts of the parish’s former and current dean, the church has been restored and has regained its position as a well-known central Moscow landmark.”

Under Protopresbyter Daniel Hubiak, the first dean of the parish, extensive repairs and renovations were initiatied. His successor, Archimandrite Nicholas [Iuhos], continued the restoration process during his brief tenure. Recently, Archimandite Zacchaeus [Wood], the current dean, has overseen not only ongoing renovations, but celebrated the blessing of the remaining portion of the church, which the Grabar Institute vacated in the fall of 2004. Numerous historic frescoes have been uncovered and are undergoing restoration, while a new iconostasis graces the church proper.

Patriarch Aleksy and His Beatitude, Metropolitan Theodosius, retired Primate of the OCA, reconsecrated the church in 1999.

During his brief stay in Moscow, Metropolitan Herman will brief Patriarch Aleksy on the nearly $95,000.00 in donations collected by the OCA in the fall of 2004 for the victims of the terrorist attacks in Beslan, Russia. He will also distribute hundreds of Christmas stockings donated through funds raised by OCA parishes, youth groups, FOCA chapters, and individuals for needy children in Russia, Albania, Georgia, Alaska, Poland, the Czech Republic and Slovakia, and other eastern European countries.

From Moscow, Metropolitan Herman and the delegation are slated to begin an official visit to the autonomous Orthodox Church of Finland from December 8 through 13, the feast of Saint Herman of Alaska.