Dear parish family and friends of Holy Apostles,

We were blessed to have the Myrrhstreaming Hawaiian Icon of our Most Holy Mother of God of Iveron visit our parish of Holy Apostles in Beltsville on Labor Day, Monday, September 1st, for a grace-filled evening. Our rector, Fr. Christopher Johnson, served a moleben and akathist, beginning at 6:30 PM.

The parking lot, normally empty on Labor Day, was full of cars. Our small church at Twin Chimneys was packed, and an overflow crowd assembled outside the door, spilling out into the lawn and parking lot. Estimates by two of our parishioners place the attendance at two-hundred indoors, and another fifty outside, exceeding that of any service we have celebrated to date, including during Holy Week and Pascha.

The faithful outside were encouraged to stream the live service on their phones, and as they did so, in real time, they prostrated themselves to the ground at the appropriate times during the evening. All of the faithful were anointed with the fragrant myrrh, which streamed abundantly from the holy icon, accompanied, as ever, by Her faithful guardian, Fr. Nectarios Yangson.

Thanks be to God for this wonderful visitation from the Mother of Our Lord Jesus Christ, our True God!

• Watch the video from the livestream here, 
• See our special page on the visits of the Hawaiian Iveron Icon to our parish,
• Learn more about this miraculous icon on the website of her home parish.