My name is Alexander Ignatiev. I am a reader at the Cathedral of the Holy Dormition in Ferndale, Michigan. My wife Adriana and I moved here in March, 2024, and began attending services here immediately. While we both grew up in the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad, for the past seven years we have been parishioners at Holy Cross Orthodox Church (OCA) in Hattiesburg, Mississippi, before our move to Detroit.

The Cathedral of the Holy Dormition of the Theotokos in Ferndale, Michigan, celebrated its patronal feast on August 28, 2024 with Archbishop Peter (Loukianoff) of Chicago and Mid- America officiating. Our parish’s preparations began in the weeks leading up to His Eminence’s visit with a thorough cleaning of the temple and landscaping. Vladyka arrived on Tuesday evening for the All-Night Vigil, where we were blessed by the presence of many visiting clergy, including Fr. Joshua Genig, Fr. Gabriel Bilas, Fr. Colin Bower, Fr. Gregory Joyce (Dean), and Protodeacons Alexander Kichakov and Ioan Feloniuk, Deacons Vladimir Pyrozhenko, Dimitriy Kashchenko, and Mikhail Moibenko.

The choir, under the coordinated leadership of Marlene Brand and Zoya Kotulski, beautifully expressed the compunctionate hymnography of the Church, with the able assistance of Reader Aleksei. After the Vigil, we enjoyed a delicious fasting meal with edifying stories from Vladyka. The next morning services began with the Lesser Blessing of the Waters, which is commonly celebrated at patronal feasts. We formally greeted Vladyka and began chanting the Third and Sixth Hours, the traditional Russian order of services before the Divine Liturgy. (1) At the conclusion of the Hours, but before the being of the Liturgy proper, long-time parishioner Mark Alexiev was elevated to the rank of Subdeacon. During the Divine Liturgy we were edified through the preaching of Fr. Joshua’s sermon, where he extolled the virtue of the Theotokos and offered quotations from St. Gregory Palamas regarding her Dormition. At the conclusion of the Divine Liturgy, Fr. Michael presented the gift of a Panagia to Vladyka commemorating his many years of service to Christ and His Church, on behalf of the Georgian members of the parish.

Vladyka reminded us that the patronal feast of a church is referred to as a second Pascha. The Feast of the Dormition of the Theotokos is also the final great feast of the liturgical year, which begins on September 1(14). Vladyka reminded us all at trapeza following the Divine Liturgy that we were celebrating a second Pascha not only because we celebrated our patronal feast, but also because we were celebrating the falling asleep of the Theotokos and her miraculous translation, as the troparion of the feast tells us, from life to life. In Vladyka’s words, we were celebrating not just a second Pascha, but a third Pascha simultaneously. Vladyka also instructed us with a personal reflection on the life of the martyred King Boris of Bulgaria, who under the Nazi thumb never surrendered a single Bulgarian Jew to the death camps.

At trapeza following the Divine Liturgy the parish expressed its devotion to Our Mother with several songs offered from not just our choir, but also individual parishioners and guests. Vladyka expressed his great love for our church and the stalwart history of the parish and its members. I have been blessed to celebrate the feast of the Dormition in Russian, Greek, Antiochian, and OCA parishes, and I have marveled at the glorious diversity of our many ethnic traditions in celebrating Our Mother. As I enter the second half of my life, I count myself  fortunate indeed to return to the traditions of my youth, the church of my birth, and to celebrate the life and falling-asleep of the Most Blessed Virgin Mary among such welcoming company.

(1) Eastern Orthodox Churches in the Slavic tradition usually serve the Third and Sixth Hour immediately
prior to the Divine Liturgy while combining Matins with Vespers each Saturday night. Iin the Antiochian
and Greek traditions Matins (Orthros) is typically served immediately before the Divine Liturgy.