“Thy Church, O Christ God, hath regaled herself in the blood of Thy Martyrs throughout the entire world, as in porphyry and purple. Through them she lifteth her voice crying: Turn with Thy compassion toward Thy people, and grant peace to Thy city, and to our souls the Great Mercy.”
Dear to Christ the members of St. George,
Our Holy Orthodox Church celebrates the feast of All Saints this Sunday and not November 1st. Why? Because we celebrated the Feast of Pentecost last Sunday, the giving of the Holy Spirit to the Church. As a result of the pouring of the Holy Spirit on the believers, those who are “thirsty and drink from the living Water” are filled by the Holy Spirit and their lives are transformed by the Spirit to become vessels of Grace to the Church. The saying that the Church is build on the blood of the martyrs is true. The Holy Church continued to grow and strengthened by the “witness” of those who stood firm in the Orthodox Faith and gave their lives for the Truth. The Troparia above says: “Thy Church, O Christ God, hath regaled herself in the blood of Thy Martyrs throughout the entire world, as in porphyry and purple.” To stand firm in the Orthodox Faith is our calling today, especially in a world that is very confused by many doctrines, ideologies and teachings.
The Synaxarion this Sunday says: “the Apostle Paul, in his Epistle to the Hebrews, recounted the lives of the saints, when he wrote, “Wherefore, seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin that so easily besets us; and let us run with patience the race that is set before us” (12:1). Therefore, as Orthodox Christians, we honor the beloved saints of God, respecting them as keepers of God’s commandments, shining examples of virtue and benefactors of humanity.” The Apostle Paul calls us to “lay aside sin, and run with patience the race before us”. We are all called to be Holy as our Father who is in heaven is Holy. The call to holiness is the call to every Orthodox Christian.
I want to take this opportunity to thank in a special way the Sunday school team and the teachers who worked tirelessly and with dedication during a very difficult year to teach our children the Holy Orthodox Faith. I want to thank the parents who encouraged their children to attend the online classes. Please, join us this Sunday as we celebrate a very successful school year. At the end of the Liturgy, we will honor our graduates from the universities and high school, we are very proud and blessed as a community to see the accomplishments of these young people. Let us come together as one family around our Pastor and together let us express our joy to our children for their success. If you like to volunteer to help, please see one of the Sunday school team.
“Therefore, as Orthodox Christians, we honor the beloved saints of God, respecting them as keepers of God’s commandments, shining examples of virtue and benefactors of humanity. We commemorate all of the holy ones every year on this day, as the list of saints ever increases, even though some of their names escape us. Nevertheless, we honor them for their piety and strive to imitate their good works. By the intercessions of Thine immaculate Mother, O Christ God, and of all Thy Saints from the beginning of time, have mercy and save us, since Thou alone art good and the Lover of mankind. Amen.” (From the Synaxarion)
In Christ,
In the crucified Christ,
~Pastor’s Message of June 27, 2021~