After more than 4 months of restrictions, His Eminence Metropolitan Nicolae visited on Friday, July 31 and Saturday, August 1, 2020, the Mission of the Holy Hierarch Callinicus of Cernica of Fredericksburg, Virginia on the occasion of the installation of the new parish priest, Fr. Ionel Sătnoianu. The Hierarch was greeted by young people and children dressed in folk costumes, this parish being also called the Children's Church due to the large number of children and young people present in the parish. Together with Fr. Dean Daniel Ene, His Eminence Nicolae met on Friday afternoon with the members of the Parish Council to discuss the situation of the parish and future plans given the long-awaited presence of a parish priest.
His Eminence Nicolae served the Divine Liturgy on Saturday together with Fr. Dean Daniel Ene, Fr. Ionel Sătnoianu, the new parish priest, Fr. Ștefan Drăgoi from the Mission of St. Mary of Norfolk and Fr. Marius-Mihai Lazăr from the Mission of the Holy Martyrs of Brâncoveni of Fairfield, Connecticut.
At the time of the sermon, His Eminence Nicolae spoke about the Dormition Lent and the mystery of the Mother of God that we try to discover during this lent: The Icon of the Merciful Mother of God that we see on the iconostasis of this church shows the mutual love of the Mother and Son. The mother embraces her Son with the desire to protect him, the Son responds to Mother's love. But in this close embrace we discover the mystery of the love of the Mother and the Son, love that redeemed the world: it is the mystery of the sacrifice, of the crucified love to save the man removed from the presence of God. The Mother of God holds the Redeemer in her arms. She is the Merciful One, the one who gave her son to the world so that the world might be saved. Mercy for her Son who was crucified becomes mercy for all of us who are redeemed through the sacrifice of the Son. The embrace of the Mother is felt by those of us who recognize her as a Mother.
The installation ceremony of the new parish priest, Fr. Ionel Sătnoianu, was followed by offering the Holy Gospel, the Holy Cross and the keys of the church by His Eminence Metropolitan Nicolae. The hierarch explained this ceremony and urged the faithful to support the new pastor and work together on any spiritual, pastoral, educational or administrative projects.
The Mission of the Holy Hierarch Callinicus of Cernica has its beginnings in 2015 and counts between 100 and 150 young families. Most families have two or three children, a sign of hope for the future in the survival of this parish and a sign of responsibility for their upbringing and education in the Orthodox faith and traditions. Between 2015 and 2020, the Mission of the Holy Hierarch Callinicus of Cernica of Cernica was administered by Fr. Dean Daniel Ene who recalled the challenges the community went through without a parish priest. The prayer to Holy Hierarch Callinicus kept the community together, and the hopes of so many years were fulfilled on this feast day.
The missionary journey continued on Sunday, August 2, 2020, at the Nativity of the Mother of God Mission in Norfolk, Virginia. His Eminence Metropolitan Nicolae served the Divine Liturgy together with Fr. Dean Daniel Ene, the new parish priest Ștefan Drăgoi and Fr. Ionel Sătnoianu from the Mission of the Holy Hierarch Callinicus of Cernica of Fredericksburg.
At the time of the sermon, His Eminence Nicolae explained the Gospel of the day, the multiplication of the loaves (Matthew 14: 14-22): In the Our Father prayer we ask for "our daily bread" or "our spiritual bread." Both translations in Romanian are very appropriate because when we ask in the Our Father prayer this bread we refer to what happened today with the disciples of the Savior and with the crowds: they received the spiritual bread, the word of God, but they also received the daily bread. When we partake, we receive the daily bread, the nourishment of the flesh, but this bodily nourishment becomes our food for eternity, since we partake of the Body and Blood of the Savior for the forgiveness of sins and everlasting life. The Metropolitan also spoke about the importance of faith and hope in God in order to go through this difficult period, the prayer being the one that must accompany us every day.
The same ceremony of installation of Fr. Ștefan Drăgoi as parish priest of the Mission followed. Father Ștefan has been serving the parish since September 2019 with a lot of love and dedication, managing to reinvigorate it after many uncertain years. His Eminence Nicolae also offered the new antimision to the parish, explaining its significance.
The Nativity Mission of Norfolk was established in 2007 and serves the cities of southern Virginia: Norfolk, Virginia Beach, Suffolk, Chesapeake, Portsmouth, Hampton, Newport News, Williamsburg, and Richmond. There are many military families in the Hampton Roads area, with the largest NATO naval base here. Approximately 150 Romanian families live in this area.
Fr. Dean Daniel Ene, who took care of the administration of this Mission after the departure of Fr. Marius Lazăr in 2018, highlighted the fact that this Mission survived only with the help of the Mother of God, the arrival of the new parish priest being the answer of the Mother of God to the prayers of the faithful. The fraternal agape and the meeting of His Eminence Metropolitan Nicolae with the members of the Parish Council ended a beautiful day of celebration for the Romanian Orthodox community in Norfolk, VA.
Fr. Ștefan Drăgoi
