Pastoral Letters - 2023

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Archpastoral Letter for the Nativity 2023/2024

Sunday, December 24, 2023

As we celebrate this joyous Feast of the Nativity in the flesh of our Lord, God and Saviour Jesus Christ, I wish to share with you one of my favorite Christmas homilies from the Church Fathers concerning this day. St.  John Chrysostom. spoke on the Incarnation with these words:

I behold a new and wondrous mystery! My ears resound to the shepherd's song, piping no soft melody, but loudly chanting a heavenly hymn! Read more...

Patriarchal Proclamation For the Nativity 2023

Saturday, December 23, 2023

With the grace of God, we are once again this year celebrating in chant, hymn, and spiritual song the Nativity according to the flesh of the pre-eternal Son and Word of God, namely the manifestation of the mystery of God and humankind. According to St. Nicholas Cabasilas, what occurs in the Divine Liturgy is the mystagogy of the Lord’s incarnation, while its introductory acclamation Blessed is the Kingdom of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit is evidence “that it is through the Lord’s incarnation that people first learned that God is three persons. Read more...

Nativity Fast Prayer Challenge 2023

Sunday, November 12, 2023

Dear Beloved Clergy and Laity of our God-Protected Diocese,

Glory to Jesus Christ!

It is hard to believe that this month marks the eleventh anniversary of my Consecration and Enthronement as your Hierarch. It has been a very strange couple of years with the arrival of the Coronavirus early in 2020. The pandemic turned our lives upside down in all aspects: physical, emotional, psychological, spiritual, social, and financial. Anxiety and despondency soared dramatically. Many of our Clergy and Laity were exposed and sickened.  Unfortunately, we also lost many wonderful people of our Diocese and beyond. May their memories be eternal! Read more...

Archpastoral Letter For Pascha 2023

Friday, April 14, 2023

On this great and glorious Feast of Pascha – the Resurrection of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, our hearts are filled with tremendous joy, our souls are transformed and we bask in the Light of Truth. This year I want to share with you an excerpt from an inspiring, uplifting and brilliant homily of our Father among the Saints, Gregory of Nyssa. The reign of life has begun, the tyranny of death is ended. A new birth has taken place, a new life has come, a new order of existence has appeared, our very nature has been transformed! This birth is not brought about by human generation, by the will of man, or by the desire of the flesh, but by God. Read more...

Archpastoral Letter For Great Lent 2022

Saturday, February 25, 2023

My beloved Faithful Clergy and Laity of our God-Protected Diocese:

As we begin Holy and Great Lent this year on March 14th, I want to share with you a few thoughts so that we may journey through this reflective period and arrive at the Great Feast of Feasts, Pascha to receive the Resurrected Christ.

We are reminded that there can be no true fast, no genuine repentance, no reconciliation with God, unless we at the same time reconcile with one another. In this holiest period of the ecclesiastical year, we should honestly examine our relationships with our families, our parish families, friends, neighbors, co-workers, and the Church in general. Read more...

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