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On Sunday evening December 4, the Myrrh-Streaming Iveron Icon of the Holy Mother of God visited Sts. Peter and Paul Cathedral in Passaic, New Jersey. An Akathist to the Holy Mother of God was led by parish rector, Priest Stephen Kaznica. Joining Fr. Stephen was co-served during the Akathist by:
-Archpriest George Konyev, (Chancellor of the Patriarchal Parishes in the USA)
-Abbot Joseph (Hoffman, rector of Holy Transfiguration Church, Pearl River, NY (OCA)
-Archpriest Zoran Radovic (rector of St. George’s Serbian Church, Elizabeth, NJ)
-Hieromonk Stephen (Bushman, cleric of the Eastern States Deanery)
-Priest Igor Kseniuk, (rector of St. John the Baptist Church, Passaic, NY OCA)
-Priest Alexey Paranyuk, (rector of St. John the Baptist Church, Little Falls, NJ)
-Priest Leonid Schmidt, (rector of Christ the Savior Church, Paramus, NJ OCA)
Also praying in the church was Archpriest John Nehrebecki (rector emertius of Christ the Savior Church in Paramus NJ); Archpriest Rafael Melendez (cleric of the Albanian Orthodox Church) and Priest Dimitri Jakimowicz (cleric of the Church of All Russian Saints, Burlingame, CA ROCOR)
Over 425 faithful filled the cathedral to lift their prayers to the Holy Theotkos. At the conclusion of the service, Fr. Dimitri spoke about the icon and some of the miraculous occurrences that it has brought forth. Many of the faithful remained in the presence of the icon long after the Akathist was completed, during which its Guardian, Subdeacon Nectarios, related many of his own experiences and took the icon from its kiot to show its simplicity, revealing in greater detail the streams of myrrh exuding from it.
