VERTOGRAD
Orthodox Journal
Newsletter No. 12, Thursday, February 24, 2005. 8:15 P.M.
IN THIS ISSUE:
Hieromonk Joins ROAC From MP in Saint Petersburg
In Suzdal, the First ROAC Priest for Argentina is Ordained
A "Fiery Sign" in the Chapel of Blessed Xenia of Petersburg During Her Feast
Patriarch Alexei Sends Congratulations with Inauguration of New Rector of Estonian Evangelical-Lutheran Church
TRUE ORTHODOX NEWS
HIEROMONK JOINS ROAC FROM MP IN SAINT PETERSBURG
(Vertograd: Suzdal - St Petersburg)
Hieromonk Daniel (Elkind), formerly of the Nizhniy-Novgorod Diocese of the MP, officially joined the Free Russian Orthodox Church on February 9 in Suzdal. His first liturgy as a True Orthodox cleric was held on February 13 in the Parish of St Elizabeth the New-Martyr, St Petersburg alongside Hieromonk Gregory (Lourie).
Hieromonk Daniel (in the world Michael Elkind) was born in 1969 in St Petersburg. In 1991, he was accepted into the St Nicholas Verkhotursky monastery in the Moscow Patriarchate's Ekaterinburg diocese. In 1992 he was tonsured and ordained a hierodeacon, and in 1994 was made a hieromonk. In 2003 he completed his work at the seminary in Nizhniy-Novgorod, after defending his seminal work on "Slavic students of St Paisus Velichkovsky".
IN SUZDAL, THE FIRST ROAC PRIEST FOR ARGENTINA IS ORDAINED
(Vertograd: Suzdal)
On February 22, Metropolitan Valentine of Suzdal and Vladimir ordained Siluan Dignac to the Holy Priesthood in the Tsar St Constantine Cathedral for the ROAC's mission in Argentina. Fr Siluan was the first cleric ordained by the Free Russian Church for South America.
Father Siluan (Silvio Ergasto) Dignac was born on April 7, 1975, in Buenos Aires, Argentina, into a military family. He learned his Orthodoxy in early childhood from his maternal grandmother, although he was brought up in the Roman Catholic faith. From the age of 17, he began to study the writings of the Holy Fathers and began to attend a ROCOR parish in Buenos Aires from the age of 20. In 1999, he was introduced to ROCOR Bishop Alexander (Mileant) and helped Bishop Alexander develop his missionary website and seminary.
Fr Siluan and his wife were recieved into into the ROAC in March of 2004 by Archbishop Gregory of Denver and were given a blessing to start an Orthodox Mission in honor of the Vladimir Icon of the Mother of God. After Bishop Gregory departed into schism, the mission remained faithful to the Free Russian Orthodox Church.
MOSCOW PATRIARCHATE NEWS
A "FIERY SIGN" IN THE CHAPEL OF BLESSED XENIA OF PETERSBURG DURING HER FEAST
(Portal-Credo.ru - Vertograd: St. Petersburg)
During the day of St Xenia of Petersburg memory, a candle in the east wall of the chapel nearest the tomb fell and destroyed many of the requests for prayer written on pieces of paper. There were an unusually high number of requests during that day, due to the feast. Flames engulfed a number of items between the wall and the candlestand. Pasteboard baskets, cellophane wrappers and more became cinders. Eyewitnesses said that the bonfire stood at two meters for five minutes, until someone managed to find a bucket of water.
The destruction of the notes created a feeling of alarm and pain in pilgrims. Many believed that the combustion of what amounted to hundreds of prayer requests was a sign that "Xenia got tired of the endless, vain requests for earthly goods and financial increases."
The fire ended a day pilgrimage to holy places in the life of St Xenia undertaken by a group of St Petersburg believers. They had brought with them for chapel blessing the newly painted icon of the Saint with a coin from the 18th century, calling to mind the wonderful rescue from the fire of the house Yevdokias Belyaeva: after meeting St.Xenis, the blessed one handed her a five-kopeck coin with the "tsar on the horse" saying: "take a five-kopeck coin, it will be extinguished".
ECUMENICAL NEWS
PATRIARCH ALEXEI SENDS CONGRATULATIONS WITH INAUGURATION OF NEW RECTOR OF ESTONIAN EVANGELICAL-LUTHERAN CHURCH
(MP External Relations - Portal-Credo.Ru - Vertograd: Tallinn)
In Tallinn, with the election into the episcopal dignity of Andreas Pyld, the new rector of the Estonian Evangelical - Lutheran church, Patriarch Alexei of Moscow sent his solemn greetings through the MP's Estonian Orthodox Church-Metropolitan Cornelius of Tallinn, who was represented by Archpriest Iuvenaly of Kaarm. Metropolitan Cornelius congratulated Andreas Pyld's election and proclaimed the text of Patriarch Alexei's congratulatory letter to the new bishop of the ELC in Estonia.
(C) Vertograd, 2004--2005. http://www.vertograd.blogspot.com/