Two priests ordained for the Philippines

Priest and deacon ordained

Update: On June 17, the Monday of the Holy Spirit, Fr Deacon David Grubbs is also ordained to the priesthood! Axios!

Today in Moscow, at the Divine Liturgy for Pentecost, two new clergymen were ordained for the Philippines.

Reader David Grubbs is ordained to the holy Diaconate. For years his charitable ministry Family Missions International has been doing the literal work of diakonia among the poorest, both in the Manila area and in remote islands and communities. Out of this work grew the mission church of Christ the Savior in Cavite, and it is he and his Matushka Irene who have trained leaders for the feeding ministry of the Orthodox Sisterhood in Mindanao.

And we are very thankful to see the ordination of Priest Joachim Gonzales. After a long dialogue, last year at Pascha, he and the four parishes he served were received into the Russian Orthodox Church. At that time he willingly laid aside his role as priest and was received as a layman together with his people. Now, after more than a year of study and serving together with Orthodox clergy as a layman, a reader, and a deacon, we in Mindanao are grateful for his canonical ordination! The parishes he founded and pastored, and the communities in which he has served for the past year, look forward to his returning to serve as priest in Mindanao.

Axios! Axios! Axios!