On Saturday, October 16, the Holy Trinity Seminary Choir traveled to St. Nicholas Cathedral in Montreal, Canada along with Archimandrite Luke, Rector of HTS and abbot of Holy Trinity Monastery. They brought with them the monastery’s own copy of the Pochaev Icon of the Mother of God. The occasion was the finale of a string of celebrations in Canada to mark the 80th anniversary of the consecration of Archbishop Joasaph (Skorodumov) to the episcopate.

Metropolitan Hilarion of Eastern America and New York greeted the Pochaev Icon along with Bishop Gabriel of Montreal and Canada and many of the faithful. They reverently sang the troparion to the icon as it was taken into the cathedral.

The All-Night Vigil began soon afterward. The Holy Trinity Seminary Choir sang antiphonally with the St. Nicholas Cathedral Choir, joining together for Kastalsky’s arrangement of the Great Ektenia and also to sing the troparion to the Pochaev Icon at the end. The HTS Choir also sang Azeev’s “Svetii Tikhii,” and Kastalsky’s “Ninye Otpushaeshe.”

The following morning, Holy Trinity Seminary Choir joined with the St. Nicholas Cathedral choir to sing liturgy together. Among the compositions sang by the choir were Bortnyansky’s “eis polla” and Konios’ Augmented Litany, which was written in Jordanville for the 1000-year anniversary of the Baptism of Russia.

After Liturgy, a festal luncheon was served for the clergy, choirs, and faithful. Event coordinator Peter Paganuzzi gave a detailed Powerpoint presentation on the life and work of Archbishop Iosaf, including the founding of forty parishes in Canada. Metropolitan Hilarion himself grew up in a parish which was founded by Archbishop Joasaph.

At the end of the presentation, HTS Choir gave a concert of church music including Trubachev’s “Virgin Theotokos, Rejoice”, Archimandrite Nafanil’s “Polyeleos”, Trubachev’s setting of the Kontakion of the Protection of the Theotokos, and his “Ton Despotin”, all of which are selections of chant sung at Holy Trinity Monastery.

The Choirs led the faithful in singing “Many Years” to Metropolitan Hilarion on the occasion of his first visit to Canada as Metropolitan. They also sang to Bishop Gabriel, and to the Right Reverend Irenei, recently-consecrated Bishop of Quebec City from OCA, who came to observe the festivities. All the bishops are Holy Trinity Seminary graduates.