On Saturday, March 18, 2023, Holy Trinity Cathedral and the Pacific Central Deanery held its Annual Advent Retreat. This feature of the Nativity Fast gives us an opportunity to pray together, have fellowship and meals with one another, and to learn from and with each other. This year’s theme was “Standing in the temple of thy glory: liturgical theology in the hymns and prayers of Lent and Holy Week.” Our guest speaker was The Rev. Dn. Vitaly PErmiakov, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Liturgical Theology at St. Vladimir’s Orthodox Theological Seminary. Fr. Dn. Vitaly spoke on the great anaphora prayer of St. Basil the Great that we hear primarily in the Great Fast and Holy Week and the hymns of Holy Week. Fr. Dn. Vitaly also spoke the preceding day to deanery clergy and faithful and preached the liturgical homily on Sunday morning.
The weekend concluded with a concert given Sunday afternoon at Holy Trinity Cathedral by The Yale Russian Chorus. The Yale Russian Chorus is a tenor-bass a cappella choral ensemble specializing in sacred and secular Slavic choral music. Chorus members are Yale University students from a variety of academic disciplines. Founded in 1953 by Denis Mickiewicz, a Yale student at the time, the YRC is recognized as one of the world’s premier performance ensembles of Slavic music today.
