On January 28, on the Sunday of the Publican and Pharisee, we had a liturgical celebration at St. George Church. In the absence of the Rector, the Divine Liturgy was served by Priest Mark Rashkov, a cleric of St. Nicholas Cathedral.

Following the Gospel reading Fr. Mark preached a homily on that Scripture lesson containing a parable about two men who came to the Temple to pray (Lk. 18, 10-14). A public sinner whom was the Publican had been justified in the eyes of God yet a superficially just Pharisee was not because of their inner attitude and the content of their prayer. The parable teaches not to exalt oneself but to be humble.

This time our Choir Director, Olga Roussanow was not able to come to the church because of her illness, but our singers managed well to sing a beautiful Liturgy.

On January 21, on the Sunday after the Theophany, the Rector of St. George Church, Archpriest Igor Tarasov served the Divine Liturgy in our temple.

Following the Gospel lesson he preached a homily in Russian on the assigned reading (Mk.1). He pointed out that our Lord Jesus Christ in the very beginning of His ministry preached the repentance because such is the necessary beginning of following the Lord and Savior. Repentance must be understood in the Greek language of the New Testament as a “reform of one’s life”, a full conversion, and not just as a fervent prayer or contrition for our sins. Faithful need to learn how to repent and confess their sins. But it is impossible to repent by our own power, without God’s help. Our sinful nature does not permit us to do so. And the enemy is always offering us a “broken mirror”, a false image of ourselves. We need to reject that broken mirror and to look at ourselves in a true image. Then we will be able to reach the Kingdom of God preached by our Savior.

The choir prayerfully performed liturgical hymns during preparation for Holy Communion.

Following the dismissal of the Liturgy the Rector preached a short sermon in English addressing main thoughts of his Russian homily.

On January 19th Orthodox Church celebrates great feast of the Theophany, or Baptism of the Lord. Our parish had a beautiful celebration of that holy day led by our Rector, Archpriest Igor Tarasov. He served the Divine Liturgy at St. George Church. Following the Gospel lesson the Rector preached a homily in Russian.

In his homily the Rector preached about the great mystery of God’s Incarnation which is celebrated during our major winter holy days – the Nativity and Theophany. Again he recalled that those two feasts used to be celebrated together because celebrating Incarnation we celebrate the Theophany – God being with us, appearing to the world. As we have been dying in Adam, we became alive in Christ. This is why we also need true Theophany which is to see Christ in our lives and to follow Him. We need to pray that we may receive the fruits of the saving endeavor of the Lord. What does it mean? It is not enough to declare that we are Christians. It is not enough to say, “I believe in Christ!” It is not even enough to be baptized, for many of us were baptized in the young age. We need to follow Christ and make our lives following Him. Let us remember that we are not alone but God is with us.
The Rector also wished that holy water being blessed today in our temples and at different fountains of water may assist us with divine grace and grant us God’s blessing and help needed for our health in the body and salvation in the spirit.

The choir prayerfully performed hymns of the feast during preparation for Holy Communion.

After the Prayer behind the Ambo the Rector performed the Great Blessing of water.

Following the Liturgy dismissal the Rector and the altar servers came before the icon stand and performed the rite of glorification singing the troparion, kontakion and magnification of the Theophany. Then Fr. Igor congratulated parishioners on the occasion of the great holy day.

On January 14, 2018, on the Sunday before Theophany, as well as feasts of the Circumcision of the Lord and of St. Basil the Great, we had a beautiful celebration at St. George Church. Our Rector, Archpriest Igor Tarasov served the Divine Liturgy. Following the readings from the Sacred Scripture he preached the following homily in English:

“Dear brothers and sisters in Christ! Today we have a combined celebration of at least three feasts. On this day we celebrate Circumcision of our Lord Jesus Christ, as well as commemoration of St. Basil the Great. And today is Sunday before the Theophany. In addition, many of us remember that today is the civic New Year, so-called the “Old New Year”. First of all, let me tell you that the New Year’s Day is not so important for the Church celebrations. It is not even something absolute or unchangeable. The New Year in Byzantine Empire was on September 1, the way it is still observed in our Church calendar. Our ancestors, ancient Slavs celebrated their New Year on March 1. It was rather Western European custom to begin the New Year in January, as we do now. This is why the New Year’s Day is not so important in the Church than celebration of other, more religious feasts.”
“Our authentic Christian and folk tradition knows three winter holy days celebrated on the row: Nativity, Circumcision and Baptism of Christ. And the period of their celebration is called “Sviatki” in Russian tradition. Today we are in the very middle of that festal period. We just finished celebrating Christmas and are preparing to celebrate Theophany. Between those great holy days we have today’s feast of the Circumcision. Sometimes we may hear that our people are wandering why we, the Christian Church, celebrate the Circumcision of Christ, since we don’t practice circumcision.”
“To answer that question we should look at all these three winter holy days as connected and proclaiming for us one great message: God became Man, God came to the world; He did it to save mankind. This is why Nativity and Baptism of Christ used to be celebrated on one day and was called the Theophany. This was done in the Ancient Church, but later the Church decided to introduce a separate feast of the Nativity to replace a popular pagan celebration in honor of the sun. Therefore, the idea of both Christmas and Theophany is that God became Man, appeared to the world to save it. And becoming Man, He had to follow the rules given by God Himself to the men. One of those rules was to circumcise male children after 8 days of their birth. This was in the Covenant between God and Abraham and this was in the Law of Moses. And Child Jesus had been circumcised on the 8th day of His birth. It took place, and we commemorate it. And this commemoration teaches us to follow the rules of the Church. Jesus followed the rules of the Old Testament Church although He was to establish the Church of the New Testament. So we should now obey all the rules of our Church. The Saint whom we honor today, St. Basil the Great, was, by the way, a prominent maker of the different Church rules. His memory today also reminds us of those important things.”
“Today’s feast offers us a great mystery to reflect on: Infinite and Eternal God becomes a little Child and does not despise to be circumcised. But keeping in mind His future, we understand that Jesus also did not despise to be crucified. Thus, circumcision was only the beginning of His humble service and sacrifice for the human race. Today’s hymn calls Jesus an “eight-day-old by Mother and beginningless by Father”. This is the mystery of our faith: a beginningless and endless God becomes a Man, He condescends to our nature to save it. This is why today’s troparion says, “glory to Thine Providence, glory to Thine condescendence, o only Lover of mankind!””
“This is why, dear brothers and sisters, we celebrate today’s feast. And again, it is not a separate feast but a part of our wonderful celebration of the Incarnation of the Lord. Today’s Sunday Gospel lesson is telling us about St. John the Baptist who was preparing the way for our Lord Jesus Christ. St. John called the people saying, “Prepare the way of the Lord; make His paths straight” (Mk. 1, 3). We are also called. We called to open our hearts to the Lord, to prepare ourselves for His coming and to prepare ourselves to follow Him. Let us recall the events of the Nativity. When our Lord was about to be born into the world, the Holy Family came to Bethlehem but could not find any place to stay. Human dwellings shut their doors for the Blessed Mother and St. Joseph. This was because the human souls were also closed for the Son of God coming into the world. Let us not repeat what those people did in those times. Let us open our souls to follow Him, so that “whoever believes in Him may perish but may have eternal life” (Jn. 3, 16).”

The choir prayerfully performed hymns dedicated to St. Basil the Great and to the feast of the Circumcision during preparation for Holy Communion.

After the dismissal of the Liturgy the Rector preached a brief sermon in Russian addressing the main ideas of his English homily.
Following the Rector’s sermon our sacristan Andrew Malyshev congratulated Fr. Igor on the occasion of his birthday. Parishioners presented the Rector their gifts, among which was an artistic portrait of Fr. Igor created by Vitaliy Malyshev. Traditional Polychronion (“Mnogaia leta!”) was proclaimed.

At the request of Malyshev family the Rector also performed a memorial service (Litia) in commemoration of Maria Malyshev’s deceased mother Irina.

Our celebration continued at the trapeza table where the Rector and parishioners enjoyed delicious meals and a nice company. The toasts to the Rector had been made and Fr. Igor was presented with a birthday cake.

On January 7 Russian Orthodox Church observes feast of the Nativity of our Lord Jesus Christ, also known as Christmas. Most of our parishioners, as well as some visitors to our temple gathered at St. George Church for the celebration of this great holy day. Our Rector, Archpriest Igor Tarasov served the Divine Liturgy. After the Gospel lesson the Rector proclaimed Christmas Sermon of Venerable Father Isaac the Syrian.

During the preparation for Holy Communion the choir beautifully performed different liturgical hymns of the Nativity.

After the Liturgy dismissal the Rector and altar servers performed the rite of glorification singing the troparion, kontakion and magnification of the Nativity before the festal icon in the middle of the church.

Following the Liturgy the Rector greeted the faithful on the occasion of the great holy day of God’s Incarnation. He preached a short sermon expressing a desire that we may keep the Newborn Infant Jesus in our hearts all the time, not just during Christmas celebration. He called the faithful to imitate righteous Joseph, the head of the Holy Family who preserved and defended Infant Jesus. Remembering that if we receive Holy Communion, we receive Jesus Himself physically and spiritually, we should keep Him and His grace just as like on this holy day, so the Lord may be in our hearts and stay there all the time.

Our celebration continued at the trapeza table where the Rector and parishioners enjoyed delicious meals and a nice company. A toast was raised in honor of Fr. Igor on the occasion of his successful defense of the doctoral thesis and awarding him a PhD in Theology.

On December 31, 2017, on the Sunday before the Nativity, St. George Church parish family had a nice celebration. In the absence of the Rector he Divine Liturgy was served by Priest Mark Rashkov.
Following the Gospel lesson Fr. Mark preached a homily.
The choir beautifully performed the hymns of the feast.
After the liturgical celebration parishioners labored together to decorate the Christmas.

On December 26, 2017, the Rector of St. George Church, Archpriest Igor Tarasov presented his doctoral thesis at the Academic Council of the Kievan Theological Academy. The dissertation topic is “Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Church in the United States from the Middle of the XX century until Our Days: Internal Life and External Activity”.
After a proper procedure the thesis had been successfully defended before the Academic Council and Fr. Igor awarded a degree of the Candidate in Theology (equivalent to a PhD).

On December 25 the Orthodox Church, according to Julian calendar, celebrates feast of St. Spyridon the Wonderworker. On this day Rector of St. George Church, Archpriest Igor Tarasov attended the patronal feast celebration at St. Spyridon Church in Kiev, Ukraine.

The Divine Liturgy was headed by His Excellence, Mitrophanus, Metropolitan of Luhansk and Alchevsk who was co-served by the Rector of St. Spyridon Church, Archpriest Nicholas Danylevych, and other clergy, among whom was our Rector, Archpriest Igor Tarasov.

Following the Gospel lesson Metropolitan Mitrophanus preached a homily about St. Spyridon’s life and his significance for the Orthodox Christians.

After the Liturgy the clergy performed a prayer service to St. Spyridon along with the procession around the temple in which an icon and the relics (a shoe) of the Saint were carried.
At the end of the temple celebration the Rector of the church, Fr. Nicholas expressed his gratitude to the visiting clergy, among them to Fr. Igor who came from the United States to participate in that celebration.

Patronal feast celebration continued at the Parish center where the clergy and parishioners enjoyed delicious meals and a nice conversation. Among the guests was the Consul of Greece to Ukraine  with his family. The toasts in honor of many persons present were raised and traditional Polychronia (“Mnogaia leta!”) performed. At the end of the trapeza parishioners enjoyed singing Ukrainian folk songs.

On December 24, on the Sunday of the Holy Forefathers, the Divine Liturgy at St. George Church was served by Priest Mark Rashkov who substituted for our Rector.
Following the reading from the Holy Gospel Fr. Mark preached a homily.
The choir prayerfully performed hymns of the festal season.