Hierarchal Liturgy at St. Maximus the Confessor Church in Owego NY

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Created on Friday, 09 February 2007 14:16
On Meat-Fare Sunday, Jan. 22/Feb. 4, 2007 His Grace Bishop Christodoulos of Theoupolis concelebrated the Divine Liturgy in the church of St. Maximus the Confessor in Owego N.Y. together with Fr. Thomas Marretta, the pastor of the parsh and hieromonk Philotheos from the Holy Ascension Monastery in Bearsville N.Y.

While on a pilgrimage to the holy places of Greece several years ago, the devout couple Dr. Lazarus and Rachel Gehring conceived a desire to erect a private chapel on their property in Owego, New York. It was about this time that the Russian Church Abroad, of which they were members, began moving in the direction of union with the Moscow Patriarchate. This move elicited considerable resistance in the Gehring?s parish, and Lazarus and Rachel responded to the developing crisis by expanding their original plans for a tiny chapel to building an edifice large enough to accommodate all the local True Orthodox Christians. A gifted stonemason and builder, Mark Arrow, was engaged, and work began. Soon an amazing structure was rising in the countryside of upstate New York, a building unparalleled in the New World.
The Gehring?s chapel, dedicated to our venerable Father Maximus the Confessor, is based on the beautiful 9th and 10th century Orthodox churches of Asturias in north-western Spain and is in every detail faithful to the originals. This small but stunning monument is testimony in stone to the fact that Orthodox Christianity is that very faith spread by the holy Apostles throughout the known world and common to East and West alike in the first Christian millennium.

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This miracle of Saint Spyridon took place in Mandra, Greece in 1926.

It was 12/25 December, 1926. The state Church of Greece adopted the Papal calendar and with the help of the Greek government persecuted all those who did not accept the Papal calendar. The faithful Orthodox Christians of Mandra woke up and headed to their Church to celebrate the Feast of Saint Spyridon. When they reached the Church they saw that the door to the Church had been secured with chains and the faithful could not enter. Before leaving the Church to return to their homes they stuck their candles on the door. As soon as the last person placed his candles on the door

the chains broke and fell. The faithful, confirmed in their Faith, entered the Church and celebrated the Feast of Saint Spyridon.

The miracle was reported the next day by the newspaper Skrip.

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