On September 5–6, 2020, the clergy and parishioners of the Patriarchal Parishes in the USA, Canada and Mexico prayerfully marked the 50th anniversary of the founding of the special church groupings of Moscow Patriarchate parishes in the countries of North America.
The celebration was timed to the anniversary of the repose of the first Administrator of the Patriarchal Parishes in the USA, the ever-memorable Metropolitan Nikodim (Rotov) — an outstanding hierarch of the Russian Orthodox Church of the 20th century, largely thanks to whom the crisis in relations between the Church in the Homeland and the North American Metropolia was overcome. Having granted the latter the rights of autocephaly and recognizing the full canonical responsibility of the Orthodox Church in America for ordering church life in the countries of North America, the Russian Orthodox Church determined a new status for those of its parishes in the USA and Canada that expressed the wish to remain under the jurisdiction of His Holiness the Patriarch of Moscow and All Rus’. Grouped territorially into special districts, they came to be called the Patriarchal Parishes in the USA and the Patriarchal Parishes in Canada.
In view of the epidemiological situation and the related restrictions, with the blessing of Bishop Matthew of Sourozh, Temporary Administrator of the Patriarchal Parishes in the USA and Canada, the previously planned concelebrated services and jubilee events were postponed until the end of the restrictive measures. On September 6, the Divine Liturgy was celebrated in all Moscow Patriarchate parishes in the USA, Canada and Mexico, at which special petitions and a prayer of thanksgiving were offered for all of God’s blessings upon the clergy and children of the Russian Orthodox Church in the American land, and the departed archpastors, clergy and laity of the Patriarchal Parishes were prayerfully commemorated.
At the end of the service, a greeting from Bishop Matthew of Sourozh was read in all the churches of the Russian Church in the USA and Canada, which says in particular: “Recalling this jubilee date and turning our mind’s eye to the past, we must give thanks to the Lord for all His many and ineffable mercies shown to the clergy and faithful children of the Russian Orthodox Church on the North American continent. In these days we prayerfully remember the 42nd anniversary of the blessed repose of Metropolitan Nikodim (Rotov), the first Administrator of the Patriarchal Parishes in the USA and Canada. The life of the Patriarchal Parishes is inspired by the archpastoral teaching and personal example of this outstanding hierarch of the Russian Orthodox Church, who stood at the origins of the new order of church life in North America.
Now, offering thanksgiving to the Lord, the Giver of all good things, for His mercies shown to us, we prayerfully honor with love and gratitude the memory of all who labored for the sake of Holy Orthodoxy in the countries of North America: hierarchs, clergy and church servers, presidents and members of Parish Councils, choir directors and singers, Sunday School teachers, and members of brotherhoods and sisterhoods.
Today, marking our 50th jubilee amid the difficult conditions of modern life and the trials that have befallen all humanity, let us, following the example of our pious predecessors, be courageous and firm, so that, in the words of the apostles, we may have common joy, praise God and have favor with all the people, that the Lord may add to the Church daily such as should be saved (Acts 2:47). Through the prayers of St. Tikhon and the holy saints who shone forth in the American and Canadian land, may God’s blessing be with you all!”.
On the same Sunday, at the Divine Liturgy in the Dormition Cathedral in London, Bishop Matthew of Sourozh prayerfully commemorated his predecessors in archpastoral ministry on North American soil, and offered prayers for the health and God’s help in the ministry of the clergy and laity of the Patriarchal Parishes in the USA, Canada and Mexico.
Photo gallery: festal services on September 6 at the Dormition Cathedral in London, St. Nicholas Patriarchal Cathedral in New York and the Cathedral of the Great Martyr Barbara in Edmonton
