Metropolitan Jovan of Ohrid and Bishop Longin of New Gracanica Visit the Cathedral of the Mother of God "Joy of All Who Sorrow"

As reported by Protodeacon Nicholas Triantafillidis, His Eminence Archbishop Kyrill of San Francisco and Western America greeted and welcomed His Eminence Metropolitan Jovan of Ohrid and His Grace Bishop Longin of New Gracanica on Saturday, April 9, at the beginning of all-night vigil. The visitors prayed in the altar during the service, when the clergymen serving commemorated the visitors from the Serbian Orthodox Church, which had provided refuge for the Russian Church Abroad during the 1920's, while the Cathedral Choir, under the direction of Reader Vladimir V Krassovsky, sang several pieces of Serbian church music. At the end of divine service, His Grace Bishop Longin spoke with the Cathedral's clergymen and told them about his recent visit to Australia, where he escorted His Holiness Patriarch Pavle and concelebrated during the patriarchal services, in which clergymen of Diocese of Australia and New Zealand of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia also participated.

The main goal of the visit to the Cathedral by the bishops of the Serbian Church was to pray at the tomb containing the uncorrupted relics of the great Saint John (Maximovich, +1966), who had spent some time in monastic labors at Bitol, where Metropolitan Jovan now serves as archpastor.