With the blessing of His Eminence, Metropolitan SABA, by the grace of God and the laying on of hands, His Grace, Bishop THOMAS, Ordained to the Holy Diaconate, Sdn. Matthew Benefield on January 11, 2026. 

For an extraordinary video of the Ordination of Deacon Matthew, click here.

      In the midst of the madness of Communist oppression in Russia, the Archpriest Gregory Petroff was martyred for his faith in 1942 in a Gulag of Soviet Russia.  In his personal effects, a hand written copy of the Akathist of Thanksgiving was found, a beautiful and perfect expression of our Love of God in thanksgiving for all that He has provided for us.  As he endured the reality of facing death for his Orthodox Faith, the reality of his "thankfulness to God for all things" comforted Fr. Gregory in the last days of his earthly life.  It was mistakenly thought at the time that Fr. Gregory had written these beautiful words of incomparable eloquence.  The Akathist of Thanksgiving remained underground until the 1970's when it ultimately was published under the name of its true author, Metropolitan Tryphon, who wrote these words in 1929, a great spiritual legacy for all Orthodox Christians. 

     On Sunday, November 23, 2025, Fr. Samuel Haddad of St. Nicholas Antiochian Orthodox Church and the Church choir under the direction of Matushka Loretta Haddad presented this moving work of thanksgiving.  You may listen to it here.