Church To Host Orthodox Vicar

HARRISONBURG — For the first time in its young history, the city’s only Orthodox Church, according to the Rev. Gabriel Weller, will host a visit from a bishop this weekend.

 

Bishop Jerome Shaw of Manhattan, vicar of the Eastern American Diocese, will visit Holy Myrrhbearers Orthodox Christian Church for special events Saturday evening and Sunday morning.

 

Shaw was ordained a priest in 1976 and became bishop of Manhattan in 2008.

 

About 75 people worship at the church, located at 2870 S. Main St., Suite D, in Harrisonburg. The congregation began in February 2012 and has since merged with the All Saints of North America Orthodox Church in Middlebrook.

 

Many of the church’s members come from two populations within the city: the growing Eritrean community and Iraqi refugees who fled from religious persecution, according to Weller, one of two priests in the church.

 

The other priest is the Rev. John Moses, who was leading the Middlebrook mission.

 

“A small church like ours, we don’t have a bishop come every year,” Weller said. “But this year we are blessed [to have Shaw.]”

 

The bishop is coming for the church’s annual Feast Day, an event every Orthodox Church holds annually to commemorate its namesake, Weller said. The Holy Myrrhbearers were seven women who went to Jesus’ tomb to anoint his body with myrrh, according to the church’s website.

 

The church will celebrate with two services: a vigil starting at 5:30 p.m. on Saturday and a greeting of the bishop and service starting at 9 a.m. on Sunday.

 

For more information, email the priests at frj1951@yahoo.com  or fr.gabriel@rocketmail.com  or call the church at 908-2094.

 

Contact Candace Sipos at 574-6275 or csipos@dnronline.com