The Shepherd, June 2008
NEW PRIMATE OF ROCA/MP
AS WAS CONFIDENTLY expected from the time, when during the rapprochement negotiations, he was appointed First Deputy of his predecessor, Archbishop Hilarion of Sydney, Australia and New Zealand, was elected as the Metropolitan of ROCA/MP, and, on the anniversary of the Signing of the Act of Canonical Communion, with the blessing of the Patriarch he was enthroned in the cathedral in New York City. Metropolitan Hilarion is one of the warmest and most genial of men, and his appointment will doubtless be greeted with joy by many of his people, except perhaps tose in Australia who will lose their archpastor. His First Deputy is Archbishop Mark of Berlin, Germany and Great Britain.
HAITIAN MISSION
FR GREGORY WILLIAMS, the leader of the Orthodox Mission in Haiti, which in remaining loyal to the historic path of the Russian Church Abroad has placed itself under the omophorion of Bishop Agafangel’s Synod, reports: “With the blessing of Bishop Agafangel, Bishop Ambrose flew from Fili, Greece, to join me in Haiti this month. Both his fluency in French and his long mission experience in Africa eminently qualified him for the task — which both of us found enjoyable and profoundly rewarding. The angels certainly prepared the trip: only these very days were possible for both of us to be there, without another opening until fall. Even the airlines co-operated, with bargain fares (which ended the day of my return). Within a few hours of Vladyka’s arrival, we were at St. Dorothy’s for Vespers, then in the morning, the feast of SS Timothy & Maura (3/16 May) for Matins and Liturgy and the ordination of Fr. Amboise to the priesthood. Even though on a weekday, the congregation was quite substantial. Regrettably, financial constraints precluded a festal meal afterward for everyone. After a night’s rest, we (Vladyka, Fr. Amboise, Matushka Nicole and I) set out for St. Augustine’s, arriving in time for a little rest before Vigil (Sunday of the Paralytic) — Fr. Amboise’s first as a priest, with Vladyka as his mentor. Sunday morning the three of us concelebrated, and Vladyka ordained two readers, Luc and Diego, for service at St. Augustine’s. At the conclusion of Liturgy, the children of St. Augustine’s School presented Bishop Ambrose with a fine folk art painting (so large it was necessary to dismount and roll it for his return travel). The return trip to Port-au-Prince that afternoon was as uneventful as the trip down (sure like them like that!), early enough to allow Vladyka a good night’s rest before his departure Monday for Greece. Tuesday evening and Wednesday, Mid-Pentecost and the feast of St. John the Evangelist, Fr. Amboise served his first complete Vigil and Liturgy as a priest. Not a great deal of mentoring was needed; he had done his homework well! With joy-filled heart I returned home [to the USA] Thursday, knowing that once again the faithful of Haiti have in their midst a dedicated and faithful priest. Next trip, end of June, for St. Augustine’s parish feast.”
ABBESS TONSURED TO THE GREAT SCHEMA
ON THE FEAST of Sts. Cyril and Methodios, the Very Reverend Mother Ambrosia, Abbess of the Protection of the Mother of God Convent, in Bluffton, Alberta, Canada, was tonsured to the Great Schema by His Grace, Bishop Auxentios of Photike at the Convent of St. Elizabeth the Grand Duchess in Etna, CA. Mother Elizabeth, Abbess of the Etna convent served as her sponsor. Mother Ambrosia, a spiritual daughter of both Bishop Sava of Edmonton and Bishop Nektary of Seattle, entered the monastic life at the Convent of Our Lady of Kazan, in Kentlyn, NSW, Australia, having been tonsured—along with her mother according to the flesh, Mother Theodora—a Rasophore Nun by the ruling Bishop in Australia, Archbishop Paul of the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad (ROCA). She was later assigned to the Convent in Bluffton, where she was made Superior and tonsured to the Small Schema in 1993 by the late Metropolitan Vitaly. In 2002, she was elevated to the office of Abbess by Archbishop Kyrill of San Francisco. After the union of the ROCA with the Moscow Patriarchate, Mother Ambrosia and her four nuns, being unable in good conscience to accept what they saw as an abandonment of the historical principles of the Russian Church Abroad, petitioned to be received into the American Exarchate of the Synod in Resistance. Since that time, the sisterhood has grown to eight in number. Mother Ambrosia, who is a graduate of the Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, is distinguished by musical and choral skills, as well as—in the monastic estate—by the wise motherly guidance to her nuns, her humility and spiritual sobriety, her uprightness of character, and her fidelity to the spiritual path set out for her by her renowned spiritual Fathers. Full report with photographs on:
http://www.synodinresistance.org/Annals_en/America.html
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