The Catalog of Good Deeds

In some localities, this icon is also called The Icon of the Mother of God – the Multiplier of Wheat.

The Icon of the Mother of God, named “Prosperess of Loaves” (“Sporitel’nitsa Khlebov”), was written at the blessing of the starets-elder of the Visitation Optina wilderness monastery, the priest-schemamonk Amvrosii (Ambrosii) (1812 -1891).

Father Amvrosii, a great Russian ascetic of the XIX Century, was ardent with a childlike faith towards the Mother of God. He in particular revered all the feastdays of the Mother of God and on these days he greatly increased his prayer. With the icon, “Prosperess of Loaves”, Father Amvrosii blessed the Shamordinsk Convent established in honour of the Kazan Icon of the Mother of God, and founded by him not far from the Optina monastery.

On this icon the Mother of God is depicted sitting upon the clouds, and Her hands are extended in blessing. Beneath – is a field of grain, and on it amidst the grass and flowers stand and lay sheaves of rye. Starets Amvrosii himself decreed the day of celebration – 15 October, and called the image “Prosperess of Loaves”, indicating by this, that the Most Holy Mother of God – “is an Helper for people in their labours for the acquiring of their daily bread”.

Before his blessed death, Father Amvrosii ordered a large quantity of photo-replicas of this icon and distributed and sent them off to his spiritual children. For the singing of an akathist before the holy image, the starets composed a particular response: “Rejoice, Thou Full-of-Grace, the Lord is with Thee! Grant unto us unworthy ones the dew of Thy grace and the showing forth of Thine mercy!”

The day of burial of Father Amvrosii happened on 15 October – the feastday of the icon. The first miracle from the holy icon was witnessed in 1891, when throughout Russia was a famine because of crop-failure, but in the Kaluzh district and on the fields of the Shamordinsk Convent grain was produced. In 1892, already after the death of Father Amvrosii, his attendant Ivan Feodorovich Cherepanov sent a copy from the icon to the Pyatnitsk women’s monastery in Voronezh district. In this locale there was a drought and famine threatened, but soon after a molieben served before the icon, “Prosperess of Loaves”, it rained and ended the drought.

Adapted from the Menologion, texts translated Fr. S. Janos.

Source: https://dormitioninconcord.wordpress.com/2016/10/28/the-icon-of-the-mother-of-god-the-multiplier-of-wheat/

The Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist and the Communion of the Holy Body and Blood of Christ is the foundation and the culmination of the innermost life of the Church, and the reason for Her existence. What do we know about it?

Here are several essential or simply interesting facts about the central Sacrament of the Church, which can enhance your knowledge and spur your further learning of the basic tenets of the Orthodox faith:

1. Remembrance of the Sacrifice

When Israelites were liberated from the Egyptian captivity, each Jewish family had to slay a white lamb, the blood of which was used to mark the door posts during the tenth plague (that is, killing of the firstborns in every family) so as to guard against the Angel of Death. The lamb was later eaten at a thanksgiving meal.

That innocent lamb was the prototype of our Savior who pledged himself to a painful death for the redemption of the human race. When we celebrate the Sacrament of Eucharist (Greek for “thanksgiving”) during every Liturgy, we remember the great Sacrifice that our Savior offered on the Cross for our redemption, his resurrection from the dead, and his ascension.

We receive the Body and Blood of Christ in the Sacrament of Communion to empower us and help us to tread the path of salvation.

2. “White Blood”

The Church uses bread and wine for the Sacrament of Eucharist. They are the substances that mysteriously change into the Body and Blood of Christ when a priest or a bishop invokes the Holy Spirit to descend on them.

As a rule, the Church uses red wine for communion because it looks like blood. In fact, the color of wine isn’t determined precisely, unlike its quality and taste. That is why there are places, e.g. Romania, where people use white wine for the Eucharist.

3. The Miracle in Lanciano

During a liturgy in Lanciano (Italy) in the 8th century one of the priests had doubts that the Body and Blood of Christ that looked like bread and wine even after the transmutation were indeed the Body and Blood of our Savior. The Lord revealed the true appearance of His Body and Blood to the doubtful priest, and the priest repented.

As a lesson to others, the Lord allowed the real appearance of the Holy Gifts to remain visible. That is why the particles of the Body and Blood of Christ are preserved in Lanciano for more than a thousand years. They were investigated by some scientists in the 1970s. The scientists confirmed that the particles belonged to a human body.

4. The Greatest Sacred Object

The whole Church is built around the Sacrament of the Eucharist. The Chalice that contains the Body and the Blood of Christ is the most sacred object. That is why it is forbidden to make the sign of the cross in front of the Chalice or touch the Chalice with one’s hands, lest the priest tips the Chalice over.

One shouldn’t kiss the cuff on the priest’s hand during communion, either. Parents should pay extreme attention to their babies, who should be carried to the Chalice in such a manner as to preclude them from kicking the Chalice or pushing it with their arms.

5. Only with Blood

Adults and grown-up children receive a particle of the Body of Christ soaked in the Blood of Christ. However, babies take communion only with the Blood of Christ to prevent them from choking on the particle or spitting it out. People who suffer from gluten (a protein that is found in bread) intolerance take communion only with the Blood, too.

6. The Bread of Life and the Grapevine

Interestingly enough, the Lord did not only establish the Sacrament of the Eucharist for the Church by offering bread and wine to His apostles in the Cenacle and claiming them to be His own Body and Blood. He also compared Himself to the bread of life or a grapevine — the primary ingredients of the Holy Gifts — multiple times.

7. Tabernacle

There is a Holy Table in the center of every sanctuary in every Orthodox church, with a special church-shaped vessel called a tabernacle, which sits among the crosses, the Gospel books, and other church supplies.

The tabernacle contains several particles of the Body of Christ soaked in the Blood, with which a priest can go to the bed of a sick or dying person at any time.

8. On a Martyr’s Bosom

First Christians celebrated the Eucharist on martyrs’ tombs. Later, they began celebrating the Eucharist on a Holy Table inside which there were particles of holy relics. Still, there have been cases when Christians didn’t have either an antimension (a special cloth with particles of relics sewn into it) or the Holy Table: for example, in Soviet prison camps. They celebrated the Sacrament of the Eucharist on the bosom of one of the prisoners, who was a living martyr.

9. Prayers Before the Holy Communion

The prayer rule before the Holy Communion was shaped by Byzantine monks in the 10th-12th centuries. The prayers before the Holy Communion were amended, and the rule acquired its contemporary form by the 13th-14th centuries. It consists of several troparia and Psalms, selected prayers by the saints, three canons, and prayers that are read immediately before the communion of the Holy Gifts.

Later, the pious tradition of special prayerful preparation for the Communion was copied by other local Churches and spread among lay people.

10. Wedding

There wasn’t a special ritual or a Sacrament to bless a Christian matrimony in the earliest centuries of Christianity. The believers had the usual Roman civil ceremony, and then had their marriage blessed in the church by taking communion together.

By Andrey Segeda

Translated by The Catalog of Good Deed

Source: https://pravlife.org/ru/content/tainstvo-tainstv-10-faktov-o-svyatom-prichashchenii

It’s such a blessing, on this beautiful late October day, to have so many pilgrims here with us to join in the celebration of a feast which is dear to the heart of our monastery – the feast of the Holy Elders of Optina. The Optina Elders are dear to us not only because they were (and continue to be!) a light for monastics and lay people alike, both in Russia and around the world, and who were so near to our own time – the very spiritual heart of Russia, right up until the revolution. It is not only for this reason that the Optina Elders are dear to us, but the Optina Elders are dear to us because they were dear to the heart of our founder, Hieromonk Kallistos. In founding his new monastery, this monastery – the Hermitage of the Holy Cross, Fr. Kallistos made a conscious effort to base the spiritual life of his monastery on the lives, the spirituality, and the monastic spirit of the Optina Elders. Now, for instance, when a man comes to the monastery and is interested in monastic life, one of the very first things that he reads in a rather long list of required novice reading are all the lives of the Optina Elders. Reading these lives is important to the monastic formation of any novice or candidate who comes to the monastery, and indeed, they continue to be a source of inspiration and a spiritual guide throughout our monastic lives. The sayings of the Optina Elders – their grace-filled words and their holy examples – are the foundation of our spiritual life and the lodestar which guides us on our way in a life striving to draw closer to Christ in the monastic Arena.

By the grace of God, I was blessed to have an opportunity to visit Optina Monastery myself in the summer of 2013. It was the first time that I had ever been to Optina and to Russia, generally. Our stop to Optina was part of a two-week pilgrimage, in which we visited many wonderful monasteries and holy places – St. Sergius-Trinity Lavra, Sretensky Monastery in Moscow, and many others. But Optina, some how, was different. It was without question that there was much holiness and much grace in many of the places we visited in Russia. But Optina was different. Optina stood out.

What was it about Optina that was different? After spending some time at Optina, and after looking at the faces of the pilgrims, the monks, the elderly schema-monks talking to the children and patting them on the head. I could tell there was, in Optina, true spiritual joy. This is the joy of a life lived in Christ. It is the joy of the Holy Spirit. Certainly, there was joy in other places that I’ve visited, but it was truly in Optina where this joy shined out. And I think you see this shining through in the very lives and the words of the Elders of Optina.

The words of Elder Anatoly come to mind particularly. In a spiritual reading journal from my first months at the monastery, I have these words of Elder Anatoly written down and starred. Elder Anatoly said, in a letter to a young nun: “A monk should always be joyful. If he is not, that means he is not living in the way a monastic should live.” In a way, this admonition has stuck with me through my monastic life here. It is a test and a standard, if you will. “Am I joyful”? If not, why not? Is God not good? Has he not given me everything that I need here for my salvation? How could we not rejoice, and say whole-heartedly, “Glory to God for all things”? Elder Anatoly’s simple reminder is very helpful in an age wrought with distraction and anxiety. We must be joyful. And this joy come from the Holy Spirit – in a life lived in a truly spiritual manner. It is a joy that comes from prayer. On prayer, Elder Anatoly said:

Do it according to your strength, do it with humility and self-reproach, and you will get used to and will love the prayer so that they cannot take it from you by force. This is because it is sweet and gives joy. I remembered God and I was gladdened (Ps.76:3).

In speaking of the Jesus Prayer, Elder Anatoly said:

One should trace on the soft young heart the Sweetest Name – the radiant prayer: ‘Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me a sinner.’ From that time on there will be the greatest joy and eternal happiness.

Elder Anthony of Optina echoes this when he said:

There is joy in frequent remembrance of God, as it is written: I remembered God and I was gladdened.

And of course, Elder Ambrose reminds us that “we must begin with thanksgiving for everything. The beginning of joy is to be content with your situation.”

At Optina, I could feel this joyfulness. I could feel it in the church services, in the singing, in my interaction with other monks and pilgrims. Our visit corresponded on the feast of the Ascension. Walking back to my cell, I came across a group of younger monks talking amongst themselves. Seeing me, they stopped and looked at me, and cried out joyfully and enthusiastically, “Spraznikom!” And it felt very familiar to me. Something about the joyfulness, the smiles and the warmth made me feel back home in West Virginia. Indeed, I began to feel some similarity between the two monasteries, Optina and our own. It was a sort of familiarity that I felt there – a feeling hard to explain.

It is this joy which comes from prayer, from a life of repentance, and from the grace of the Holy Spirit. By historical standards in the Church, the elders at Optina were not severe ascetics. They did not live in caves, nor did they starve themselves. They lived in cells much like ours. They drank tea. They were jovial at times, even. Yet they were real men of prayer. They met with many, many people – both lay people and monastics - to help them with their problems, to confess them, and ultimately to heal them, spiritually. And they did all of this with sincere love – love for God and love for neighbor. A joyful love. With a Paschal joy – the joy of the Risen Christ. And it is a joy that only comes in Christ Jesus. As Elder Nikon of Optina said: “If we will be with Christ and in Christ, then no kind of sorrow will confuse us, but joy will fill our heart so that even in times of sorrows and temptations we will rejoice.”

So let us look at ourselves, and at our spiritual lives. Let us look at our disposition. Are we joyful? Do we give thanks to God for all things? According to Elder Anatoly of Optina, if we are not joyful, and if we do not give thanks to God for all of the good things (and even the bad things) in our lives, and if we are not joyful, then there is something not quite right in our spiritual lives, and we aren’t living the way we should as monks, says, Elder Anatoly. For this joy is not just an emotion. True joy comes as a gift from God – the grace and fruit of the Holy Spirit. It comes from a life lived in Christ, with Christ, through Christ, and for Christ.

On this feast day of the Holy Elders of Optina, let us remember the great joy of these wonderful Elders who have gone on before us. As St. Seraphim of Sarov said, “Acquire the peace [and indeed, the joy] of the Holy Spirit, and thousands around you will be saved.” The Optina Elders acquired this peace – and how many thousands of people have been saved because of them – through their council, their example, their words, their witness and their prayers? Let us keep all of these words in our heart, as we continue with Liturgy and move on throughout the day, and throughout all our lives, thanking God and singing, “Glory to God for all things.” Amen.

Source: https://www.holycross-hermitage.com/blogs/articles-sermons/sermon-for-the-feast-of-the-optina-elders-2016

The Church in honour of the Reigning icon of the Mother of God in St Elisabeth Convent was filled with a very special devotional atmosphere on October 20. We enjoyed heartfelt singing by choirs from various countries. It was on that day that the 18^th Royal Voice International Festival of Orthodox Church Music was held.

How did this unique festival emerge? What has changed in the Royal Voice format over the years? What’s unique about the festival this year and what were the surprises that it brought to its guests? We interviewed Nun Juliania (Denisova), the precentor of the Festive Choir of St Elisabeth Convent and the organiser of the Festival.

How did the Royal Voice Festival come to be?

This year, it was the eighteenth Royal Voice already, and I can say that it hasn’t changed even a little bit in the course of its history.

How did it come to be?.. It was suddenly and unexpectedly, in fact. One day, a choir from St Sophia of Slutsk Church (Minsk) visited our Church in honour of the Reigning icon of the Mother of God and started singing. A sister of ours heard their singing and thought, “So nice! I’d like to hear other choirs in our church! We never hear them, only our own choirs.” She shared her idea with Father Andrew and the senior sisters, and they said, “Why not?” They called me, because I’m responsible for all choirs of the Convent, and told me, “Let’s try!” The Most Reverend Philaret gave his blessing, and… that was how The Royal Voice was born.

How often is the festival held?

At first, we held it three times a year: on Christmas, on Easter, and on the Holy Protection Day. That was how it happened in 2010. Later, we realised that it was too much: people hardly manage to recover from one festival when they already have to start preparations for a new one. So we left out the Christmas festival. During the last three years, we have this festival only on the Holy Protection Day because there has been a big Easter concert of a different format, which also appeared spontaneously. These two events shared the same dates, and it was too burdensome: we had to choose and focus on one or the other. That is why the Royal Voice Festival is held only on the Holy Protection Day.

What does the Festival consist of?

The Festival consists of a concert of five choirs, each with a 20-30 minute programme. It’s the traditional format since the very beginning.

How do we select the music? It has to be godly, I mean, it should have God as its source. The rest of musical culture, which you can listen to in your homes, cars, or rock and pop concerts, is okay but not here.

Our format is restrictive, of course. We are open about it and we don’t claim to be an all-encompassing festival. Choirs in Orthodox churches sing a cappella, that is, without instrumental accompaniment. People sometimes ask, “Why not?” Here is my answer to this: I’m not opposed to instrumental music per se but there are other festivals and other collectives for it. Ours is for a cappella singing. With that said, we indeed invited some priests and other people who sing and play the guitar to participate in several festivals. The audience was totally sure that this singing is godly and suitable for the church.

Of course, we never choose blindly, we listen to the tracks in advance and approve the repertoire. Sometimes we reject certain songs that the choir directors suggest because we don’t want them to contrast with the atmosphere of the concert. It’s a church, there are saints who look at us. All icons in our church contain reliquaries with the holy relics, so this presence of sacred objects must not conflict with the music that is being sung. You can’t sing “Korobeiniki” (aka Tetris theme Type A) here! It’s a well-known Russian folk song but when someone suggested it, I said, “No, that’s not the spirit that we would like to have here. Let’s replace it with another song.” There are songs about the human soul, repentance, and inner life of a human being among the rich repertoire of folk music.

I have to say that we have a very home-like format. If a precentor or a singer wants to say something, they get to say it. Sometimes participants want to present a gift to the Convent, sometimes they sing encore, and sometimes a priest takes the floor. Generally, our concert is opened by a priest who comes with one of the choirs, or a priest from our Convent, if no one comes. This opening turns everything in the right direction. People feel relaxed and at home, and that’s great.

What is the chief purpose of the Festival?

We find it important to emphasise that God penetrates our lives. He is with us at all times and He acts not only during worship, when we come to the church, pray and light up some candles. Things worked differently in Russia in old times: God penetrated every moment of the life of a human, his daily routines, and his labour. Baptisms, weddings, and funerals were always accompanied by singing. People wanted to continue singing about God outside of the church, in their daily lives. That is why we have a rich folklore heritage related to the saints, the Mother of God, feasts, ruminations of a Russian person about his soul, about his connection to the Heavenly Kingdom, the spiritual domain. Nowadays, it continues, and that is why our concert features not only church chants but also songs with the lyrics written by Russian poets, folk songs that are in harmony with the Orthodox faith, works by contemporary authors with lyrics by Orthodox poets, e.g., Father Andrei Logvinov or Hieromonk Roman (Matyushin). Not long ago, a choir from Novgorod performed a song composed by Alexandra Pakhmutova with lyrics by Dobronravov. They were famous Soviet songwriters but if you look at their songs, you’ll guess that they were believers even in those times, and now we find the topics of spirituality, morality, kindness, and love in their songs. That is why pieces like those can also be performed at our Royal Voice concerts.

What kinds of choirs can participate in the Festival?

There are various choirs among our participants: professional and amateur ones; secular and church choirs; male, female, and children’s choirs. All kinds of choirs. We select our participants and build the programme of the Festival to be as diverse as possible. As I’ve already mentioned, there have been several individual singers who appeared in the programme in the last three years. It often depends on subjective factors, e.g., who happens to be close to the Convent at the moment. For instance, Father Anatoly Pershin from Saint Petersburg visited our Convent, and we were so excited! He sang his brilliant songs and played the guitar. Or take for example Father Sergius Kisel, or Father Seraphim from Serbia: we invited them to participate in the Royal Voice as soon as we met them and heard their songs. All that to say that the selection process is often spontaneous. Nonetheless, there are many collectives who send us their applications first. They write to us, we — and I mean the organising committee that consists of professional church musicians — listen to them to verify that they sing well and their repertoire suits us well, and we invite them.

As a rule, there are choirs that don’t sing in church among our participants. It can be a children’s choir, a student choir or a government-funded collective. We had Belarusian Broadcasting Company Choir, National Chamber Choir of the Republic of Belarus, Academy of Music Students’ Choir, Belarusian State University Students’ Choir, and choirs from other universities. They don’t sing in church as a choir but they have church music in their repertoire. As far as I can tell, church music is a formidable part of the repertoire of many secular choirs, sometimes to the extent that they can do a full concert of church chants. Why does it happen? Because it’s beautiful, and people are drawn to the beauty, and young people are fond of this spiritual component where it isn’t the earthly and physical emotion that is stressed but something more exalted, something that lies deep within… Profoundness and sublimity: that’s what our audiences and our performers are interested in. That’s what attracts them to church vocal music.

How did your Festival go international?

It became clear that the Festival was about to attain international scope (though it’s not exactly the case with us, honestly). Choirs from Russia and Serbia started coming. We welcomed Valaam Monastery Choir, Divna Ljubojevic, a big Serbian choir from Belgrade, and some choirs from Ukraine. That’s how we gather all the Holy Russia — Russia, Ukraine, Belarus — and our sister country of Serbia. That’s where our participants come from. This Festival was no exception.

How are this year’s participants different from the previous years?

It turned out that all our participants this year were active church choirs. There weren’t children’s, students’, or secular choirs among them. All the choirs sing in churches. Imagine how pleasant it was to listen to them!

Each choir is unique.

First, there is the choir of clergy of the Diocese of Hrodna. It’s an amazing achievement to bring this choir together! To cut the long story short, this choir consists of priests and deacons. There isn’t anyone else, as it is often the case in our churches. There isn’t any altar server in this choir: all singers wear pectoral crosses! It’s impressive!

A similar choir came from Ukraine: the Choir of Kharkov Theological Seminary, which also includes its alumni who have become priests by now but who continue to sing in this choir. Add to it some girls who study to be precentors in church choirs, and you’ll get the impression of their mixed choir. It’s great and interesting. When church chants are performed by people whose life is filled with worship, whose life actually is worship, permanently and not from time to time — when everybody knows what they’re singing about and what part of the divine office this or that chant belongs to, and what its deep meaning is — you can really hear that they’re being serious. In fact, all church choirs take everything seriously. For example, there was a choir from Saint Petersburg, from a remarkable huge St Theodore Cathedral, which was rebuilt after having been demolished in Soviet times. There are several choirs in that cathedral. They submitted an application, and we invited the so-called amateur choir, although there are professional musicians in that choir, too. It is a mixed choir, which consists of the parishioners of the cathedral and frequently takes part in divine offices. Their rector, Father Alexander Sorokin, came to Minsk with them, too. It’s their ministry, and they find it very important. Well, and we were excited to listen to a cathedral choir from Saint Petersburg!

It turned out that there is the so-called Belarusian Byzantine Choir here in Minsk, and that it sings in the Church in honour of the Resurrection of Christ. Why is it called “Belarusian”? Because it’s from Minsk. Why is it called “Byzantine”? Because they always use Byzantine chant, and that’s hard to come by nowadays. As far as our Convent is concerned, the Monastic Choir, the Festive Choir, and the Male Choir all include Byzantine chants in their repertoire but don’t sing them exclusively. Our services in their entirety don’t consist of Byzantine chant, while theirs do, and that is why the atmosphere is well-defined and interesting to listen to.

Well, our Festive Choir also decided to participate in the Festival (smiles). We took part in the very first Royal Voice Festival. We didn’t participate in the Festival until this year, and that’s not accidental: our parishioners have the chance to hear our singing every week, on Sundays and feasts, whilst this Festival allows our guests to perform in the Church in honour of the Reigning icon of the Mother of God, so that our parishioners could enjoy the singing of other choirs from other cities and countries.

Why did the Festive Choir decide to take part in the Festival this year, then?

People were always asking us: When are you going to sing at the Festival at last? I dealt with their requests for several years, and I tried to explain it as well as I could but this year, I made up my mind that we’d have to participate in the Festival. The members of our choir were also eager to perform in the Church in honour of the Reigning icon in front of our listeners. Of course, you could listen to a record on your PC or a multimedia player but here you could listen to us live! Furthermore, it’s different from how we sing during worship: there’s a difference between the sound of a choir during worship and during a concert. This difference is important and it doesn’t imply any opposition: rather, it’s mutual enrichment.

Why do people need concerts of church music, after all? Isn’t church worship enough? What do you think?

Why people need concerts of church music… Why do people need concerts of classical music? Why do people need concerts of any kind? All kinds of concerts and performers find their audience. They help people to explore the hidden parts of their souls. There are concerts that are intended to be a background noise for relaxation and recreation, like concerts of pop music. Perhaps, they are not bad, it’s just that their purpose is different: the background noise, entertainment, and fun. This kind of pastime can and should exist, if it’s morally appropriate. As far as a concert of church music is concerned… It changes a person’s soul, like concerts of classical music: people come to these concerts not just to listen to some music but also to think and feel. People have tears in their eyes. They listen to the music with such unwavering attention! They are fully engulfed by the music. That’s a mutual process that goes on between the performer and the listener. When there’s no such process, the concert goes in vain. When the audience makes noise, when people move from one place to another, when they turn their heads, cough, or look at their smartphones… I’ve noticed that people don’t dare move during our concerts because they are afraid of breaking the pious atmosphere. The intensification of this pious atmosphere is one of the reasons why we hold our concert in the church. We have a small hall in the Sunday School (you can seat 200 people there), where we held concerts of solo performers who sang and played the guitar. However, the nave of the Church in honour of the Reigning icon of the Mother of God is our primary venue. That is where the name Royal Voice came from: it’s the voice of the Royal church. This voice is transmitted outside with the help of loudspeakers: wherever you go, you will hear the singing.

What were the differences between the 18^th Royal Voice Festival and the previous festivals?

Usually, one of the choirs sings the liturgy in the Church in honour of the Reigning icon of the Mother of God on the following day after the concert. This year, it was even better. We have three liturgies every Sunday, one for each of our three choirs (the Monastic Choir, the Male Choir, and the Festive Choir). This year, our guests sang during all three Sunday liturgies: the Byzantine Choir sang in the Reigning church during the first liturgy; the choir from St. Petersburg sang the second liturgy in St Elisabeth Church; and the Choir of Kharkov Seminary together with our Festive Choir sang the third liturgy in the Church in honour of the Reigning icon of the Mother of God.

Interview by Alexandra Ursalova

St. Elisabeth Convent, 2018

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