On the feast day of the image of Christ not made by Hands (August 16/29, 2007), with the blessing of our rector, Father Gregory Naumenko, we selected a patron, St. Theodosius, Wonderworker of Chernigov, for our choir. This holy man lived in the 17th century in Russia, and had a special love for church music. In the account of St. Theodosius’ life, we read: In his earnest efforts to beautify the church services, he organized an excellent choir, which was famous not only in the Ukraine but in Moscow, where the St. Theodosius sent his singers in 1685.

           It was our great fortune to receive a beautiful wonderworking icon of this saint from a generous emigrant living in San Francisco shortly before our new church was built. She related a story of how this icon saved her family from an enemy boat as they were traversing the Sea of Japan. It seems that the icon, on board with the escaping family, had rendered all of them invisible, for the their would be captors passed right by them without notice.

           On September 10, 2007 we served a moleben before St. Theodosius’ icon before our first choir practice for the academic year. Practices have been held monthly since. Because St. Theodosius’ commemoration day is February 5/18, we again had a moleben service this past Sunday, followed by a plentiful Pot Luck Dinner at the church rectory. Since many choir members are new, it was a good opportunity to get to know each other better. Thank you to all who came and participated.

           By the prayers of St. Theodosius and our own humble efforts, may our choir continue to improve and beautify our church services.
           m. M. Naumenko