The catechumens had undergone about 6 months of catechism in preparation for their Baptisms.
Another Orthodox church has been seized by godless schismatics with the help of the police and the local mayor in Cherkasy, where perhaps the most violent and bloody church takeover in all of Ukraine took place in October.
The feast of St. Sophia of Kleisoura, a great 20th-century Greek ascetic, was festively celebrated “with reverence, emotion, and the participation of numerous pilgrims” on May 5–6 at the Monastery of the Nativity of the Theotokos in Kleisoura, Kastoria, where she ascetically labored for 55 years.
The service was attended by numerous clergy, monastics, and faithful who shared a spiritual bond with Fr. Roman Braga.
On May 3, the brotherhood of the Holy Trinity-St. Sergius Lavra prayerfully commemorated the 35th anniversary of the repose of His Holiness Patriarch Pimen of Moscow and All Russia, who led the Russian Orthodox Church for 20 years.