Father SilouanYesterday the Aglipayan parish of St John the Baptist at Ladol, pastored by Bishop Esteban Valmera, was baptized. After a long period of catechism, their whole parish enters the Orthodox Church, with their bishop being baptized alongside everyone else. God willing, he will soon be ordained to the Orthodox Priesthood. Fr Kirill Skraboul and Fr George Maximov served the Mysteries of Baptism and the Eucharist.
Father George writes: “Yesterday, together with Father Kyrill, we received into Orthodoxy another community in the Philippines. 239 people were baptized. After the baptism and chrismation the Divine Liturgy was served, and all received Communion. All together it took eight hours. Surely an unforgettable experience.”
For the St John the Forerunner community, this is both the end of a long search and season of learning, and the beginning of a new path. May God grant them all many years!
August 27 at pravoslavie.ru:
Mass Baptism in the Philippines
On Friday August 21, 2015 a mass baptism was celebrated at the St. John the Baptist Orthodox Church in Ladol, Alabel, of the Sarangani province in the Philippines which was newly accepted as the fourth parish of the Moscow Patriarchate in the Philippines.
The Facebook page of the Philippine Orthodox Church under the Moscow Patriarchatereported that in total 239 Filipinos were baptized in the ocean into the holy Orthodox Church, including several former clerics of the Philippine Independent “Aglipayan” Catholic Church, which had its cathedral see at the parish of St. John.
“Bishop” Esteban Valmera was baptized as Stefan, “bishop” Rogelio Ringor as Gregory, “priest” Elieser as Eleasar, “priest” Dioscoro Bergado as Alexy, “priest John Collado” as Timothy and “priest” Renato Buniel as Romanus. The group, baptized by Frs. Kirill Sckharboul and George Maximov, also included five candidates for seminary studies in Russia. A series of mass baptisms at twenty-nine more Filipino parishes is expected in the following weeks.
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