"Save Your people, O Lord, and bless Your inheritance; give victory to the faithful Christian over the enemy. And with Thy Cross keep Thy people."
(Troparion of the Holy Cross)
The Holy and Divine Fathers of the Orthodox Church, by the power of the Holy Spirit and by the mercy of God, have ordained Lent to be a spiritual journey towards the Resurrection of Christ, a true time of the soul’s purification, a time for the soul to be elevated through humility and prayer, a beginning of another life which is lived with and in Christ. It is a journey of hope, love, and victory over death and sin, which strengthens believers in their faith and prepares them to share the joy of the Resurrection with the whole world. We thank the Lord for His immeasurable grace, for the forgiveness we find in His presence when we turn to Him with open and repentant hearts and ask Him to give us the strength and wisdom to make lasting changes in our spiritual lives.
The third Sunday of Lent, the Sunday of the Holy Cross, was truly a holy day for the Romanian faithful of St. Nicholas and St. George Parish in New York, who had, in their midst, His Archbishop and Metropolitan Nicolae, the Romanian Orthodox Metropolitan of the Americas. His Eminence's welcome was full of emotion and joy because the warmth and love with which Metropolitan Nicolae always comes to our Church is poured out to the crowd of faithful who await him and whose souls respond to him with the same affection and openness.
On the afternoon of April 6th, 2024, His Eminence Metropolitan Nicolae arrived in New York and shortly afterwards in our parish. This was followed by the Metropolitan's participation in Great Vespers and the Paraklesis of the Mother of God alongside our parish priest, Fr. Marius Dumitrescu. At the end of the service, His Eminence told us that the year 2024 is declared by the Holy Synod of the Romanian Orthodox Church as the Memorial Year of the Pastoral Care of the Sick and the Commemorative Year of the Unmercenary Doctors and spoke to us about the Holy Healers commemorated in April, recalling Abbot Varsanufie of Optima (1st of April), St. Sava the New of Kalymnos (7th of April), known as a healer of cancer, Saints Raphael, Nicolae and Irina of Lesvos (9 April), St. Antipas of Pergamum and St. Calinic of Cernica (11th of April), St. George, patron saint of our church (23rd of April), St. Basil of Ostrog (29th of April), whose pillow we have for veneration in the church. He then urged the faithful to read from the lives of the saints and to discover that there are many unknown holy healers and to follow their faith and deeds.
Moreover, the culmination of the celebration blessed by the great and merciful God was the Divine Liturgy on Sunday morning, celebrated by His Eminence Nicolae, together with the parish priest Marius Dumitrescu and Father Vincențiu Temirov, from St. Vladimir’s Orthodox Theological Seminary in Yonkers, NY. The Hierarch, priests and faithful were in a close communion of prayer, peace, and holy and God-blessed joy, similar to that in heaven.
When the time came, the children of the parish Sunday School and the faithful received Holy Communion. By receiving the Holy Body and Blood of the Lord, the faithful are strengthened and nourished spiritually, become one body in Christ and are called to share their spiritual life with the other members of their faith community.
In his homily at the end of the service, Archbishop Nicolae spoke about the Sunday of the Holy Cross. The synaxaria of today's Matins says that "As the Tree of Life was planted in the midst of Heaven, so is the honor of the Holy Cross planted in the midst of Lent. If Adam ate of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil and, by not fasting, lost heaven, we by fasting and penance may be enabled to taste of the new tree of life which is Jesus Christ. So let us fast, and then let us partake of the Lord's Body and Blood not only at Divine Liturgy on Saturday and Sunday, but also at the Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts on Wednesday and Friday during Lent," said His Eminence Metropolitan.
"This Sunday's Gospel urges us to listen to and fulfill the words of the Savior: ‘Whoever desires to come after Me must deny himself, take up his cross and follow Me’ (Mark 8:32). These words come as an exhortation to consider whether we want to be followers of Christ, whether we want to be his disciples, whether we want to be Christians. We are free in this world, but the meaning of our life on earth is to acquire Eternity. So, if we make the choice to work out our salvation in this life, then we must listen to Christ, listen to His words", His Eminence added.
"God Himself humbled Himself, He emptied Himself, so that we might come to regain the image of the glory of God as we were created. God Himself emptied Himself and took on our image, so that we might be able to regain the radiance of His image, following Him: 'He who wishes to come after me must deny himself.'" Then, the spiritual path presented by the Savior, tells us to take up our cross as He took up His Cross. Let us crucify all our weaknesses, all our sins, all our doubts. Our whole life is not about gathering material things, but about enriching the image of God within us. Let us heal ourselves of all our weaknesses, let Christ come into our lives to help heal us. Our prayer is, in fact, preparation for the encounter with the Savior Christ and we do this when we fast, when we partake of His Body and Blood at Divine Liturgy. Look at the faces of the saints painted on the wall of the church, all of them are haloed, because all of them have fulfilled the call of Christ, all of them have partaken of the glory of God's light," said His Eminence.
At the end of his sermon, His Eminence spoke of St. Tikhon, Apostle of America, who is commemorated on the 7th of April. At the end, Fr. Marius Dumitrescu thanked His Eminence Metropolitan Nicolae for this moment of spiritual joy and the whole church sang Many Years to His Eminence Metropolitan Nicolae on his birthday. The Christians filled the church, overflowing St. Nicolae Church for the Sunday morning service, a sign of the blessing of Christ the Savior. Our whole community was involved in the preparations for the pastoral visit. From decorating the church, to serving the after-service snacks, to the official agape meal organized on the occasion of our Hierarch's visit, everyone was involved and lovingly gave their time to the Church and through it directly to Christ.
His Eminence's presence among the faithful in New York with the Archbishop's blessings, with the paternal warmth he shared with us, brought to us, priests and parishioners of the parishes of St. Nicolae and St. George, an atmosphere of peace and prayer, a reason for joy and hope, and a great day that will remain for a long time in the hearts of those present.
We thank God for the grace and blessings of Lent and ask Him to strengthen us in our inner ascent to the Holy Resurrection. Amen.
Preot Marius Dumitrescu
