On May 13th, on Sunday of the Samaritan Woman, priest Igor Tarasov served the Divine Liturgy at St. George’s Church. On this day we also celebrated feast of the Holy Apostle James.
During his sermon following the reading from the Gospel Fr. Igor told about St. James, who was one of the 12 Apostles, the son of Zebedee and the brother of St. John the Theologian. He then continued his regular lectures on the Liturgy. This time he discussed the Epiclesis which means the invocation of the Holy Spirit to come and sanctify the Gifts on the altar, to make them the true Body and Blood of Christ. Fr. Igor pointed out that Orthodox Christians hold that the Epiclesis completes the mysterious change of the Gifts. Therefore, bread and wine offered at the Liturgy turn into the Body and Blood of Christ when the invocation of the Holy Spirit is performed. The priest blesses the bread and the chalice and then makes a bow or prostration before them as a sign of reverence before the Lord present there.
At the end of the Liturgy the Rector congratulated all the women and, especially, the mothers and grandmothers in the parish on the occasion of the Mother’s Day. The choir sang “Mnogaia leta” (“Many years”) to the mothers.