Feast Day of Bishop John Celebrated in South San Francisco Parish

We celebrated our parish feast on Sunday, July 2nd, the exact day that Saint John, our heavenly protector, passed away.

Father Oleg Gritsenko from Seattle, Washington served the All Night Vigil and Divine Liturgy in our South San Francisco parish. We are very thankful that Father Oleg was able to leave his family and his parish in Seattle to serve in South San Francisco on this important Feast Day. About 40 people were in attendance at Liturgy, many traveling 2-3 hours to get to church. Father Oleg’s sermon emphasized the depth of faith exhibited by the centurion when he said to Jesus Christ “just say the word, and my servant will be healed”. We were admonished to strive for such faith. After the Divine Liturgy, all were invited to a delicious meal served by the sisterhood.

Our parish is celebrating its tenth anniversary this month (July 2017). The parish is under the omophorion of Bishop Stefan of Trenton and North America. Initially we were able to have a full cycle of services with a full time priest. Since 2010, we have had regular reader services and Vigils/Liturgies every month or so when a priest was able to fly in to serve.
Except for a small parish in Seattle, we are the only parish under the omophorion of Bishop Stefan in the Western United States.

report provided by the St. John of Shanghai and San Francisco Parish