Friday, December 6th, 2019, the day the Christians celebrate St. Nicholas, the archbishop of Mira of Lichia and great miracle worker, HG Bishop Ioan Casian was present in the midst of the faithful of the St. Great Martyr George Cathedral from Saint-Hubert. The hierarch officiated on Thursday, December 5th Vespers with Litya and on Friday morning, December 6th the Divine Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom together with Rev. Fr. Daniel Sandu and Rev. Fr. Radu Ioan Trifon, educational counselor in the Diocese of Deva and Hunedoara.
Addressing those present, the hierarch said:
In the troparion of St. Nicholas we find listed three virtues by which he was noted: the desire to straighten the faith, the gentleness and the ascesis. The desire for the right faith was manifested through the events related to the First Ecumenical Council and the Arian problem, the gentleness and kindness was revealed in the perfect discretion by which he wanted to help people in trouble as we see in the example with the three daughters of the rich man become poor who were on the verge to fall into sin without the help of the hierarch and the third was the rigor of the assiduous fasting, this being seen even from the early age as his life describes. All this is shown to his faithful 'from the truth of things' says the troparion, that is, from his deeds expressions of these virtues of the saint and not just from words. This is why St. Nicholas is also one of the most popular and most painted saints in Orthodox churches and on the iconostasis. He expresses somewhat the complete figure of the saint: the verticality - by the rigor of faith in God, the horizontality - by the merciful charity towards the neighbors in need and the interiority - by the rigor of the fast and of the inner ascesis with oneself. He is also a beloved saint in other Christian confessions, which shows again that the image of St. Nicholas is one of the most complete and universal as a saint. Let’s take St. Nicholas's example and try to do our missionary work with the word joined to the solid testimony of the deed.
At the end of the bishop blessed those present.
Troparion St. Nicholas
In truth you were revealed to your flock as a rule of faith, an image of humility and a teacher of abstinence; your humility exalted you; your poverty enriched you. Hierarch Father Nicholas, entreat Christ our God that our souls may be saved.
