Feast of the Hodigitria in Siberia

On 10 September, in the Theophany Cathedral of Ishim, a service performed by assembled clergy took place on the feast of the Kursk-Root Icon of the Mother of God. Nine priests and the cathedral deacon concelebrated with Bishop Evtikhy of Ishim and Siberia.

After the Liturgy, a festive trapeza took place at the convent named in honor of the Holy Hierarch John of Shanghai and San Francisco. This convent received official status at the last Hierarchal Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad. At the trapeza, Bishop Evtikhy told of his trip to the celebration of the seventy-fifth anniversary of the parish of the Mother of God, the “Joy of All Who Sorrow,” in San Francisco and of his participation in the session of the Synod of Bishops that took place there.

Besides San Francisco, Bishop Evtikhy also visited more than ten parishes of the Western-American and Eastern-American Dioceses of the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad. He held meetings and talks with many archpastors, clergymen, seminarians and parishioners of our Church. Therefore, his account of the trip contained a review of the general mood and the fundamental questions worrying a significant part of the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad.

Bishop Evtikhy considers that, as a result of the actions of the schismatics who are exploiting Metropolitan Vitaly’s ailing condition, a certain shift has appeared in the consciousness of church strata, which is expressed in a striving for a more moderate attitude toward the Moscow Patriarchate. The naturalness of this phenomenon lies in the fact that the opposition of the schismatics to the Moscow Patriarchate has not only lead to the absurd but is also linked with immoral and completely anticanonical actions.

Having shared his thoughts, Bishop Evtikhy at the same time expressed a firm hope that the principled attitude of the Russian Church Outside of Russia toward the questions of "Sergianism" and ecumenism will preserve her from rash decisions on the most important question of church unity.

After the trapeza, the clergy continued to discuss the disconcerting questions with the bishop. The main opinions expressed at the meeting led to the conclusion that before everything else it is necessary to trust in God's will and to strive for personal piety, while in one’s ecclesiastical ministry it is necessary to bear witness to the Gospel of Christ. That such an approach is not abstract theorizing removed from contemporary life has been clearly demonstrated by the fact, namely, that a small community of clergy consisting of five persons was guided by these words at the end of 1989 when they turned to the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia. Thus was the beginning of the Ishim-Siberian Diocese of the Church Outside of Russia laid. All the participants in the fraternal meeting parted with a feeling of profound satisfaction from the sincere fellowship and the joint prayer. In spite of a cruel frost of -36C, it was warm for us with one another.

Participant in the feast