The Shepherd, December 2008
A BLESSED EVENT
The Glorification of Saint Philaret of New York, the New Confessor
THE Provisional Supreme Ecclesiastical Authority of the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad (Synod of Bishop Agafangel) called the Vth All-Diaspora Assembly (Sobor), which was held between Tuesday 18th and Friday, 21st November, in New York state. During the sessions, Bishop Agafangel was elected Metropolitan, and Bishops Andronik and Sophronii were raised to the rank of Archbishop, and matters concerning the Church’s position with regard to the untimely rapprochement of the Synod then under Metropolitan Lavr with the Moscow Patriarchate were deliberated upon. These we hope to be able to report upon more fully in a future issue, but as yet materials have not been published, and it is unwise to rely upon hearsay.
However, for our readers now I would like to say something on the Glorification of Saint Philaret of New York, the New Confessor, who reposed in the Lord on the Synaxis of St Michael and All the Heavenly Powers, 8th / 21st November, 1985, and whose precious relics were uncovered on 28th October / 10th November, 1998, and found to be incorrupt. It was at the Assembly mentioned above that his Glorification was synodically approved, and the celebration was appointed to take place over the weekend of 22nd and 23rd November (n.s.) at the Holy Trinity Church, Astoria in New York City. The pastor of this church, Fr Wsewolod Dutikow, his Matushka Irina and their helpers deserve the undying gratitude of all the participants in the celebration for their excellent organisation of the whole event.
Not being too clever, I can only write this report as I saw it, and I hope readers will bear with this approach. I was blessed to be ordained through all the clerical ranks that I have received by Saint Philaret. He was subsequently the ruling hierarch of the ROCA churches in Britain and Ireland from 1977 until 1982, and as such he also blessed the founding of our Brotherhood at Brookwood and the reception of the sacred relics of St Edward the Martyr. Annually he paid visits to England, and thus we came to know him a little more closely, and he was particularly beloved of the Sisters of the Convent of the Annunciation in London, whose guest he often was. For these reasons, I asked the blessing of Bishop Ambrose to attend the Glorification services, to show the gratitude of the communities here in England to one whom we knew in his lifetime as a loving and caring Archpastor.
One of our parishioners at Brookwood, Nina Elliott, hails from New York, and I was offered hospitality at the home of her mother, Helen Bogolubov, in Brooklyn, where I was treated to a whole basement apartment to myself. Metropolitan Philaret himself knew this house well, as he was close friends with the Bogolubovs and often enjoyed hospitality there. One can understand why he loved that family, for their kindness was warm and unstinting.
I arrived at about 9.45 p.m. on the Thursday evening at the Bogolubov house, and about five minutes later we received a phone call telling us that the Liturgy for the feast of St Michael next day, which was to be held at the Saint Sergius Church at the Tolstoy Farm, Valley Cottage, had been re-scheduled and would now be held at 7 a.m. rather than nine. As it was a two hour ride away, we had to set out at five next morning. So a pattern of not-much-sleep was set for the whole visit!
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