On Thursday, 30 June 2022, a remote meeting of the Synod of Bishops of the Russia Orthodox Church Outside of Russia was held, presided over by His Eminence Metropolitan Mark of Berlin and Germany. Participating in the meeting were His Eminence Archbishop Kyrill of San Francisco and Western America, Secretary of the Synod of Bishops; His Eminence Archbishop Gabriel of Montreal and Canada; His Eminence Archbishop Peter of Chicago and Mid-America; His Grace Bishop Irenei of London and Western Europe and His Grace Bishop Nicholas of Manhattan, Deputy Secretary of the Synod of Bishops.

The bishops heard a report by Bishop Irenei, Secretary of the Synodal Inter-Orthodox Relations Department, on recent developments; Archimandrite Roman (Krassovsky), Chief of the Russian Ecclesiastical Mission in Jerusalem on affairs in the Holy Land.

Dear in the Lord Matushka Marina Alexandrovna!

Accept our deep condolences for the sudden repose of your spouse, Father Alexei. As the Holy Fathers say, with the repose of those close to us, we together with them, bury a part of our soul. For the widow and children, it is a tremendous loss. In such sorrowful moments, we are always looking for consolation in the words of the Holy Scriptures: “I am the Resurrection and the Life; He who believes in Me, if he dies, will live” (John 11:25). And in another place: “Now that the dead are raised, even Moses shewed at the bush, when he calleth the Lord the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. For He is not a God of the dead, but of the living: for all live unto him” (Luke 36-38).

On Friday July 1, 2022, clergy and faithful honored the memory of Saint John of Shanghai and San Francisco the Wonderworker at Holy Virgin Cathedral in San Francisco, CA, by participating the vigil before his honorable and miraculous relics.

His Eminence Kyrill Archbishop of San Francisco and Western America was formally greeted at 6:00 pm before the start of the vigil. Concelebrating with him were His Grace Theodosy Bishop of Seattle and His Grace Nicholai Bishop of Manhattan along with many priests and deacons.

On Thursday, June 30th, 2022, on the eve of St. John’s Day, the annual Akathist to Saint John of Shanghai and San Francisco the Wonderworker was sung before his honorable and miraculous relics in the Diocesan Cathedral dedicated to the Icon of the Mother of God “Joy of All Who Sorrow.”

Immediately following the daily vespers and matins Services Saint John’s relics were translated from his shrine to the center of the cathedral. This year Archpriest Peter Perekrestov, the Dean of the Cathedral, Hieromonk Sofronie of the Dervent Monastery in Romania, and Priest George Kaplanov served the Akathist.

On June 29th, 2022, His Eminence KYRILL Archbishop of San Francisco and Western America received at Holy Virgin Cathedral His Eminence JOSEPH Metropolitan of the Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of North America along with a group of pilgrims, both clergy and laity, that came to honor the memory of the Saint John of Shanghai and San Francisco the Wonderworker, venerate his honorable relics and ask for his intercessions.

Vespers was held by a guest archpriest and two choirs chanted, one consisting of clergy on kliros and another of the laity from the body of the church.

At the end of vespers, Archbishop Kyrill welcomed Metropolitan Joseph to the cathedral...

On Friday, June 24th, 2022, the monastic communities and parishes of the Western American Diocese served a panykhida for newly-departed Metropolitan Hilarion who governed the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia from 2008-2022. Memory Eternal to our beloved Frist-Hierarch.