​CHRIST IS RISEN!
​
On St. Thomas Sunday 19 April 2026, His Eminence Archbishop Alexander visited the parish of Saint Nikolai Orthodox Mission of Alliance, Ohio. Together with V. Rev.  Fr. Stephen Duesenberry Divine Liturgy was celebrated. This weekend also marked the occasion of breaking ground for the establishment of a new church building as well as burning the mortgage on the existing building. The parish also experienced the tonsuring of the new Reader Augustine. May it be blessed!

Many years to the newly tonsured Reader, Augustine from St. Nikolai Mission in Alliance, Ohio who joined the Holy Orders on the Feast of St. Thomas.

​Christ is Risen!

Today the veil is torn, and the hidden glory is revealed.

The Light that once dwelt in shadow now shines openly from the empty tomb, calling all creation into the sanctuary not made with hands.

Let us ascend in heart to the true altar, where the Risen Christ leads His people—not in figure, but in truth—into the unending Pascha of the Kingdom.

The stone is rolled away not only from the sepulcher, but from the depths of the soul,that we might behold the divine Light which no darkness can overcome.

May this holy feast be for you an entrance into that mystery: from death into life, from earth into heaven, from the visible into the ineffable glory of God.

Christ is Risen! Indeed He is Risen!

Alexander, Archbishop of Toledo and Bulgarian Diocese