On Monday the 17th and Tuesday the 18th of July, the parish of St. Elizabeth the New-Martyr Church in Columbia, SC celebrated its patronal feast day. The rector, Archpriest Mark Mancuso, officiated the divine services, co-served by clergy from across the Deanery of the Carolinas & Tennessee:

• Archpriest Christopher Stanton (cleric of St. Peter of Krutitsy Mission in Lebanon, TN)
• Archpriest Alexander Logunov (rector of Reigning Mother of God Church in Charlotte, NC)
• Archpriest Job Watts (rector of St. Nektarios Church in Lenoir City, TN)
• Priest Steven Webb (rector of St. Nicholas Church in Fletcher, NC)
• Priest Peter Markevich (rector of Holy Trinity Church in Mebane, NC)
• Priest Dmitri Pavlenkov (cleric of St. Timothy the Apostle Mission in Hickory, TN)
• Protodeacon Dimitri Temidis (diocesan cleric), and
• Protodeacon Columba Wilson (parish cleric).

After Vigil on Monday evening, the sisterhood prepared a supper for the parish and visiting clergy.

On Tuesday morning, the church was filled with worshippers – parishioners and guests from nearby parishes. Almost all communed of Christ’s Holy Mysteries.

The parish choir sang the divine services beautifully, performing compositions in English and Slavonic, as well as some German in honor of the land of St. Elizabeth’s birth. The version of the Cherubic Hymn sung that day was the same melody heard by passersby being sung by St. Elizabeth and those martyred with her in the mineshaft in Alapaevsk.

After the service, the clergy, parishioners, and guests gathered for a festal luncheon in St. John’s Parish Hall next to the church, where fellowship was enjoyed by all.

The clergy then gathered for a meeting of the deanery.