March 16. It was perhaps the greatest liturgical celebration of the Sunday of Orthodoxy southern California had ever seen. More than 1,000 Orthodox Christians commemorated the restoration of the holy icons without paying attention to jurisdictional background, restoring—if only temporarily—a union given from God on high to His Holy Church between Him, His saints depicted in the icons and His people on earth. Hierarchical Divine Liturgy with each other for the first time ever: His Eminence, Metropolitan GERASIMOS of the Greek Orthodox Christian Metropolis of San Francisco and the West; His Grace, Bishop JOSEPH of the Antiochian Orthodox Christian Diocese of Los Angeles and the West; His Grace, Bishop MAXIM of the Serbian Orthodox Christian Diocese of Western America; and His Grace, Bishop BENJAMIN of the Orthodox Church in America's Diocese of the West. Joining them were their southern California cathedral deans, the Very Rev. Fathers John Bakas (host priest), Michel Najim, Nicholas Ceko and Michael Senyo. A youth conference followed the Liturgy and Procession with the Holy Icons. The teens had an opportunity to meet with the bishops and join in fellowship with one another.
