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January 9, 2008
St. Nicholas Russian Orthodox Church to mark
The beginning of Red Bank’s centennial anniversary
RED BANK—On January 19th, the small 98-year-old Russian Orthodox Church of St. Nicholas on Pearl Street, will have the honor of hosting the first event in honor of the city’s centennial celebrations. According to the old style Julian calendar, on January 19th, the Orthodox world will celebrate the feast of the Epiphany. As is the custom in all Orthodox churches, a special service is conducted on the Epiphany, during which Orthodox priests perform the blessing of the water. It is customary for parishes to have a procession to the nearest body of water where the priest not only blesses Holy Water for drinking, but the lake or river as well. On January 19th at 1 pm, the parishioners of St. Nicholas Russian Orthodox Church will have a procession from their church on Pearl Street, down Maple Avenue to the Navesink River. The parish will be lead by its Rector, the Reverend Father Serge Lukianov, who will lower a cross into the river and bless the waters of the Navesink according to the ancient Russian tradition. After the blessing of the waters, the children of the parish will release several dozen doves into the wild, to symbolize the Holy Spirit who came down on Jesus in the form of a dove during His baptism.
The parish of St. Nicholas has been fortunate enough to receive Father Serge as their new rector. He was recently assigned to lead the congregation. The small church, which was founded in 1910, is in need of many repairs and the parish was desperately in need of a new direction for the future. With the arrival of the new rector and new parishioners, the parish has been reborn over the last three months into a small, but very active Russian community in Red Bank. At the request of the Mayor, the Honorable Pasquale Menna, the parish will have the opportunity to perform the sacred blessing of the waters in the Navesink for the first time in Red Bank’s history. According to the Mayor, “The blessing of the waters will be a worthy and honorable way to mark the beginning of centennial celebrations, and a great way to show diversity and solidarity within our community.” The parishioners of St. Nicholas church, along with the Mayor, extend a warm invitation to all the citizens of Red Bank to come join us for this truly historic occasion.
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