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The weekend of 13-15 September was another memoriable weekend for me. On other pages on his site you can read about the Signing Ceremony for the Red Line in Baltimore and the visit of Bishop Thomas to Holy Cross Antiochian Church in Linthicum.
During the previous week I received an e-mail from Fr. and Matushka George Johnson in which they announce that Metropolitan HILARION will be visiting their parish on Monday. We assembled at the church and I rode with Matushka to what we hope will be the future site of their new temple.
When we arrived, of course I took photographs as we waited for His Eminence to arrive. When he did arrive, we toured the site and various comments were made, all positive.
Later that day Matushka Deborah called me and asked me what I thought and my answer was, "We haven't moved in yet?" It is an old building with great potential. It is also a historical building which might work to the advantage of the parish. It is currently owned by the Christian Brothers who want to get rid of it, but they also want it used as a church.
After we toured the building, we returned to the church of the Holy Apostles for a meal. We discussed several topics, including plans for the parish and our hopes for the future. We also discussed the unification of ROCOR with the Moscow Patriarchate. I think that it was obvious to the Metropolitan that I am delighted that this happened.
So often I marvel at how wonderful this is and I reflect upon the fact that ten years many of the things that I am doing with Holy Apostles would had been impossible. Since my ordination to the diaconate, this is the only ROCOR parish which I had visited, but I hope to visit others when appropriate. One parish on my list is St. John the Baptist Cathedral in Washington DC. But I have a conflict here. St. Nicholas Cathedral is "my cathedral." It was my parish before I went to the seminary and the parish supported me financially duirng my days at the seminary.
What is my impression of Metropolitan Hilarion? It was a real treat to meet him and to see in person a man about whom I heard many good things. I was easy to talk with him and I definitely think that ROCOR made a fantastic choice for their First Hiearch. Εις πολλα ἔέτη Δέσποτα.
For more information, visit Holy Apostles Orthodox Church page.
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