From Hristofor on the Synod list and reposted here by request and with permission:
A Tale of 2 Akathists
My family and I were blessed to be able to venerate the miraculous
Tikhvin icon of the Mother of God, which was removed by the Nazis from
Tikhvin to Pskov and then carried out of Russia by Archbishop John of
Chicago (OCA), where the icon has been since WW II. The icon is now
going back to Russia next year and is traveling around America. For
those of you in the NY area, there will be an akathist in English on We
at 7.30 at the Holy Trinity Church in East Meadow, LI and next Sunday at
4.00 in Slavonic. It then goes back to Chicago before traveling some more.
Words can't describe the profound feeling of holiness that you feel
being near the icon, in fact the feeling gripped me just going up the
stairs of the church before I even was near the icon.
We went to 2 akathists: one in English last week and one in Slavonic
yesterday. What a difference a few days makes! On Wednesday, the err,
pews, were approximately 90% full with mostly calm and patient OCA
parishioners. (Someone commented that if the icon had been brought to
Synod, a tumultuous crowd would have gathered outside awaiting the
arrival of the icon, with numerous people trying to venerate the icon as
it went by. Not the case here.) Very restrained and American. In fact,
the line to venerate the icon at the end was incredibly calm with no
singing of any hymns to the Theotokos. The singing was OK. There were
actually very few young people and almost no one from the
toddler-pre-teen age group. We took off our crosses and pressed them to
the icon; I can't say that many others did so. The priest gave a nice
sermon about art and beauty, perhaps better suited to an Orthodox youth
conference, but hardly mentioned the long history of the icon, its
defense of the Russian lands against invaders or the fact that it is
considered the Patroness of Families.
We went yesterday, where Vl. Merkury (MP) served, along with approx 11
other priests, deacons etc. Although the akathist was read (and not
sung), the Alleluias and akathist refrain were, and the singing of the
clergy filled the church. Although there were roughly the same number of
faithful, this time the mostly Russian crowd squeezed themselves into
approx 1/3 of the available space, crowding the aisles and space in
front of the left kliros; the back half of the church was completely
empty! There were numerous young families with babies and toddlers. Few
pants and a sea of covered heads. Many were holding copies of the icon
throughout the akathist, which they then reverently pressed to the
miraculous original. Vladyka gave a brief sermon about the icon, how it
transported itself to Russia from Konstantinople and the ruin of the T.
monastery during Soviet times. He also led the singing of various hymns
to Theotokos while the faithful venerated the icon. Even after they
venerated the icon, few rushed to leave and most stayed behind.
The icon itself must have been a very closely guarded secret in the OCA,
since during my OCA days, I never recall hearing that it was coming to
NY and I certainly don't remember seeing it at the consecration of Met.
Theodosius, the funeral of Met Irinei, or the acceptance of bishop
Peter; all services which I had attended.