Abbot Damascene Visits the St. Andrew’s Church in Anderson, California
On the Sunday of the Paralytic, April 29, 2018, Abbot Damascene of the St. Herman Serbian Orthodox Monastery, in the capacity of Episcopal Assistant of Missions, visited the St. Andrew the Fool-for-Christ Church in Anderson, California. St. Andrew’s Church is located in Northern California, only an hour and fifteen minutes away from the monastery. Fr. Damascene was accompanied by Br. Alexey Selishchev, who had been clothed as a novice of the monastery on Thomas Sunday, April 15.
Fr. Damascene concelebrated the Liturgy with the rector of the Anderson mission parish, Fr. George Elliott. Br. Alexey served as an acolyte, along with Fr. George’s son Christopher and an older boy, Jonah Starling. Fr. Damascene was pleased to see several new parishioners at the service, whom he had not met before.
After the service, an agape meal was served in the church hall. After a short break and an introduction by Fr. George, Fr. Damascene began an informal question-and-answer session with the parishioners. During the discussion, one of the younger parishioners, Martin Becktel, who has visited the St. Herman Monastery several times with his young family, shared about his work with an orphanage in Uganda. It was encouraging to hear about how he had connected the orphanage with a local Orthodox priest, who has since been caring for the orphans like a true father. May God grant this connection to grow and ripen!
Fr. Damascene then gave a talk, entitled “The Way of Spiritual Transformation.” The talk was well received and provoked a fruitful conversation. Afterwards, he and Br. Alexey visited with some of the parishioners.
The visiting monks found Fr. George and his parish in good spirits. The Divine services were peaceful, and there was a positive feeling among the parishioners at the meal. With the Christian spirit of kindness and openness at St. Andrew’s, we can expect to see more and more new faces in the parish, as yet more seekers discover the true Church of Christ. This was St. Sebastian’s dream, and it continues to be realized in the third millennium.
