This year the feast of the Birth of St. John the Baptist coincided with the Sunday of All Saints who shone forth in the Russian lands. For the sake of the Feast of the Forerunner in the Church Abroad, the memory of Russian saints is transferred to the following Sunday.
The solemn service was performed in the chapel of the Finding of the Head of the Forerunner in the Olivet Convent of the Ascension of the Savior. The Chief of the Russian Ecclesiastical Mission, Archimandrite Roman (Krassovsky), led the services with the concelebration of the Mission’s clergy, Abbot Jonah (Galishnikov) and Priest Roman Gultyaev.
The abbess of the monastery, Mother Varvara (Novikova), and her sisters prayed during the service.