We, in the Los Angeles area, are suffering the greatest devastation in our history, with thousands of homes destroyed and countless people "unhomed." We ask for your prayers to the Lord and to the Most Holy Mother of God in this time of sorrow. Below is the Icon of the Holy Mother of God, Queen of the Angels, Protectress of Los Angeles, which depicts the Theotokos spreading Her arms over the city. All of our main Orthodox Churches are shown in the Icon, Greek, Serbian, Antiochian, and Russian, with our Cathedral in the center. Below the Holy Icon are found petitions of prayer, in English... blessed by our Ruling Bishop, His Eminence Archbishop Kyrill of San Francisco and Western America, to be read in all our parishes. May the All-Merciful Lord and the Holy Mother of God protect us in these times of trouble.

We have at least three families in our parish, whose homes were completely destroyed, and many others who have had to evacuate. If you wish to donate to help these families, please use the yellow "Donate" button below.

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Dear Brothers and Sisters,

First of all, we, the Orthodox residents of Los Angeles, want to thank you for your prayers, so necessary for us right now, when our city of the Queen of Angels is experiencing the largest fires in its history.

The Pacific Palisades/Malibu and Eaton Canyon (Alta Dena/Pasadena) fires began on the Feast of the Nativity of Christ, January 7, 2025, and as of this morning has consumed more than 38,000 acres, 19,000 buildings, structures and cars, and claimed 24 lives, the BBC News report. Together, these two fires have already been called the largest and most destructive in Los Angeles history, and have caused losses of approximately $150B – a new record for fire loss in U.S. history. At the same time, despite the incredible efforts of firefighting crews, both fires are growing, having only been contained at 14% and 33%, respectively.

Although six other fires that broke out within the city line during these seven days were successfully extinguished, unfortunately, the end of the disaster is not anywhere near in sight. The typical December-January rains in Southern California have not fallen this year, and therefore large areas of brush and dry grass in and around the city could easily ignite from any cigarette butt thrown from a car window.

New gusts of wind that began today (January 13) do not bode well. More than 150,000 residents of the affected regions have already been evacuated and are living in hotels or staying with relatives; thousands more are prepared to evacuate.

By God’s mercy, to date, not a single Orthodox church in our city has been damaged or evacuated, although the Pokrov Church (ROCOR) was at one point threatened with evacuation due to the blaze that broke out on January 9 in the hills a few blocks from central Hollywood (Sunset Fire). According to the latest information collected from Russian-speaking parishes in the city, surprisingly only a few have suffered home loss or evacuation. Moreover, the areas of central Los Angeles and the San Fernando Valley were completely unscathed, with blue, cloudless skies all these days as the ash was blown out to the Pacific Ocean by southerly winds. The only inconveniences were one to three days of power outages caused by gusty Santa Anna winds of up to 90 miles per hour. All of this is somewhat reminiscent of the September 9, 2001, disaster in New York City, where the Orthodox Christians employed at the fallen World Trade Center buildings, by God's providence, did not show up for work that day and were unharmed.

On Sunday, January 12, during the Divine Liturgies in our parishes throughout the Western American Diocese, litanies and prayers for deliverance from the wildfires were uttered. Locally, a moleben was served before a copy of the "Los Angeles" icon of the Mother of God in the Transfiguration Cathedral (ROCOR), and at the St. Innocent Church (OCA) a prayer was said requesting rain before the locally venerated Vladimir icon, miraculously preserved after the previous fire in this church. Good works were performed by parishioners of Holy Virgin Mary Cathedral (OCA), which has a group operating under the leadership of parishioner-chef Markell Titov. They prepare and deliver hot meals to the brigades of selfless firefighters and those in the city who have lost a place to live*.

This ongoing disaster did not leave the Russian Orthodox community unscathed. On his way to serve the Divine Liturgy on the 2nd day of Nativity, Archpriest Janis Terauds, assistant rector of the Holy Transfiguration Cathedral, was in a serious automobile accident as a result of a disabled traffic light, where a truck crashed into his car at full speed at an intersection, resulting Father Janis’ hospitalization. Father Janis was treated for his injuries and was soon released from the hospital. However, shortly thereafter he and his family were required to evacuate their home.

While asking all of you, our Orthodox brothers and sisters, for prayers in this time of God’s "righteous threatening" that has befallen us, with repentance and gratitude to God we recall the words of the ever-memorable Metropolitan Laurus on the day when the news of the collapse of the towers in New York on 9/11 reached the Holy Trinity Monastery in Jordanville: “Or those eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them, do you think that they were worse sinners than all other men who dwelt in Jerusalem? I tell you, no; but unless you repent you will all likewise perish.” (Luke 13:4-5).

Special correspondent from Los Angeles,
Reader Vitaly Efimenkov

Those wishing to help Markell with food or donations, please call:
818) 938-6716.