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On Sunday, August 9, 2026, His Beatitude Metropolitan Tikhon presided at the celebration of the Divine Liturgy at St. Nicholas Cathedral in Washington, DC, for the Feast of the Glorification of Venerable Herman of Alaska, Wonderworker of All America.
Concelebrating with His Beatitude were Archpriest Alessandro Margheritino, Chancellor of the Orthodox Church in America and Dean of St. Nicholas Cathedral, Archpriest David Bozeman, Secretary of the Orthodox Church in America and Associate Priest of the Cathedral, and Archpriest Valery Shemchuk, Associate Priest. Also serving was Deacon Igor Panyutin.
Following the Divine Liturgy, His Beatitude presided at a Molieben of Thanksgiving for the 250th anniversary of the founding of the United States of America, in accordance with the directive of the Holy Synod of Bishops.
Before the Molieben, His Beatitude offered remarks reflecting on the life of St. Herman and the meaning of Christian thanksgiving. His Beatitude noted that St. Herman’s life unfolded during the same years in which the United States was coming into being, though in a very different way.
“We should not draw any straight line between these two histories,” His Beatitude said. “Nevertheless, it is worth remembering that, while a nation was being built in full public view — through debates, and battles, and declarations that fill our history books to this day — there was, at the very same time, another kind of building going on, hidden, silent, known only to heaven. And it is that hidden building, not the visible one, that gave us our patron saint.”
His Beatitude concluded by calling the faithful to imitate Saint Herman’s humility and love as they offered thanksgiving to God.
