With the blessing of His Grace Bishop Maxim for the first time the Orthodox Christian Community in Cancun, Mexico celebrated the Orthodox Christmas with the Divine Liturgy served by Fr. Blasko Paraklis on January 7th.

Thanks to the love and generosity of Mr. Ljuba Krstajic, this Liturgy, like all previous Liturgies, was served at his hotel. The Serbian Community was joined by many refugees from Ukraine and Russia who currently live in Cancun area. There were about 150 people, including children, in attendance.

For many refugees this was the first Orthodox Divine Liturgy they attended for the last few years since they left their country due to the terrible war. Quite a few of them came on the Eve of Christmas for the Sacrament of Confession and in the morning before the Divine Liturgy the confession lasted more than two hours. With tears of joy in their eyes, they were expressing their gratitude to His Grace Bishop Maxim and Mr. Ljubo Krstajic who provided the opportunity to celebrate Christmas with the Divine Liturgy and participate in the Sacraments of Holy Communion and Confession.

After the Divine Liturgy, there was one Baptism of a girl Vesna whose Father is from Serbia and Mother is native of Mexico.

The festivity ended with lovely socializing, many people met each other for the first time, and everyone enjoyed appetizers provided by the hotel and food brought by the parishioners. Everyone in attendance kept asking Fr. Blasko when the next Divine Liturgy will be.

The Serbian Orthodox mission in Cancun, dedicated to St. Nikolay Velimirovic, has experienced significant growth with the arrival of new immigrants from Ukraine, Russia, and Serbia, as well as a few local Mexican Orthodox from Cancun. The Orthodox Christian community continues to expand and shows strong potential for further growth.

Once again, on behalf of the entire Community, we have immense gratitude to His Grace Bishop Maxim for his Pastoral care as well as to Mr. Ljubo Krstajic for generously opening the door of his hotel and providing the space for worship.

May God bless him and reward him a hundred times fold in every spiritual and earthly way!

Fr. Blasko Paraklis