His Grace, Bishop Maxim honored the community of Saint Herman of Alaska Orthodox Church in Kalispell Montana, with His Archpastoral visit the weekend of April 2 & 3.

His Grace attended Great Vespers in the presence of many faithful and the youth of the community.

After Great Vespers, His Grace met with the youth for supper and a discussion relating to questions of Orthodox life, existential understanding of the Eucharist, and artistic creativity.

On Sunday, April 3, fourth Sunday of Great Lent commemorating Saint John Climacus, His Grace arrived at the Temple and was greeted by the children of the community with flowers.

His Grace was vested as is traditional in the midst of the faithful, and afterwards tonsured Christopher Messenger a Reader.

His Grace proceeded to serve the Divine Liturgy of Saint Basil the Great.

His Grace, Bishop Maxim related the profound meaning manifested in the Gospel reading for that day of the proclamation “Lord I believe, help my unbelief”, and continued to share words of wisdom from the book of the ‘Ladder of Divine Ascent’ by Saint John of Sinai.

Many faithful were in attendance and approached the chalice to partake of the Holy Mysteries.

At the end of the Divine Liturgy, His Grace honored founding members of Saint Herman’s, David and Kathy Suvak, awarding them the Saint Sebastian gold medal first degree and conferring upon them the Grammata for their service to the Church.

His Grace, Bishop Maxim and all the faithful had a plentiful Lenten fellowship at the Church hall where everyone enjoyed each other’s friendship, and many approached His Grace for His blessing. Bishop Maxim gave a small icon pendant to each of the children as a blessing from the lands of Kosovo and Montenegro.

We are grateful to God for the gift of our Hierarch being in our midst this weekend and we look forward to another visit in the near future.