Our Lord declared that no greater man had lived than His relative, St. John the Baptist. Thus, the feast of his nativity is celebrated with great solemnity by the Orthodox Church. This year, in the monastery, it was especially wonderful as we also commemorated the thirtieth anniversary of the consecration to the episcopate of our beloved Archbishop Gabriel of Montreal and Canada, a graduate of our seminary, who has always greatly supported our monastery and our seminary with his frequent visits throughout the years, and who came to our monastery to celebrate his jubilee with the brotherhood and pilgrims.
His Grace Bishop Luke, abbot of the monastery, who concelebrated with his brother bishop today, presented Vladyka Gabriel at the end of the liturgy with an archpastoral staff and wished him the help of St. John on his anniversary.
