Metropolitan Tikhon Prepares to Celebrate the Fiftieth Anniversary of the Reception of the Tomos of Autocephaly and the Canonization of St. Herman
On the evening of Thursday, December 12, and the early morning of December 13, His Beatitude Metropolitan Tikhon celebrated the All-night Vigil followed immediately by the Divine Liturgy for the feast of Our Venerable Father Herman of Alaska, the Wonderworker and Equal-to-the-Apostles, at St. Sergius Chapel at the Chancery of the Orthodox Church in America.
Metropolitan Tikhon celebrated these services as part of his own spiritual preparation for the upcoming fiftieth anniversaries of the Reception of the Tomos of Autocephaly from the venerable Russian Orthodox Church, and the Canonization of St. Herman, which the Orthodox Church in America will celebrate throughout next year. Concelebrating with His Beatitude were His Eminence Archbishop Michael of New York and New Jersey, Secretary of the Holy Synod, and Rector of St. Tikhon’s Orthodox Theological Seminary [STOTS]; Archpriest Alexander Rentel, Chancellor of the Orthodox Church in America; Archpriest Chad Hatfield, President of St. Vladimir’s Orthodox Theological Seminary [SVOTS]; Archpriest John Parker III, Dean of STOTS; Archpriest John Klingel, Rector of St. Andrew Church, Dix Hills, NY; Archpriest David Mezynski, Director of Formation at SVOTS and Priest Alexander Revyuk, Rector of the Church of the Holy Trinity, Brooklyn, NY. Chancery staff, seminarians, and local faithful also accompanied His Beatitude in his preparation for these milestone events in the life of the Orthodox Church in America. Archpriest Alexander Rentel said about this event, “By his example, His Beatitude exhorts all the faithful of the Orthodox Church in America to celebrate the upcoming anniversaries in prayer, ascetic effort, and above all by a renewal of faith in Jesus Christ who is glorified and made manifest in St. Herman of Alaska.”
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