Kristusaq Unguirtuq! Illuumun unguirtuq! A bishop for AK

(OCA-AK) - Beloved Clergy and faithful Members of the Diocesan Council of the holy, God-protected Diocese of Sitka and Alaska,

Christ is Risen! Truly, He is Risen! Христос Воскресе! Во истину Воскресе! Kristusaq Unguirtuq! Illuumun unguirtuq!

I greet you with the joy of our Risen Lord and with the desire to share with you an important decision made by the Holy Synod of the Orthodox Church in America, a decision that directly affects our diocese. At the 2021 Spring Session, the Holy Synod has requested that I now exercise my locum tenens obligation to convene a special Diocesan Assembly with the express purpose of nominating a candidate to be elected as the ruling hier- arch of the Diocese of Sitka and Alaska. With that mandate in mind, I hereby convene a special session of the Diocesan Assembly on Saturday, August 7, 2021 at Saint Innocent Cathedral in Anchorage. The Most-blessed TIKHON, Archbishop of Washington, Metropolitan of All America and Canada, will preside over this assembly in person.

We will necessarily have to modify the Saint Herman Pilgrimage schedule to accommodate this one-day assem- bly in Anchorage. The annual pilgrimage in Kodiak will begin on Sunday, August 8, 2021 at Holy Resurrection Cathedral and conclude on Spruce Island Monday August 9, 2021.

I humbly ask for your precious prayers that God’s will be done in this as in all things, for the good of the clergy and faithful of this great northern land.

With God’s blessings and paternal love in Christ,

+ALEXIS, Bishop of Bethesda

Locum Tenens for the Diocese of Sitka and Alaska