On Friday the 26th and Saturday the 27th of September, Metropolitan Nicholas of Eastern America & New York officiated the divine services for the great feast of the Exaltation of the Cross at the Synodal Cathedral of the Sign in New York City. During the All-Night Vigil, the First Hierarch of the Russian Church Abroad performed the Rite of the Exaltation of the Cross.

Serving alongside His Eminence were cathedral clergy: dean Archpriest Andrei Sommer, Archpriest Seraphim Chemodakov, Hieromonk Theognost (Kogan), and Protodeacon Serge Arlievsky, as well as Archpriest Živojin Jakovljević (rector of St. Sava Serbian Cathedral in New York City) and Abbot Zosimas (Krampis; rector of St. Sergius English Mission at the Synodal Cathedral).

The choir, under the direction of conductor Vadim S. Gan, sang beautifully at the divine services, which were held under the aegis of the Protectress of the Russian Diaspora – the wonderworking Kursk Root Icon of the Mother of God.

On the day of the feast, at Divine Liturgy, most parishioners and faithful from other churches received Christ’s Holy Mysteries.

Following Liturgy, Metropolitan Nicholas greeted the clergy and faithful with the feast and addressed those gathered with a sermon, in which he noted, in part, that churches have been built in our diocese and in many countries around the world in honor of this great feast.

"Each of us has our own inner temple, and it depends on us whether God dwells there or not. In our difficult times, churches are either destroyed, as happened in the past, or they are sold and replaced by something secular or even sinful.

"We pray for our churches, for all people, and we strive to preserve and protect our inner temple with prayer, fasting, humility, and patience. Just as Empress Helen and Emperor Constantine sought to find the holy places and the Holy Cross, so too must we seek our personal cross. The Lord gives us our lives and all that is possible to love and glorify Him and to free ourselves from all sins and iniquities. But we do not do so, perhaps because we do not seek our cross – either we do not want to, or we are afraid, or we put it off. But we can always take it up, embrace it, and carry it, glorifying God, preserving the faith, cleansing ourselves of dark deeds, and establishing ourselves in the temple and strengthening our personal temple. This is what an Orthodox Christian does," Metropolitan Nicholas noted.

The clergy then served a moleben before the Cross in the center of the church.