On the weekend of March 17-18, 2018, HE Metropolitan Nicolae was in New York to participate in the ordination as bishop of the new Metropolitan of the Greek Orthodox Metropolis of Chicago, HE Nathaniel, and to visit St. Nicholas and St. George parish in Queens.

On Saturday, March 17, HE Nicolae was among the 16 hierarchs who attended the ordination of Metropolitan Nathaniel. Elected by the Holy Synod of the Ecumenical Patriarchate on February 7, 2018, HE Nathaniel succeeds Metropolitan Iakovos passed to the Lord in June 2017. Metropolitan Nathaniel graduated from the Holy Cross Seminary of Boston, studied Christian Ethics and Bioethics at Boston University. He also studied History and Ethics of the Public Health System at the Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health.

HE Nathaniel is part of the community of the historical monastery of St. George Epanosifis of Crete and was ordained deacon in 2003, respectively priest in 2010 by Archbishop Demetrios. He served as deacon of Metropolitan Methodius of Boston (2003-2006) and Archbishop Demetrios (2006-2010), as parish priest at the Greek Annunciation Church in New York, interim pastor of the Holy Resurrection Church and, after, at Ss. Constantine and Helen Church from Brooklyn, New York. Since September 2013, HE Nathaniel has been the Director of the Inter-Orthodox, Ecumenical and Inter-Religious Relations Office of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America. Metropolitan Nathaniel was also part of the Secretariat of the Assembly of Canonical Orthodox Bishops of the United States and participated in the Pan-Orthodox Synod of Crete in 2016.

Saturday evening at Vespers and Sunday, March 18, HE Metropolitan Nicolae served at St. Nicholas and St. George parish in Queens. During every Great Lent, HE Nicolae visits the parish and strengthens the faithful on the way to the feast of the Resurrection. In the sermon, HE Nicolae interpreted the Sunday’s Gospel and spoke of St. John of the Ladder who is celebrated on the Fourth Sunday of Great Lent. Christ heals the father of little belief, then the child, and then the disciples of little understanding of spiritual realities. And He teaches us all that fighting with the power of the evil one goes with prayer and fasting. HE Nicolae then recalled the life of St John of the Ladder and the main ideas of his work The Ladder of Divine Ascent, urging the faithful to read it and acquire something from the understanding of the spiritual struggle presented by St. John.