On December 11, 2025, the feast day of Hieromartyr Metropolitan Seraphim (Chichagov), Bishop Matthew of Sourozh, the temporary Administrator of the Patriarchal Parishes in the USA and Canada, visited the skete of the Kazan Metochion in Spokane, Washington, which is home to a women's monastic community.
Concelebrating with the metochion's rector, Hieromonk Tikhon (Pashkov), and other clergy, the archpastor celebrated the Divine Liturgy. The service was attended in prayer by the sisters of the community and pilgrims.
Following the Liturgy, His Grace addressed those gathered with a sermon, gratefully noting the special spiritual joy of praying with monastics during the holy days of the Nativity Fast.
Having visited the skete last year and learning of the special veneration of St. Seraphim of Sarov by its residents, Bishop Matthew had promised to bring them the then-forthcoming English translation of the work by Archimandrite Seraphim (Chichagov), "The Chronicle of the Seraphim-Diveyevo Monastery." It is symbolic that this previously unplanned visit by His Grace to the skete coincided precisely with the feast day of the book's author, Hieromartyr Metropolitan Seraphim. The archpastor prayerfully invoked the blessing of St. Seraphim, the Wonderworker of Sarov, and Holy Hieromartyr Metropolitan Seraphim upon the monastic labors of Fr. Tikhon and the sisters of the skete.
Fellowship continued at a fraternal meal, after which His Grace and his personal secretary and subdeacon, Nikolai Trubnikov, who accompanied him on the trip, departed for the territory of the Patriarchal Parishes in Canada.
