Paschal concert at Saint John’s

During Bright Week, a trio of chanters from Ukraine was sent by Archbishop Sergiy of Solnechnogorsk to sing for communities of the Orthodox mission in the Philippines. On Bright Tuesday, here at Santa Maria they sang for us hymns of Paschal joy and traditional folk songs. Neighbors and members from surrounding mission communities gathered – too many to fit in the chapel so we had the concert outside.

The list of songs included Easter ones, as well as folk Russian and Ukrainian songs. The concert ended with Ukrainian folk song “Rospryagayte hloptsi konei” (“Unkarness the horses, guys”) which got a round of applause from parishioners and guests of the parish.

An added plus: Father Stanislav Rasputin, who is now assigned to the Moscow Patriarchate mission center in Davao City, returned to visit our parish. He visited here in early 2014, and members here warmly remembered him and his family.

From here Father Stanislav and the chanter proceeded to the mission at Nagpan, and afterward they will sing in Kiamba.

Many thanks to Vladyka Sergiy for remembering us at Pascha! Christos voskrese!