Ground Blessing in Holy Land
26/9/2012
His Eminence Benjamin, Archbishop of San Francisco and the West, Locum Tenon of the Diocese of Alaska, blessed the church ground, along with special guest Metropolitan Kristov, church leader of Szech land and Slavokia to build a church named after Heiromartyr Saint Juvenaly of Kuingnerraq and His Companion.
This is the first time land has been blessed in Quinhagak for an Orthodox Church, which in itself is an Historic event, but what made this land blessing remarkable is that Metropolitan Kristov was present to bless the land.
After the ground blessing, the Metropolitan gave a brief history of how the land where he is from, Moravia, was originally a mission by Orthodox but hundreds of years later went under the umbrella of Catholicism and the Unitas Fratrum, or Unity of the Brethren, better known as the Protestant Moravians.
He explained how the Orthodox of this land and the Moravian Church are more related than most people realize. It was a tremendous blessing for the people present to witness a historic event and to hear the rich history of how the Orthodox Church of Alaska and the Moravian Church are intertwined in more ways than one.
It was a great honor to have His Beatitude Metropolitan Kristov and Father Evan, His Chancellor, to take time away from their busy schedule and come here to Kuingnerraq. God Grant them many years.
We are accepting donations, if possible, to help towards building a new church. We have a bank account with Alaska USA, account number is 1672755, Saint Juvenaly Russian Orthodox Church. Quyana.
