His Grace Bishop Ioan Casian present at the celebration

of St. Nicholas and St. George Parish from New York

At the invitation of His Eminence Nicolae, the Romanian Orthodox Metropolitan of the two Americas, His Grace Bishop Ioan Casian was present at the events related to the celebration of the 50th anniversary of the establishment of St. Nicholas and St. George the Parish and the 40th anniversary of the consecration of the place of worship.

The hierarch of Canada participated in the evening of December 5 at the Vespers service with Fr. Marius Daniel Dumitrescu parish-priest and Fr. Ionuț Preda.

In the sermon at the end of the service, the hierarch spoke about the importance of the example of the lives of the saints for us today: "The saints are examples of Christian life for us today. St. Nicholas, whom we honor today, is an example of a fighter for the orthodox faith but also an example of the embodiment of the virtue of charity and divine love in everyday life. There is no true Christian life without the right faith, without the confession of His saving work in the world and the fulfillment of this word in action.

St. Nicholas lived in the troubled time of the disputes related to the identity of Christ the Savior as the Son of God. He participated as a hierarch at the First Ecumenical Council held in Nicaea in 325 AD. He was and remains an example of a witness of faith in the divinity of the Savior Jesus Christ as defined by the Holy Fathers present at this ecumenical council.

Also, through the acts of charity performed during his life by which he helped the poor, he embodies in his life the model of the authentic Christian life for each of us today."

The next day His Grace Bishop Ioan Casian celebrated the Holy Liturgy. Fr. Marius Daniel Dumitrescu priest-parish, Fr. Ovidiu Sabău and Fr. Florin Spinu were participated in the celebration. Speaking about the Gospel of the day, the hierarch said: "Today's Gospel is the pericope of the beatitudes. We are all urged to honor the virtues - spiritual simplicity (poverty), the desire to receive the overflowing abundance of God's grace (hunger), repentance and humble contemplation (lament) and the assumption of adversity and hatred of those around for the name of God (hatred, banishment, mockery, rejection by those around). All these make the Christian who fulfills them or receives them to acquire much reward in heaven."

Speaking about the Epistle to the Hebrews which introduces the Gospel, the hierarch said: "St. Paul the Apostle says in this epistle that God in whom the Christian believes is a God of peace. This God who raised His Son from the dead, that is, Jesus Christ, also accomplished our salvation through Him. So, nothing we do in the Church can be done without the help of Christ the Savior. St. Paul exhorts us to be obedient to the Son of God because the tradition of the Old Testament shows us that man, even with God's help, ended up learning his failure in his attempts to follow God in obedience. He progressively realizes his ontological weakness and his fragility regarding his path to transfiguration. The great Apostle exhorts us to strengthen ourselves in Christ not for our personal and selfish benefit but to do His will. For, as Christ as the Son of God and the son of man fulfilled the will of God the Father for us, so too each of us personally but also as a Christian community, we must follow this path because it brings us the reward from above, our transfiguration and the acquisition of the kingdom of heaven. Fulfilling God's will and not our own views and opinions marked by sin and passion, will bring harmony and peace first within us and then between us and in society. Our change or transfiguration is first internal and then it will become evident in the relationships we build and in the deeds we do.

The true way for the Christian to grow properly in his fundamental identity - as the image and likeness of God - is by obeying and following God's will that heals disobedience and our sickness that culminates in death.

Christ is the One who works everything in our lives. The greatest revolution in our life is the conversion - that is, the turning of our mind, soul, and heart to God, and the fulfillment of the deeds that flow from it. Through this fundamental transformation we become the new creature, the foundation and example for the other generations in confessing the faith and fulfilling the deeds that reflect it.

Let fulfill the will of God and the deeds of the Christian life in every generation as it should be - the hierarch exhorted those present - because they, through the power of God, will work our salvation and the salvation of others. Through these our lives and the society in which we live will be marked by the signs of living a life in Christ."

Returning to the evangelical pericope, the hierarch said: "The Savior exhorts us to rejoice for the good works of faith. Voluntary poverty is what makes us empty our minds and lives of secondary and marginal things and fill us with the work of God, detach ourselves from earthly and material things to receive the heavenly ones, fruits of God's grace. St. Basil the Great, who came from a rich family, gives us an example in this sense by making available his riches for the fulfillment of the social work of the Church, founding hospitals, monasteries, doing works of charity, etc. It is not wealth in itself that means spiritual poverty, but the moment when man sets the goal of his life in accumulating this wealth without a special destination to help his neighbor or to direct their attention to God.

Those who hunger for God receive from Him the fullness of grace and fulfillment in Him. They no longer are fed by the material things that make life difficult and painful for them, but raise them to spiritual transformation.

For those who cry, repent and humble themselves, God fills their hearts with the joy of communion with Him through the grace of the Holy Spirit.

Believers who receive hatred, adversity, isolation and mockery from those around them become examples of confessors of faith. Such are the martyrs of the first Christian centuries. We see the faith of their hearts in the deeds they perform, in the confession of faith they make before the authorities of their time, and by the steadfastness with which they face the vicissitudes of the times in which they lived.

Let's take the example of their life and that of St. Nicholas as a source of inspiration for us in order to live a Christian life in our times."

At the end, the hierarch blessed those present.