The miraculous myrrh-streaming Iveron-Hawaiian Icon of the Mother of God visited parishes in the San Francisco Bay Area from the 9th to the 12th of July, 2022.

On Saturday, July 9th, the holy Icon, in the company of its guardian Deacon Nectarios Yangson, visited the Saint John of Kronstadt Health Care Center in Castro Valley at 3:00 pm. They were met by Archpriest Stefan Pavlenko who led them to all the rooms of patients who are Orthodox and they were anointed. Soon after that, the holy Icon visited the Old Holy Virgin Cathedral in San Francisco, CA. His Grace Bishop James of Sonora greeted at the icon at 5:00 pm and the All-night Vigil to the Resurrection of Christ was celebrated.

On Sunday, July 10th the myrrh-streaming Icon visited the Holy Resurrection Church (Romanian Episcopate, OCA) in Hayward, CA, for the Divine Liturgy. The Rector of the church, Father Octavian Mahler, presided over the Divine Liturgy. Later that day the Iveron-Hawaiian Icon traveled to Sacramento, CA, and was present at an Unction service held at the Holy Archangels Michael and Gabriel Church (Romanian Episcopate, OCA) on Raley Boulevard, CA. The parish offered hospitality to the clergy and parishioners in the parish hall after the Divine Service.

On the Feast of the Holy, Glorious All-praised and Foremost Apostles Peter and Paul, Monday, July 11, and on Tuesday, July 12,...

On July 2, 2022, the funeral service for Archpriest Alexei Poliakov took place at the Holy Transfiguration Cathedral in Los Angeles, CA. The parishioners of two parishes of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia – where Fr. Alexei served on a permanent basis in the Cathedral of the Transfiguration of the Savior since 1999, and also in the Church of the Protection of the Mother of God on a temporary basis for a year –– merged into a single prayer and love for their good shepherd, whose sudden departure was echoed by deep sorrow in the hearts of the parishioners of both parishes.

On Sunday, July 3, 2022, Father Deacon Sebastian Craffey was ordained to the Holy Priesthood by His Eminence KYRILL Archbishop of San Francisco and Western America at the Holy Virgin Cathedral in San Francisco, CA. Father Sebastian will be assigned to Holy Archangels Orthodox Church in Phoenix, AZ, which is under the rectorship of Priest John McCuen. Father Sebastian was ordained to the diaconate at Holy Virgin Cathedral on November 6th, 2021, and has served at Holy Archangels in Phoenix since that time, and joins a growing number of clergy serving the Orthodox churches in Arizona.

On Friday, June 24, on the day of the celebration Icon of the Mother of God "It is Truly Meet,” at the age of 63, Archpriest Alexei Poliakov, a cleric of the Holy Transfiguration Cathedral in Los Angeles, CA, reposed in the Lord. Father Alexei reposed unexpectedly in the presence of his beloved family,  Matushka Marina, and their children.

Father Alexei Petrovich Polyakov was born on February 5, 1959, in a priest's family. His father, Archpriest Peter Poliakov, served for more than 50 years in the Moscow Diocese and served as a Rector of several consecutive parishes in both the rural and suburban regions around Moscow.

On July 2, 2022, the great feast of Saint John of Shanghai and San Francisco the Wonderworker, His Grace Nicholai Bishop of Manhattan and Deputy Secretary of the Synod of Bishops of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia, on behalf of the Synod of Bishops, awarded His Eminence KYRILL Archbishop of San Francisco and Western America with the Order of the Kursk-Root Icon of the Most Holy Theotokos, First Degree. This highest award of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia was bestowed upon His Eminence for his thirty years of service in the office of the Episcopacy (June 7th, 1992) and for his forty years in the office of the priesthood.

On Saturday, July 2, 2022, a multitude of clergy and laity gathered together at Holy Virgin Cathedral in San Francisco, CA, to celebrate the memory of our Father among the Saints John Archbishop of Shanghai and San Francisco the Wonderworker.

“Love never fails” (I Cor. 13:8), nor does Saint John the Wonderworker who incarnated love, who converted the self-love of our fallen nature into Divine love for God and man. Following in the footsteps of all the Saints, he crucified his “flesh with the passions and the lusts thereof” (Gal. 5:24), denying himself, taking up his cross, and following Christ. The great number of people who joyously came to the Feast Day to venerate Saint John’s honorable relics in the cathedral and glorify his holy memory are filled with grace, as the Saints never die. What they give in Christ to their neighbors while alive on earth, they continue to share in abundance from beyond the grave. All who were present sensed this, experience Saint John’s love, and are not left bereft of consolation. How many problems are resolved, and how many sorrows are forgotten through the intercessions of Saint John and his love for all people.

This year, after two difficult years of abiding by quarantine restrictions,...