Holy Virgin Cathedral to Hold Fourth Annual Retreat on Sunday, March 21

[March 7, 2010] With the blessing of Archbishop Kyrill of San Francisco and Western America, the Holy Virgin Cathedral will be hosting its fourth annual Orthodox Lenten Retreat on Sunday, March 21.

The program begins with the Divine Liturgy (in English) at 7:30 a.m. Following breakfast, special guest speaker Archpriest Patrick Reardon of All Saints Church in Chicago (Antiochian Christian Archdiocese), well-known author and senior editor of "Touchstone" magazine, will present two lectures: "Holy Scripture and the Life of Prayer" and "The Evangelization of America." The retreat will include an open forum for questions and answers, meals and a guided tour of the Cathedral, including the shrine of St. John of Shanghai and San Francisco. Vespers start at 5:30 p.m. followed by informal fellowship in the cathedral hall.

For a complete schedule, to register or for additional information see the Lenten Retreat site.

Diocesan Council Holds Regular Meeting

[March 1, 2010] On Thursday, February 25, 2010 the Diocesan Council (clergy and laity) met at the Diocesan Administration for a regular session. Following the opening prayer Archbishop Kyrill told those gathered about his January trip to Moscow and showed the members of the Diocesan Council the Order of St. Innocent he received. The greater part of the meeting was devoted to organizational matters concerning the upcoming (Fall 2010) Diocesan Assembly. At the end of the meeting Archbishop Kyrill announced that he and Bishop Theodosy plan to take part in the first gathering of all the canonical bishops of North America, an Assembly of Bishops of the Holy Orthodox Church in the Americas that will have both the authority and methodology to effectuate real progress in the establishment of canonical Church order in the Americas. The Assembly will meet in New York at the end of May. The next meeting of the Diocesan Council is scheduled for June 10, 2010.

Around the Diocese: Choir News

[February 28, 2010] Archbishop Kyrill marked his namesday on Friday evening, February 26, by celebrating the Liturgy of Presanctified Gifts together with Bishop Theodosy, Archpriest Stefan Pavlenko and diocesan clergy at the Church of All Russian Saints in Burlingame. The full parish choir (40 singers), directed by Andrei Roudenko, sang the service.

• With the blessing of Archbishop Kyrill once a month the Saturday evening Vigils at Holy Virgin Cathedral in San Francisco will be sung antiphonally by a men's and woman's "kliros" choirs. The first such service was chanted on Saturday, February 27.

• A member of the Holy New Martyrs Church choir in Mulino, Michael Veter, has typeset the Annunciation Canon in digital format (in Church Slavonic), so it can be sung this year during Bright Week according to the Paschal ordo.

San Francisco to Host Western American Diocese Clergy Lenten Retreat

[February 24, 2010] With the blessing of His Eminence Kyrill, Archbishop of San Francisco and Western America the lenten gathering of clergy of the Western American Diocese will convene at the Holy Virgin Cathedral in San Francisco on Monday, March 8 and close with the Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts on Wednesday, March 10. The schedule of the Western American Diocese Lenten Clergy Retreat has been updated:

Monday, March 8
1:00 pm: Opening Molieben.
1:30 pm: Opening remarks by Archbishop Kyrill.
1:45 pm: Deacon Matthew Steenberg: "Does God Cause Earthquakes?"
2:45 pm: Questions and discussion.
4:00 pm: Break.
5:00 pm: Compline, Matins, 1st Hour.
7:45 pm: Dinner. ...more

Second Edition of the Rite of the Mystery of Holy Unction Released in San Francisco

[February 15, 2010] The second edition of the parallel Church Slavonic and English texts of the Rite of the Mystery of Holy Unction has been released by Russkiy Pastyr Publishing in San Francisco. The new edition (revised and redesigned) has 98 pages and full-color cover with plasticoil binding that allows one to open the book completely flat. The book can be ordered directly from the publisher: ...more

Archpriest Alexander Lebedeff Takes Part in the First Meeting of the Inter-Conciliar Standing Conference of the Russian Orthodox Church

[January 30, 2010] On January 29, 2010 Archpriest Alexander Lebedeff, a clergyman of the Western American Diocese and member of the Russian Orthodox Church's Inter-Conciliar Standing Conference, took part in the first meeting of the Conference in Moscow. The meeting was chaired by His Holiness Patriarch Kyrill of Moscow and All-Russia. The head of the Russian Orthodox Church emphasized that this meeting is historical in nature inasmuch no other Local Church has such a discussion forum of bishops, priests, monastics and lay members. At this first meeting thirteen committes of the Conference were ratified, as well as their makeup.

The Myrrh-Streaming Hawaiian-Iveron Icon to Visit San Francisco

[January 25, 2010] The newly-revealed Iveron Myrrhstreaming Icon of the Mother of God from Hawaii will be at the Holy Virgin Cathedral in San Francisco, California (6210 Geary Boulevard), on Saturday, January 30. The greeting of the Myrrh-Streaming Hawaiian-Iveron Icon is scheduled for 6:00 pm followed by the All-Night Vigil. The Myrrhstreaming Icon will be in San Francisco just for that one evening and will remain in the church throughout the service.

AROUND THE DIOCESE: January 2010

[January 20, 2010] At the Divine Liturgy on the Feast of our Lord's Nativity at Holy Virgin Cathedral in San Francisco His Eminence Archbishop Kyrill awarded the cathedral Protodeacon Nicholas Triantaffilidis the purple kamilavka.

• The Lenten Western American Diocese Pastoral Conference is scheduled for March 8-10 at the Holy Virgin Cathedral in San Francisco.

• Archbishop Kyrill has received Deacon Dr. Matthew Steenberg into the ranks of clergy of the Western American Diocese from the Diocese of Sourozh. Father Matthew is assigned to the St. Tikohon's Church in San Francisco and as the new principal of St. John of San Francisco Orthodox Academy in San Francisco.

• On December 20, 2009 at the Divine Liturgy at the All-Merciful Saviour Monastery on Vashon Island Archbishop Kyrill ordained a member of the monastic brotherhood, Hierodeacon Paul, to the priesthood.

• Archbishop Kyrill of San Francisco and Western America and Bishop Theodosy of Seattle have left for Russia to take part in a Bishop meeting and the services on the occassion of the first anniversary of His Holiness Patriarch Kyrill's enthronement as Patriarch of Moscow and All-Russia (February 1-2). While in Moscow Archbishop Kyrill will receive the Second Order of St. Innocent, Metropolitan of Moscow and Kolomensk.

Christ Is Born! Glorify Him!

NATIVITY EPISTLE
Of the Ruling Archbishop of the Western American Diocese

No sooner was our Lord Jesus Christ born in Bethlehem, joining us under the most contradictory of circumstances, that His persecution began. Upon receiving the news of the Messiah’s Nativity from the three Wise Kings, the most wicked King Herod, in a fit of rage, sent his soldiers to slaughter all the boy babies who had been born then in those parts, from the infants to the two-year-olds. Herod’s crime is described in historical accounts. But the Evangelist St. Matthew reports that the Lord sent an angel to warn St. Joseph, in a dream, of the threat to the Holy Family, so that they might flee the vicious persecution.

So it was that the Nativity of the Son of God, amazing the shepherds and gloriously heralded by the heavenly hosts, had on the one hand inspired the Wise Kings to undertake a complex pilgrimage, that they might find God Incarnate, worship him and offer Him their gifts – while in the soul of the wicked, ignorant and idolatrous king (for Herod was not a righteous king at all, but prayed to idols), it only inspired a ferocious hatred and a stubborn obsession with asserting his ruthless personal agenda. ...more

One of the Diocese's Senior Presbyteras Passes Away

[December 23, 2009] Tamara Kotar, one of the senior presbyteras of the Western American Diocese (wife of the evermemorable Archpriest Nicholas Kotar), passed away today in a San Francisco hospital. Her eldest son, Archpriest Sergei Kotar, is a clergyman of the Holy Virgin Cathedral in San Francisco and diocesan treasurer. Her second son, Archpriest Alexis Kotar, is the priest at St. Nicholas Cathedral in Seattle and dean of the Pacific Northwest Deanery. T. Kotar is also survived by two daughters, Elena Galskoy and Nina Filipoff. The panikhida at Holy Virgin Cathedral in San Francisco is scheduled for Monday, December 28 at 7:30 pm and the funeral – on Tuesday, December 29 at 10:00 am.

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