Led by our Dean, Fr. Luke Mihaly, and Fr. David Cochran, Fr. Michael Macura and Fr. Peter Paproski, the youth of the New England Deanery gathered together at noon at St. John the Baptist Cemetery in Stratford, CT for a special event. The day began with Fr. Luke serving a Panachida service for all of the departed. Responses were sung by the youth, led by Fr. David Cochran. During the singing of "Memory Eternal" everyone processed around the chapel while Fr. Luke blessed all the graves from the four sides of the chapel.
While sitting behind the Chapel among the departed loved ones of our diocese, Fr David led a discussion on the Orthodox teaching regarding death & dying and Heaven and Hell. Fr. Luke then gave us a short talk on His Eminence, Metropolitan Orestes of thrice blessed memory, whose resting place was just a few feet way. He spoke of the early life of the Metropolitan as a priest in the Bridgeport/Stratford, CT area and of his consecration in Constantinople to become the first Bishop of our Diocese.
Then to put all that youthful energy to good use, the boys were put to work cleaning up the inside of the cemetery chapel while the girls lovingly planted fall flowers at the gravesite of Metropolitan Orestes and Pani Yolanda.
To conclude the afternoon, the youth, lead by Fr. Michael Macura, then processed 1/2 mile from the cemetery to the parish of St. John the Baptist on Silver Lane where they were treated to a hotdog and hamburger BBQ. All in all, it was a blessed day of prayer, learning, work and fellowship for our youth that was enjoyed by all !
