Now following a beautiful annual tradition, we were happy to have His Eminence Metropolitan Nicolae, the spiritual pastor of the Romanian Orthodox in America amid our community in Philadelphia, on the second feast day of our Church, the Holy Confessors of Transylvania. The warm and sunny days were translated into our souls and accentuated the emotion and the festive mood of this event. On Saturday, in the soft light of the sunset and candlelight, we celebrated Vespers and sang together with the clergy and the faithful: "Gladsome Light of the Holy Glory, of the Immortal, Heavenly, Holy, Blessed Father. Oh Jesus Christ, now that we have come to the setting of the sun, and behold the Light of evening…" We were joined in prayer by Fathers Milorad and Mircea, friends of our community, presided by His Eminence Nicolae.
The evening continued with a busy dinner, where the Metropolitan met with the members of the Parish Council, discussing parish issues and projects, guiding, advising us as needed, rejoicing with us at the good news, and grieving at the news of the passing of a dear member of our parish.
The next day, Sunday, the Divine Liturgy was celebrated by a choir of priests and deacons. We prayed together for the peace of the world, we partook of the Body of Christ as a living and vibrant ecclesial community. The Metropolitan Nicolae read to us from the Gospel, which was read from the chapter of Luke contained in the New Testament about the miracle of the resurrection of the daughter of Jarius:
Death is not the creation of God... the sin of Adam brought the estrangement of man from God... In order that this estrangement might not be eternal, and that the evil that penetrated creation, (evil meaning precisely the separation from God who gave life), and that this evil might not be eternal, God permitted the death of the body, earthly death, meaning the separation of the soul from the body; the spending of the body in the earth until the Second Coming when the body will be united again with the soul and we will all rise together with Christ.
Furthermore, this chance of resurrection was brought to us by Christ. From the time of Adam to Christ there was no salvation, there was no reconciliation with God, so man sought God in various forms. The full and effective sacrifice of reconciliation was brought by Christ who, being God, took on our human nature, a nature which after the sin of Adam became increasingly distant from God and more wicked. If God is the fountain of life, then alienation from God brings death, and with the death of man came death in creation. Christ, the Son of God, took this transient, wicked nature of ours to restore to it its first qualities and the chance to one day reunite body and soul and spend time in the eternal kingdom. Christ has given us the chance for this mortal and transient body not to remain in the grave, but to rise with Him.
His Eminence Metropolitan Nicolae also spoke about the Holy Confessors of Transylvania: true models of the Christian faith for all of us; the priests Moise Măcinic and Ioan from Galeș, the faithful Nicolae Oprea and the hieromonks Visarion Sarai and Sofronie from Cioara.
Finally, for such an event, it is traditional that we continue with the "Liturgy after Liturgy," or the agape meal. Many members of our parish desired to meet, greet, and exchange some words with the Metropolitan, thus proving that he is a true spiritual shepherd of his flock who knows his sheep.
Signed,
Dn. Petru Bogdan Manea
