New York, April 9, 2025
L to R: Bp. Matthew of Sourozh (MP), Abp. Ireney of Ottawa (OCA), Met. Tikhon of America and Canada (OCA), Met. Nicholas of Eastern America (ROCOR), Bp. Iriney of Eastern America (Serbian). Photo: mospatusa.com
Hierarchs and clergy from five jurisdictions present in America came together on Monday, April 7, to commemorate a joyous double celebration—the great feast of the Annunciation of the Most Holy Theotokos and the 100th anniversary of the repose of St. Tikhon of Moscow.
Before being recalled to Russia and eventually becoming the first Patriarch in 200 years, St. Tikhon dedicated several years of his ministry to the fledgling American Church. He was connected with the foundation of many churches across the continent, including the St. Nicholas Patriarchal Cathedral in New York City, where his centenary was celebrated on Monday.
The Divine Liturgy was presided over by His Beatitude Metropolitan Tikhon of Washginton and All America and Canada, the primate of the Orthodox Church in America. He was concelebrated by His Eminence Metropolitan Nicholas of Eastern America and New York, the First Hierarch of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia, His Eminence Archbishop Ireney of Ottawa of the OCA, His Grace Bishop Irinej of the Eastern American Diocese of the Serbian Orthodox Church, and His Grace Bishop Matthew of Sourozh, Interim Administrator of the Moscow Patriarchal Parishes in the U.S.A. and Canada, Archpriest Thomas Zain, Vicar General of the Antiochian Archdiocese in North America, and other OCA, ROCOR, and MP clergy, reports the press service of the Patriarchal Parishes.
The service was sung by a combined choir of the cathedral and other Patriarchal parishes.
Before Holy Communion, Archpriest George Konyev, rector of the MP’s Three Saints Church in Garfield, New Jersey, read His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia’s address for the centenary of St. Tikhon.
After Communion, the hierarchs and clergy served a moleben to the feast before a reliquary containing a particle of St. Tikhon’s relics, which will be taken to parishes throughout the U.S. and Canada over the course of the year.
Photo: mospatusa.com
After the service, the host hierarch, Bp. Matthew of Sourozh greeted all those who served with him, saying:
Today, the host of archpastors and clergy of all jurisdictions, gathered under the vaults of St. Nicholas Cathedral built and consecrated by St. Tikhon, represents the legacy of the entire multinational united Orthodox diocese of North America, which St. Tikhon headed more than a hundred years ago.
The tragic circumstances of the tumultuous 20th century forced our predecessors to choose different paths for the development of Church life in America and to go through the bitter experience of mutual alienation and disagreement. By the grace of God and thanks to the prayerful intercession of St. Tikhon and all the saints who have shone forth in the American land, today we partake of Christ’s Holy Mysteries from the one chalice in unanimity and with brotherly love, and with one heart and one mouth we glorify the day of the beginning of our salvation and the blessed repose of the great saint of the Church of Christ and our father, St. Patriarch Tikhon.
Met. Tikhon also addressed the gathering, saying, in particular:
Today, as we celebrate the feast day of the Annunciation, and as we also celebrate the centennial anniversary of the repose of the holy great hierarch Tikhon, Patriarch of Moscow, Enlightener of North America, it is my great joy to be here at St. Nicholas Cathedral, a temple built with seed money from St. Nicholas II and consecrated by the hand of St. Tikhon himself. For half a decade, St. Tikhon governed the church in America from this cathedral. Though he was engaged in tireless missionary journeys, this was his headquarters.
Hence it is appropriate that, on this day, in this place, bishops of the Orthodox Church in America stand and celebrate alongside bishops of the Russian Orthodox Church. St. Tikhon’s legacy is our shared inheritance, a bright guiding star for both of our autocephalous Churches, the Moscow Patriarchate and the Orthodox Church in America. As the bishop of New York, he laid down the blueprint for an American Church; as the first patriarch of Moscow in over two centuries, he profoundly shaped the ethos of the Russian Church, setting a direction for the Church to follow through the era of Soviet persecution and beyond.
Photo: mospatusa.com
And Met. Nicholas of ROCOR said:
It is a great, profound joy for us today, on this festal and auspicious day on which St. Tikhon reposed, to have prayerful fellowship with His Beatitude, Metropolitan Tikhon; His Eminence, Archbishop Ireney; His Grace, Bishop Matthew; the clergy and the Orthodox people faithful to the Church of Christ, with whom we are bound by the bonds of a single Faith—this solid foundation of our fraternal friendship… May Holy Orthodoxy flourish in North America and may our brotherly love in Christ and in honor of the blessed memory of our common father, the Holy Hierarch Tikhon, be strengthened! May the Lord bless us to serve the further building of the Church here, so that through the blessed influence of the shared labors of the Orthodox, divisions among us and in society may be overcome, so that people may find the path to peace, well-being, and eternal salvation!
In honor of the occasions, the hierarchs shared memorial gifts. After the service, an official reception was held in the cathedral refectory.
In Russia, the main celebration for St. Tikhon was held on April 6 at Donskoy Monastery in Moscow, celebrated by Pat. Kirill.
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