On November 22, 2009, for the first time in its fifty-year history, the full consecration of the lower church of Holy Trinity Monastery, dedicated to St. Job of Pochaev, the patron saint of the monastery and the brotherhood’s printshop, took place. This event coincided with the 350-year anniversary of the opening of the relics of the saint. The life of Holy Trinity Monastery is closely bound up with the memory and heavenly protection of this great God-pleaser, whose veneration was brought to Jordanville by its ever-memorable abbot, Archbishop Vitaly (Maximenko), who lived for many years in the Pochaev Lavra.

The great consecration was performed by His Grace, Bishop George of Mayfield, accompanied by all the clergy of the monastery. Students of the seminary who had not left for the fall break before this great event helped in the altar and on the kliros. The Sunday services began with the meeting of His Grace, Bishop George, who was vested with the white apron and white cuffs necessary for the consecration over his hierarchal vestments.Then in the altar the new Holy Table was constructed and the antimens consecrated. The divine service was conducted with special prayer and singing in which the grace and help of God were asked for this church. The consecration was completed with a procession around the monastery cathedral, after which the Divine Liturgy began.

In his sermon upon the completion of the solemn service, Archimandrite Luke, abbot of Holy Trinity Monastery and Rector of Holy Trinity Seminary, remarked: “Today’s event witnesses to the fact that the inheritance of the Pochaev brotherhood is indeed alive. We have the hope that St. Job will not leave us and will continue to hear our prayers to him in the future as well. In a country located thousands of miles from the homeland, the memory of St. Job continues to be glorified to the present day, and this clearly witnesses that the zealous activity of spreading the faith, begun by the saint in Volynia in the seventeenth century, continues to bear fruit.“

In the near future, with God’s help, a new iconostas will be erected in the newly-consecrated church, prepared in Russia and gifted by a graduate of Holy Trinity Seminary’s external program, Ekaterina Vladimirovna Anisimova and her husband, Vasilii Vasilevich Anisimov. The brethren and all inhabitants of the monastery, as well as the faculty and students of the Seminary, wish to express their sincere gratitude and recognition for their labors in the decoration of the monastery and seminary.

Great thanks go also to Vladyka George for not refusing to be with us to lead the divine services on this historical occasion for the monastery. Himself a graduate of our monastery and seminary, he has not ceased to show us his archpastoral care.