JACKSON, NJ: December 4, 2008
The First Hierarch of the Russian Church Abroad Celebrates Divine Liturgy at St Vladimir Memorial Church

On Saturday, November 29, 2008, His Eminence Metropolitan Hilarion arrived at St Vladimir Memorial Church and served all-night vigil. On Sunday, the First Hierarch of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia served Divine Liturgy with local and visiting priests and deacons. After Liturgy in the main upstairs church, Metropolitan Hilarion, together with all the clergymen and all the worshipers, headed downstairs to the lower church, where a memorial litia was served for Archbishop Nikon (Rklitsky, +1976) of blessed memory, whose remains rest in the lower church and whose namesday was on that day.

After the service, everyone went to the church hall, where the Sisterhood of St Olga prepared lunch. After lunch, a meeting of the St Vladimir Memorial Society was held in the church hall, presided over by Metropolitan Hilarion, the new President of the Society. The minutes of the previous meeting were read and approved, His Eminence read a new decree, and many other issues were discussed and debated. A committee was elected to study the by-laws of the Society and pertinent NJ laws. Vladyka Metropolitan also appointed a temporary committee, which will streamline the day-to-day functions of St Vladimir Memorial Church and prepare for the next yearly meeting of the Society in August 2009.

Soon after the meeting ended, Metropolitan Hilarion left to attend other pastoral engagements he had planned for the day. Clergymen and laity of St Vladimir Memorial Church thank our First Hierarch for visiting our church.