Holy Trinity Orthodox Church hosted Lenten Deanery Vespers Sunday afternoon, March 11, and the day was far beyond what our community could have ever expected. Visitors from the Connecticut Deanery gathered with Holy Trinity parishioners to celebrate Lenten Vespers at Holy Trinity for the first time since 2002.
 
His Grace, Rt. Rev. NIKON, Bishop of Boston, New England, and the Albanian Archdiocese was in attendance, in addition to six other deanery clergy. A total of 65 worshippers gathered from various parishes, including Christ the Savior, Southbury, CT; Holy Trinity, New Britain, CT; Saints Peter & Paul, Meriden, CT, and St Mary's Orthodox Church, Waterbury, CT.
 
Clergy who con-celebrated were Fr (Dean) David Koles, Holy Trinity, New Britain, CT; Fr Vladimir Aleandro, Christ the Savior, Southbury, CT; Fr John Hopko, Saints Cyril & Methodius, Terryville, CT; Fr Michael Korelev, Saints Peter & Paul, Springfield, MA;  Fr Joshua Mosher, Saints Peter & Paul, Meriden, CT; and Fr Walter Young, Holy Trinity Cathedral, Boston, MA. Fr Michael Korelev delivered an uplifting Lenten homily with its main theme, "idle talk', as it appears in the Lenten Prayer of St Ephraim the Great.

At the end of Vespers, Fr Nicholas Timpko, former pastor at Three Saints Church, Ansonia, CT, and currently serving the Nativity of the Virgin Mary Orthodox Church in Waterbury, CT, also delivered words of encouragement and guidance. Fr Nicholas has served the church as a cleric for 49 years now. Protodeacon Paul Nimcheck, Saints Cyril & Methodius, Terryville, also served.  Also in attendance was Fr Ivan Bilyk, pastor at St Mary's Ukrainian Catholic Church, Willimantic, CT.

The choir sang prayerfully, and a Lenten meal was served afterwards. 
 
Special thanks to Denise & Jason Geeza, Rachel Geeza, Pat Dolan, Chris Masterjohn, Rob Giokas, Will Kopcha, Tim Fetzko; and altar servers Nik Hutnik, Michael Dolan, Amadeo Ruiu, Ziv Kaputa, and Nicholas Vincent.

Click:  Lenten Deanery Vespers Welcome Card to download a copy electronically