On Wednesday the 20th and Thursday the 21st of December, as part of his Archpastoral visit to North Carolina and Virginia, the First Hierarch of the Russian Church Abroad, His Eminence Hilarion, Metropolitan of Eastern America & New York, visited St. Tikhon’s Church in Bristol, VA. His Eminence was accompanied by His Grace, Eastern American Diocesan vicar Bishop George of Mayfield.

During the Small Entrance, Metropolitan Hilarion awarded Fr. Matthew the right to wear the nabedrennik. Upon completion of the Liturgy, His Eminence presented the parish with a piece of the relics of St. Tikhon, Patriarch of Moscow.