On September 4, 2026, Bishop Matthew of Sourozh, Interim Administrator of the Patriarchal Parishes in the USA & Canada, began his visit to the parishes of the Central States Deanery.

Before visiting the parish in Redford, the hierarch venerated the holy shrines at the Church of St. Sava of Serbia in Merrillville, IN. It was at this parish that St. Barnabas the Confessor—the first American-born Serb to suffer for the faith of Christ and be canonized by the Serbian Orthodox Church in 2005—was baptized and began his pastoral service.

In Chicago, Bishop Matthew venerated the holy objects in Holy Trinity Diocesan Cathedral of the Orthodox Church in America; the cathedral’s first rector and builder was the Hieromartyr Priest John Kochurov (d. 1917). Like the cathedral in New York, this church was consecrated by St. Tikhon in 1903, and its construction was supported and partially funded by the Passion-Bearer Emperor Nicholas II.

That evening, the Bishop arrived in Detroit, where he was welcomed by the Dean of the Central States parishes, Priest Joshua Genig, as well as those accompanying him on the trip: Priest Mark Rashkov, Secretary of the Patriarchal Parishes in the USA, and Abbot Nicodemus (Balyasnikov), a cleric of St. Nicholas Cathedral in New York.