Visit of His Grace Vladimir, Bishop of San-Francisco and Western America to Saint Petersburg

By the Grace of God from 25/8 of May to 2/15 of June/May His Grace Bishop Vladimir of San-Francisco and Western America, Administrator of American Church District paid a visit to Saint-Petersburg, the purpose of the trip was to meet parishioners and clergy and to get acquainted.

The decision about the trip was made at the last Sobor of Bishops.  The schedule during Vladyka's entire stay in Saint-Petersburg was quite busy.  Many expressed a wish to meet with the senior Bishop, by Episcopal Consecration, of our Church.   His Grace conducted many meetings and talks with the faithful of ROCOR, as well as with those who would like to either join or return to the Church Abroad.  Bishop Vladimir also met with some of the ROCOR clergy who found an opportunity to come to Saint-Petersburg expresssly for that purpose.   A lengthy conversation took place between the Bishop and ROCOR priest of many years Fr. Valery Rozhnov, Rector of the Sign and St Peter and Paul Church  in the village of Amosovka, in the Kursk Region.  His Grace also met with Hieromonk Victor (Parbus), Hiermonk Gerasim (Shironosov), Priest Sergei Mantzev.  On behalf of his bishops Fr. Alexander of the Seraphim-Genady's branch of Catacomb Church came to meet with the Bishop.  A meeting of the Bishop and Fr. Paul Simakov, Rector of the St. John the Rhitious of Kronstadt Church community took place.  The meeting between Bishop Vladimir and the daughter of the well known catacomb priest, Protopriest Michael Rozhdestvensky, was particularly warm since he was the Bishop's spiritual father earlier in his life.   After the talk, Fr. Michael's daughter attended the Service. 

With the agreement of Administrator of the Eurasian Church District, His Grace Anastasy, Bishop of Vladivostok and the Far East, Bishop Vladimir served All Night Vigil and the Divine Liturgy in Holy Royal Martyrs and all New Martyrs and Confessors of Russia Church in Strelna (Saint-Petersburg). 

The Church was full of faithful. Fr. Victor, Fr. Gerasim and Fr. Konstantine Feodorov from Kostroma co-served with the Bishop. As per decision of the ROCOR Sobor of Bishops, during the Divine Liturgy, His Grace rewarded Protopriest Konstantine Feodorov with the right of wearing a mitre.  This was especially touching and moving and at the same time, a very solemn moment.  Father Konstantine is one of the eldest priests of our Church, a very generous missionary and one of the authoritative clerics in ROCOR, esteemed and loved by the faithful of Our Church both in Russia and abroad.  The male choir sang beautifully. All Night Vigil was served without many shortenings of the service as it is often done in many parishes.  The quality of sound was extraordinary;  the wooden Church has marvelous acoustics. It was a joy to hear an excellent performance of unison medieval chants, especially since today most people prefer more sentimental baroque singing, and quality unison singing is nothing but rare.

After the Service, many photographs were taken for the remembrance of the event, after which everyone gathered for lunch. Bishop Vladimir blessed the food, that was prepared by the sisterhood of the Church.  During lunch, everyone talked with each other in a very friendly atmosphere, exchanged their impressions, established contacts and made arrangements for future meetings. It might appear strange, how is it possible for people, who never even met each other before, to talk with such warmth and heartfelt emotions particularly since there were faithful from Saint Petersburg, Tzarskoye Celo, Moscow, Kostroma, even USA and Canada. 

The explanation lies in that unbreakable union, in that communion of people from all over the world, many times separated away from each other hundreds and thousands of kilometers, which is based on the very main thing - on our Faith in Christ and our belonging to the Church of Christ, to the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad.  After many storms and discords, it is truly a great comfort to be a part of a meeting with our archpastors and talking openly with them, which we are always so lacking.  But when they do occur - it is an amazing joy in every person's heart! 

Dmitry Ptiushkin