Brothers Luke and Jacob Attend Installation of Metropolitan Tikhon

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Brother Luke Greeting Metropolitan Tikhon
St. Nicholas Cathedral in DC Site of Enthronement

On Sunday, January 27, 2013, His Beatitude, the Most Blessed Tikhon, Archbishop of Washington, Metropolitan of All America and Canada, was enthroned at Saint Nicholas Cathedral in Washington, DC.
Br. Luke speaking
with Metropolitan Tikhon
Metropolitan Tikhon was elected at the 17th All-American Council held in Parma, OH on Tuesday, November 13, 2012.
In attendance at the Enthronement were members of the Orthodox Church in America’s Holy Synod of Bishops, as well as representatives from Moscow, all of Russia, all of Georgia, Serbia, Armenia, members of the World Council of Churches and many US dignitaries.
Br. Luke and Br. Jacob
next to statue of St. Nicholas
Washington, DC


“Our task is to preserve the Tradition and apply it in new ways,” said Metropolitan Tikhon during his banquet address, in which he spoke of the unique challenges facing the Church today.  To view Metropolitan Tikhon's Enthronement Banquet Speech, click here.

Brother Luke reported:
"We truly enjoyed the trip to DC. I had a chance to see many old friends at St Nicholas Cathedral, where I was a member for many years before entering New Skete in 1995.  Brother Jacob, with a degree in art and an accomplished iconographer, wanted to see some of the museums in DC. We made a whirlwind tour of some of the museums at the Mall, including the Smithsonian Castle, the Freer and Sackler Museums, Air and Space Museum, the National Gallery of Art [where we attended a free concert Sunday evening] and the Museum of Natural History. We also visited the impressive and very moving Memorials for World War II, Vietnam, Korea and Martin Luther King and on the way home, we visited the National Shrine at Catholic University and the Franciscan Holy Land Monastery.
At St Nicholas Cathedral, we participated in the choir rehearsal on Saturday and sang in choir at the Vigil and Sunday's Divine Liturgy, which were beautiful and prayerful. Dave Drillock, long time teacher of liturgical music at St Valdimir's Seminary, handled all the choir preparations and services with his usual skill.  He was ably aided by Andrea Lutov, choir director at the cathedral.  Brother Jacob and I were warmly received by the cathedral clergy, parishioners and Metropolitan Tikhon. As a graduate of St Tikhon's, Brother Jacob knew the Metropolitan from classes at the seminary. My few words with the Metropolitan after liturgy included an invitation to come visit New Skete. It is impossible to mention all the friends I met that weekend but they included Andre and Svetlana Gerich, Ann Mayberry, John Stepanchuk, Ann Alaoglu, Matushka Nina White, Lisa Mikhalevsky, Nina Shafran, Dn Blagoje Siljegovic and his wife among others. We were especially blessed to be the house guests of Paul and Andrea Lutov whose hospitality we greatly appreciated. Phoebe Felk, an old friend of mine and of New Skete's, kindly took us to dinner on Sunday evening. It was a weekend of many blessings and we appreciated the monastery's support enabling us to attend this memorable event in the life of our church."

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