St. Andrew's

The Transfiguration of Christ

This week, we will celebrate the Great Feast of the Transfiguration of Christ upon Mount Tabor. The feast is August 6; we will serve a Vesperal Liturgy on Tuesday evening, August 5, at 7:00 PM, followed by the traditional blessing of fruit.

The blessing of fruit is a pious custom which finds its roots in the desire of the faithful to bless the first-fruits of the harvest, which become ready around the time of the feast. There is a poetic connection between the harvest and the Feast, as we see the tilled earth transfigured in the beauty of the fruit which comes forth from it, just as we see the beautiful fruit of our spiritual labors emerge in our lives. Below is an article written by Fr. John about the feast, from a past edition of The Cupola.

The Feast of Holy Pentecost

Blessed art Thou, O Christ Our God / Thou hast revealed the fishermen as most wise / By sending down upon them the Holy Spirit / Through them Thou didst draw the world into Thy net / O Lover of Man, Glory to You!

– Troparion of the Feast

Memory Eternal: Thomas McDonald

With sadness, but with hope in the Resurrection, we announce the repose of +Thomas McDonald, husband of Viktoriya McDonald, and son-in-law of +Regina Lokshina, on the leave-taking of Pascha, May 28, 2025.

Memory eternal: +Peter Andromanakos

With sadness, but with hope in the resurrection, we share the news of the falling-asleep in Our Lord of the newly-departed servant of God +Peter Andromanakos. Well known to our community, Peter is a faithful Orthodox Christian and in recent years frequently prayed with us.

Memory eternal: +Robert Skirkanich

With sadness, we announced on Sunday that our brother +Robert (Bob) Skirkanich has fallen asleep in Our Lord, on Friday, March 29. Bob was a beloved member of our community for many decades, and will be dearly missed by all of us. For a prolonged period, he suffered with severe illness which he bore with grace. May he be an example to us, and may his memory be eternal!

We will gather as a community to bear him onwards with prayer on Thursday, April 4, with a memorial service (panikhida) at 6:00 PM, here at St. Andrew’s.

At Bob’s family’s request, his funeral will be held on Saturday, April 6, at St. John the Baptist Church in Bridgeport, Connecticut at 10:00 AM. Additional funeral details can be found in the below PDF provided by Bob’s family: