Diocesan Faithful Celebrate Fourth at Fort Ross

    

His Eminence, Benjamin, Archbishop of San Francisco and the West, led the annual pilgrimage of clergy and faithful from the Diocese of the West to Fort Ross State Historic Park on Saturday, July 4, 2015. Faithful have been gathering at Fort Ross every year since July 4, 1925 for the celebration of the Divine Liturgy and fellowship at the first Orthodox chapel of prayer in the lower forty-eight.

Following the Divine Liturgy, the faithful went in procession to the Cemetery of the nineteenth century Russian settlement and celebrated a memorial service. The Fort’s Chapel, dedicated to the Most Holy Trinity, was built in the mid-1820s. Although Ross had no resident priest, in 1836 Father Ioann Veniaminov — glorified in 1977 as our St. Innocent of Alaska — visited the settlement and conducted sacraments of marriage, baptism, and the Divine Liturgy. The faithful of the Bay Area worked with the State of California and other benefactors in the twentieth century to preserve the Fort and the Chapel. More history can be read here. The annual Fourth of July visit to Fort Ross is a beautiful opportunity for the faithful of the Diocese of the West to gather together and to offer thanksgiving to God for those who brought the faith to this land and for the United States, where we are free to worship the Most Holy Trinity in the Orthodox manner.

    

OCA Diocese of the West

7/6/2015

See also
The Saints of Fort Ross The Saints of Fort Ross The Saints of Fort Ross The Saints of Fort Ross
One came by schooner, and then horseback. Two came by steam locomotive, and then stagecoach. Holy men on a mission-they came, they prayed and departed. Their presence at Fort Ross, Russian colony turned California State Park, is exceptional. It is the only public park in the United States that has been graced by three saints. In a sense, Fort Ross is a kind of hallowed ground. Metropolitan Hilarion and Metropolitan Ilarion Lead Anniversary Celebrations at Fort Ross, CA Metropolitan Hilarion and Metropolitan Ilarion Lead Anniversary Celebrations at Fort Ross, CA Metropolitan Hilarion and Metropolitan Ilarion Lead Anniversary Celebrations at Fort Ross, CA Metropolitan Hilarion and Metropolitan Ilarion Lead Anniversary Celebrations at Fort Ross, CA
On August 25, 2012, with the blessing of His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia, His Eminence Metropolitan Ilarion of Volokolamsk, President of the Moscow Patriarchate’s Department of External Church Relations, and His Eminence Metropolitan Hilarion of Eastern America and New York, First Hierarch of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia, officiated at Divine Liturgy in Fort Ross, CA, the first Russian settlement in California. St. Vladimir's Day Celebration in Fort Ross St. Vladimir's Day Celebration in Fort Ross St. Vladimir's Day Celebration in Fort Ross St. Vladimir's Day Celebration in Fort Ross
Traditionally there is a big celebration called the Day of "Living History", which takes place on the last Saturday of July each year in the first Russian settlement in California—Fort Ross. This year's feast day began with the Divine Liturgy Service at the Holy Trinity Chapel in Fort Ross. Concelebrating were Administrator of the Patriarchal Parishes in the United States, Archbishop Justinian of Naro-Fominsk and the head of the Bashkortostan pilgrims group - Bishop Nicholas of Salavat and Kumertau. Worshipers from all over California came to pray at the Divine Liturgy on this holiday.
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