Christ is Risen!

Kindly enjoy the Seminarians of St. Tikhon’s Orthodox Theological Seminary in South Canaan, Pennsylvania, singing St. Nicholai's Paschal Hymn from his Shrine at St. Tikhon's Seminary. This Shrine is the very room wherein this great saint fell asleep in the Lord, during his tenure ad Dean and Professor of the Seminary.

The Paschal Hymn, originally written in Serbian, ”Људи Ликујте”, has been translated into English by Peter Drobac of Windsor, Ontario, and adopted for annotation by Dn. John J. Kotalik (https://www.newworldkliros.com/files/Pascha/Christ-God-is-Risen-Let-Us-Rejoice-With-Serbian-Ornamented-v4.pdf). The same is available in the attached.

His Grace Bishop Irinej of Eastern America wrote his graduate thesis at St. Tikhon’s Seminary, titled: “Nicholai at St. Tikhon’s 1951-1956: The “Forgotten Years of His Life”, which reflected the reality of the time.

Today, the dream of Bishop Irinej to establish such a shrine has been, unknowingly at first, fulfilled by the present Dean of St. Tikhon’s Seminary, the Very Reverend John Parker, D.Min. Through Fr John’s love and respect for this remarkable saint, Nicholai continues to fill St. Tikhon’s Seminary and Monastery with his abiding, and now tangible presence.

In the Shrine, there are two contemporary iconic renditions from the vitae of St. Nicholai at the Seminary: The first depicts the Saint with his secretary, Protopresbyter-Stavrophor Dragoljub Sokich, whom he affectionately called, “Tsole”. He faithfully served Nicholai from his days as a student at St. Vladimir’s Seminary in New York City until his repose. The second shows Nicholai with two altar servers in St. Stephen Serbian Orthodox Cathedral in Alhambra, California. On the right side is Brian Gerich as a 13 year old acolyte. The third, which is outside the chapel in the hallway, depicts two of his then students at St. Tikhon’s Seminary, come Archpriests Michael Bobosh and Yaroslav Sudick.

Indeed, He is Risen!

Source: St. Tikhon’s Orthodox Theological Seminary (https://youtu.be/r7VEMGW5OM4).