NEW YORK: November 23, 2015
The Synodal Cathedral of Our Lady “of the Sign” Marked the 175 th Anniversary of the Birth of Peter Tchaikovsky and the 95th Anniversary of the Exodus of the White Army

On Sunday, November 15, 2015, His Grace Bishop Nicholas of Manhattan, Deputy Secretay of the Synod of Bishops of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia, officiated at Divine Liturgy at the Synodal Cathedal of Our Lady “of the Sign” along with the cathedral’s Senior Priest, Protopriest Andrei Sommer; Protopriest Vasily Raskovsky; Hieromonk Evtikhy (Dovganiuk); Protodeacon Nicolas Mokhoff; Deacon Denis Lvov and Deacon Nazary Fataliev. A choir of 40 sang Peter Tchaikovsky’s Liturgy of St John Chrysostom under the direction of Peter Fekula.

Tchakovsky was the first of the Russian composers who wrote music for Divine Liturgy of St John Chrysostom as a unified whole. It is the most important of the liturgical works of the master. He admitted that this opus was meant to return Russian church music to its roots. Almost 200 people were in attendance.

After Liturgy, Vladyka Nicholas performed a memorial service for the hierarchs, clergymen, soldiers and faithful flock of the Russian Church in connection with the 95 th anniversary of the exodus of the White Army on November 14, 1920, under General Vrangel from Crimea. As Vladyka Nicholas noted, the founders of the Russian Church Abroad accompanied the exodus, and that it was significant that the Protectress of the Russian diaspora, the Kursk-Root Icon of the Mother of God "of the Sign,” likewise left Russia at the same time.

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