​CHRIST IS RISEN!
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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

On Sunday, March 8, 2026 - the second Sunday of the Great Fast, the Sunday of St Gregory Palamas, the newest priest of the diocese Fr Bogdan Corneliu Popescu was ordained presbyter by Archbishop Alexander. Ordination took place at Three Hierarchs Chapel at St Vladimir's Orthodox Theological Seminary.
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Keep Fr. Bogdan in your prayers as he enters this new stage of his ministry! May it be blessed!

Beloved in Christ,
“This is our God; none shall be compared to Him, Who, being born of a Virgin, dwelt among men” (see Isaiah 40:18, Festal Canon).

Today the uncreated Light shines forth in the darkness, and the darkness cannot overcome it. The One
enthroned upon the cherubim is laid in a humble manger; the Giver of the Law rests in the arms of the Maiden who knew not man.

The heavens declare the glory of God, for the angels sing, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, goodwill toward men.” The earth receives her King, as the Magi fall down in worship and the shepherds behold the Great Shepherd. The cave becomes heaven; the Virgin’s womb, more spacious than the heavens, bears Him Whom the universe cannot contain.

This, brothers and sisters, is the great exchange: God becomes man, that man might become god by grace. The Nativity is not merely the remembrance of a distant night in Bethlehem, but the present manifestation of Emmanuel—God with us—calling each of us to bear His light within, until the glory of the Incarnate One fills all creation.

Let us, then, enter spiritually into that cave and join the hymn of the angels, offering the worship of hearts purified by love. For unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given, and His kingdom shall have no end. To Him be glory, with the Father and the Holy Spirit, now and ever and unto ages of ages. Amen.

Christ is born! Glorify Him!
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With love in the newborn King,
Alexander
Archbishop of Toledo and the Bulgarian Diocese