On Wednesday 16 May and Thursday 17May we had services for the Great Feast of the Ascension of the Lord.  All-night vigil with the blessing of wheat, wine, oil and five loaves was served on Wednesday evening and Divine Liturgy was served on Thursday morning.  As it was on this feast-day in 2007 that the Act of Canonical Communion between the Russian Orthodox Church outside Russia and the Moscow Patriarchate was signed, the Prayer for the Prosperity of the Russian Church was read after the Augmented Litany and a brief service of thanksgiving was served following the Prayer before the Amvon.  After the dismissal the parish rector spoke briefly about the traditional significance of the feast-day and about the unity of the Russian Orthodox Church.