On the day of the Transfiguration of the Lord, the Seraphim-Diveyevo monastery commemorates another event – the consecration of the Church of the Nativity in 1829.

Venerable Seraphim wanted the church to be consecrated on this very feast. Perplexed as to how to combine services for the two major feasts with the one that marks the renewal of the church, batiushka replied: “If the church is not consecrated on this day, it will stay without consecration until next year’s feast of the Transfiguration of the Lord, when it should be consecrated, because there is the will of the Lord in this, batiushka! You surely know – what is impossible for a man, the Lord makes possible, always and everything!”

To commemorate this event, an early-morning Divine Liturgy was celebrated today at the Church of the Nativity. The liturgy was followed by the consecration of the fruits of a new harvest.