On May 6 the Church commemorates the Holy Great Victorious Martyr George, heavenly Patron of our temple. Our Parish had a solemn celebration of its Patronal feast. St. George Church’s Rector, Archpriest Igor Tarasov served Divine Liturgy. It had been previously planned that our temple be visited by His Eminence, Archbishop Justinian. However, due to the flooding in our church building we were uncertain whether we will be able to serve on that day, thus the visit of His Eminence had to be cancelled.

Upon the Liturgy dismissal the Rector and altar servers came out of the sanctuary to the middle of the temple and performed the rite of glorification in front of the icon of St. George singing the troparia, kontakion and magnification in honor of the Saint.

Following the service Fr. Igor preached a short sermon in English and then in Russian language. He congratulated the faithful on the occasion of the glorious feast of our parish Patron, told about our recent problem with the flooding in the church which changed our plans for having the Archbishop and other clergy guests serving on this feast. The Rector then told a short story of life of St. George. This Saint was glorified by great miracles and he is very much honored by Christians in every Orthodox nation. St. George is also venerated by Christians of other denominations, and even by Muslims. This is why, we, the members of the Parish dedicated to this Saint, are very fortunate to have such a great Patron among those who enjoy blessedness in heaven. Fr. Igor called the faithful to imitate our Patron Saint in their lives. Although today’s life of a Christian may not often demand a martyrdom, it surely requires to be firm and courageous in our faith and to confess it before the unbelieving.

Our service was attended by Hieromonk Zosimas (Krampis), the former Rector of our church (2005-2007) who sang in the choir and read the Epistle lesson.

Celebration was continued at the nearby Pier 25A restaurant where the Rector, our parishioners and guests enjoyed delicious meals and a nice company.