On December 6/19, 2009, the Commemoration Day of St. Nicholas the Archbishop of Myra in Lycia, Archbishop Hilarion of Volokolamsk, chairman of the Moscow Patriarchate department for external church relations, who is in Bangkok for the 10th anniversary of Orthodoxy in Thailand, celebrated the Divine Liturgy at St. Nicholas'.
He was assisted by Hegumen Oleg Cherepanin, Russian Orthodox Church representative in Thailand, Archpriest Dionisy Pozdnyaev, rector of Sts Peter and Paul Church in Hong Kong, Rev. Alexy Trubach, rector of St. Vladimir's Church in Ulan-Bator, Mongolia, Hieromonk Joasaph Tandibilang, rector of St. Vladimir's Church in Jakarta, Indonesia, Rev. Alexander Dondenko, a cleric of the Parish of the Dormition in Singapore, Rev. Daniel Vanna, a cleric of the Parish of St. Nicholas in Bangkok, and Protodeacon Vladimir Nazarkin, assistant to the DECR chairman.
During the service, Archbishop Hilarion, with the blessing of His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia, elevated Hegumen Oleg Cherepanin to the rank of archimandrite and awarded Rev Daniel Vanna the right to wear an epigonation.