On April 9, 2023 the Orthodox Church celebrated feast of the Entry of our Lord Jesus Christ into Jerusalem, also known as Palm Sunday. The Rector of St. George Church, Archpriest Igor Tarasov headed festal liturgical service in our parish.

Following the reading of the Hours the Rector blessed the pussy-willows and distributed them to the parishioners who were holding them during the service resembling the people of Jerusalem who greeted Jesus Christ with the olive and palm branches during His triumphal entry to the city.

After the readings from the Scripture at the Divine Liturgy the Rector preached the following homily:

“Dear brothers and sisters in Christ! Today we celebrate great feast of the Entry of the Lord into Jerusalem, Palm Sunday. In one week we are anticipating another holy day, the greatest feast for us – Holy Pascha. That feast of the feasts and solemnity of solemnities is always a great joy for a Christian soul. And in today’s feast we hear about a joy, a joy the people in Jerusalem experienced when they greeted Jesus Christ who entered the holy city. Why did they rejoice? Why did they greet Jesus? Because they were fascinated by His miracles. Those people had 3 years to observe Jesus, so in those years they watched His deeds and achievements, they saw His miracles. They admired the wonderful signs of His power. Especially, they were impressed by the resurrection of Lazarus who has been already dead for 4 days, but whom Jesus raised from the tomb. So, the whole scene of the Entry of Jesus into Jerusalem is built around the joy of the people. They are so happy to see Him, so enthusiastic that they take the branches of the trees, place their clothes on His path, shout “Hosanna”. And they proclaim Him their King. It is admiration, fascination of the people. So, let us think about that.
“When we admire someone, become fascinated by that person, we are ready to do a lot of things. But there is a problem with that. And such problem appeared in the story of Jesus: the same people who so enthusiastically greeted Him entering Jerusalem, in a few days with the same zeal wished Him to be crucified. People often do that. We may easily become fascinated or obsessed with someone, and later hate that person and be ready to destroy him. Thinking of that, we may see that our human admiration, fascination easily becomes an obsession and leads us to creation of an idol. And the idols are dangerous; they are false. Furthermore, sometimes having an idol may lead to a greatest disappointment. When something goes differently than we expected from our idol, we may become hugely disappointed and start hating our idol. Such things especially happen in politics. People are fascinated with some political figure, are ready to place him on a pedestal, but when something goes wrong, something goes against their expectations, they become ready to bury him alive. That is the danger of human admiration and fascination”.
“Let us then recall what happened later, when Jesus was crucified and His Disciples left Him. There was a person beside the Cross of Christ who was not fascinated by Jesus at all. It was a Roman centurion, an officer who had to watch the place of the execution. That centurion stood at the cross and observed that the Jews crucified their King. The inscription on the cross said that. So, the officer observed that someone whom the Jews several days ago called their King now is dying on the cross. And when he saw the whole thing, when he witnessed the behavior of Jesus, when he witnessed His death, when he saw the earthquake that happened then, the centurion exclaimed with an awe, “Truly this was the Son of God” (Mt. 27, 54). The centurion had no fascination with Christ but he experienced an astonishment, an amazement. And that was the right attitude towards God”.
“Dear brothers and sisters! We have to avoid fascination and obsession with anyone, even with God. Such attitude leads to a false cult. We rather have to imitate the Roman centurion at the Cross and have an amazement before God. A feeling of surprise, a felling of astonishment, a feeling of awe. Through His humble readiness to suffer for our sake, through His death on the Cross, our Lord Jesus Christ showed something that should cause us to experience such feelings. The same feelings we often experience when we learn about the lives of the Saints. A week ago we could feel that about Venerable Mary of Egypt. Her life makes us wonder, makes us to be amazed, surprised and astonished. Today Jesus Himself causes such feelings. The Almighty God who became Man enters into Jerusalem sitting on a donkey’s colt. The King of the Jews later takes up the cross and goes to the Calvary. The Son of God dies on the cross”.
“Pontius Pilate was also surprised by Christ. He heard that Jesus is a King, so he asked him, “Are You the King of the Jews?”. Christ answered, “It is as you say” (Lk. 23, 3). But Jesus did not say to Pilate much about Himself. God never tells us everything, He always leaves some room for a mystery. He wishes us to fill that room. He leaves that room for our reaction, for our surprise, for our awe”.
“Dear brothers and sisters! Today, when we hold those branches resembling the people of Jerusalem who greeted Christ, let us not be fascinated or obsessed but let us wonder. Let us not expect from God what we want but let us seek what God wants from us. Let us be amazed by the great works of the Lord. Let us be astonished, so such feelings will make our hearts to seek the true God, not some idol. Let us experience an awe that God is so great that He always makes us wonder!”

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

Following the dismissal of the Liturgy the Rector and the altar server performed the rite of glorification before the festal icon. Then Fr. Igor greeted everybody on the occasion of the feast. He also congratulated Paraskeva Kosmidis on the occasion of her past birthday and proclaimed a Polychronion on her behalf.

After the service the Rector and parishioners had a luncheon enjoying delicious lenten meals.

On April 7, on the feast of the Annunciation of the Most Holy Mother of God, Rector of St. George Church, Archpriest Igor Tarasov served Vespers and Divine Liturgy in our temple. Before the service our Warden, Olga Roussanow beautifully adorned the festal icon stand with the flowers. Following the readings from the Sacred Scripture Fr. Igor preached a homily in Russian. The English translation of that homily is as follows:

“Dear brothers and sisters in Christ! Today’s feast is called the Annunciation. We celebrate the announcement made by the Holy Angel to the Blessed Virgin Mary. That announcement contained a very special message: Mary will conceive and bring forth a Son who will be the Messiah. In other words, it was bringing of the Good News. This announcement became a declaration that through Mary the Savior is coming to the world. Therefore, today the Church sings in the festal troparion, “Today is the beginning of our salvation”. But apart from that greatest meaning of this feast, we should note that it was also a moment of decision making. The Blessed Virgin had to accept the good news of being chosen to become the Mother of the Savior. Thus, today is also a celebration of the free will”.
“We humans are blessed by the Creator to have a free will. The Angels are much more limited in that. In the beginning of the world they could make a choice: either to follow God or to reject Him. After that the Angels made their decision and are not able to change it. Their nature does not allow them to choose. Holy Archangel Gabriel sent to the Blessed Virgin Mary to bring Her the news of Annunciation, had no choice – he had to follow God’s command. But we humans have a choice all the time. We live making decisions. We exist making choices. When we get up in the morning, we decide on which foot we will stand, what we are going to do first. We may choose what to have for breakfast. We may choose to go to work or to stay home. And today, as we see, many our parishioners made a choice not to come here to the church. Some had a real excuse, for which I am aware. But I don’t know about everyone’s reason not to come. In any event, it was their decision”.
“Thus, our life is full of choices. There may be little choices and great choices. We may decide what to eat for breakfast – a little, everyday choice. And we may decide whether to be a good person or a bad person – a great life choice. We will live by the results of our choices”.
“The Most Holy Theotokos made Her greatest life choice in today’s holy event. She accepted the God’s blessing to become the Mother of the Savior. If we carefully read today’s Gospel lesson, we may see that She had a conversation with the Angel (Lk. 1, 26-38). Mary questioned him about God’s plan and how it is going to be fulfilled. The Angel answered Her questions and explained the most important parts of that plan. He also mentioned such a detail that even Her relative, Elizabeth, who was considered barren and who was of old age, has conceived a son. So, Gabriel was persuasive, and Mary could make (what we call it) an informed decision. And She did, She decided to work with God in fulfilling of His plan of salvation. She said, “Behold the maidservant of the Lord! Let it be to me according to your word” (Lk. 1, 38)”.
“Now, thinking of the Blessed Mother’s choice, we can recall the first choice of humanity in paradise. Who made that first choice? The woman. Eve decided to eat the forbidden fruit. Who conversed with her? The Angel. But that angel was Satan. He was also persuasive, and she made a decision to listen to him and to disobey God. Now, in the event of the Holy Annunciation, many things are similar but the choice is completely different, and the result is the opposite. Mary, the New Eve, converses with the Angel of God and decides to obey the Lord. Eve started the history of our curse, and Mary started the history of our salvation. Woman is the one who gives life, and the first woman brought spiritual death. Now, in the Annunciation, woman, the Holy Virgin, brings spiritual life and a promise of life eternal”.
“Dear brothers and sisters! All of us, men and women, are always confronted with lots of choices. Nowadays we often hear about the woman’s right to choose whether to have child or not. Certain people say that they belong to a “pro-choice” movement. Certain women shout, “My body – my choice!” Of course, they do have a choice. But it is a choice between giving life and killing. A choice between being a mother and being a murderess of your own child. We do have to choose – all the time. As we said, big decisions and small decisions”.
“Dear brothers and sisters! We, as Christians, are given a special opportunity to make the biggest decision, the most important spiritual choice of our life – to choose salvation, the Good News of Christ, to choose life in Him. Or, we may choose the opposite – being away from God, to disregard His Gospel, to end up spiritually dead. An awareness of such two choices is especially clear to us during Lent. If we attempted to spend it appropriately, doing more prayers, observing fast, receiving more Sacraments, attending the church – then we better realize that such choices are always in front of us. And if we make certain decision, we have to live by its results. Adam and Eve made their choice, and the whole humanity became cursed. The Most Holy Mother of God made Her choice, and the human race became blessed”.
“The Good News is that as long as we live here in this world, we may change our decision, we may override our past wrongs, we may make a new and right choice. Angels can’t do that and the souls of the departed cannot, but we, the living, still can. Therefore, let us first understand the choice, let us study what it will entail. Again, the Most Holy Theotokos did that, She had to understand the implications of Her decision. To help Her understand She spoke with the Angel. Now, to help us to understand, we have the Church, we have the Holy Gospel to do the explanation. Let us learn from them. Then, having learned of the joyful proclamation of salvation, let choose life over death, salvation over damnation and eternal blessedness with the Lord and His Blessed Mother in heavenly paradise!”

The choir director performed hymns of the festal canon during preparation for Holy Communion.

After the dismissal the Rector performed glorification in front of the festal icon in the middle of the church singing the troparion and kontakion of the Annunciation. Then he congratulated the faithful on the great feast.

On April 2, on the Fifth Sunday of Lent our parishioners gathered for the liturgical celebration in our temple. Rector of St. George Church, Archpriest Igor Tarasov served the Divine Liturgy. After the Gospel lesson he preached the following homily:

“Dear brothers and sisters in Christ! Today we came to the celebration of the 5th Sunday of Lent which makes us realize certain new things as we spiritually journey towards the Kingdom of Heaven. The Gospel lesson read today is telling us that the usual human and social rules may not apply in the God’s Kingdom. The Lord explains to His Disciples that if “whoever desires to become great among you shall be your servant.And whoever of you desires to be first shall be slave of all” (Mk. 10, 43-44). Today we also honor Ven. Mother Mary of Egypt whose life is a great example of how our earthly judgments can be wrong and an example of how a person can change if he or she is being helped by the divine grace”.
“The Gospel lesson shows us that Holy Apostles were living by earthly attitudes. Since they believed that their Teacher is the Messiah, they hoped that He will achieve a great power. Therefore, they asked Jesus to reserve for them the most influential positions in His Kingdom. They wished to be set at His right and at His left hand in His glory (Mk. 10, 37). It was a typical human desire to advance, to gain the best from a leader to whom one is faithful and loyal. Jesus Himself told the Disciples that there are different positions in the Kingdom of Heaven. But the Lord had to explain to them that our ideas about the Kingdom of Heaven are not accurate. Even among His followers on earth He wishes that they behave differently than the usual worldly communities. In such communities the rulers lord over their subjects and the great ones show their importance and their power over the others.“Yet it shall be not so among you”, says the Lord (Mk. 10, 43)”.
“Dear brothers and sisters! These words of Christ teach us that the Kingdom of God is different from our world. Therefore, if we desire to reach that Kingdom, we need to abandon our earthly attitudes and human ambitions. And if we wish to become more important among others, or having certain authority among men, we need to learn to serve. The Lord does not condemn leadership or the authority among His followers. But He warns us that if we wish to become someone having such a call, we need to serve those who are entrusted to our care. Jesus reminds us that He Himself did not come to the world “to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many” (Mk. 10, 45). And we know that He proved it by His passions and sufferings, by His death on the cross”.
“And the life of Ven. Mary whom we honor today teaches us many things. Perhaps the first lesson we can learn from her is that we should never judge, never pre-judge. Who will be saved, who will be greater or lesser in the Kingdom of God? It is impossible to answer that question. The Lord told the Apostles: “To sit on My right hand and on My left is not Mine to give, but it is for those for whom it is prepared” (Mk. 10, 40). We cannot answer that question because it is never too late to change, to repent. Humanly speaking, when we consider the life of Mary until her 29th year, we might think that salvation had become impossible for her. She was a very sinful woman; she was a harlot, and she enjoyed it. And yet the service to her calls her “the greatest of saints”. Why? Because she did change; she changed completely. Humanly speaking, because of our sins, we are condemned; but by the grace of God everything, including the height of repentance, is possible”.
“The life of Ven. Mary of Egypt also teaches us that we need to accomplish our salvation along with the Holy Church. Ven. Mary retreated from the world, from human society, she lived in the desert, she accomplished all her endeavors of holiness alone. Yet she began her endeavors by receiving the Holy Sacraments of Penance and Communion, and she finished her life by confession and Holy Communion. There is no salvation outside of the Church; and there is no perfect Christian life without the Sacraments”.
“Beginning the last week of Lent, let us come to an understanding that we are willing to approach a Heavenly, not earthly, Kingdom where everything will be different. Thus we should be prepared for that. And the life of Ven. Mary of Egypt is supposed to teach us how to prepare for everlasting blessedness of Paradise. We have to repent, constantly attempt to change our life and to be comforted by the Holy Sacraments of the Church. In this way we will be able to enter into the glory of Christ and to deserve our prepared seats in his Kingdom!”

During the Litany of Fervent Supplication the Rector had a petition for the suffering country of Ukraine and its people. He also added a commemoration of the “suffering Ukrainian land” at the Great Entrance.

The choir director prayerfully performed penitential hymns during preparation for Holy Communion.

After the dismissal the Rector made the announcements about the future celebrations of the coming feasts of the Annunciation and Palm Sunday, and regarding the importance to receive the Holy Mysteries of Penance and Eucharist in these special days of Lent.

After the Divine Liturgy the Rector performed the Sacrament of the Anointing of the sick. All persons who desired to receive that Mystery participated in the service and were anointed with the blessed oil.

On March 26, on the Fourth Sunday of Lent, Rector of St. George Church, Archpriest Igor Tarasov served the Divine Liturgy at our parish temple. After the reading from the Holy Gospel he addressed the faithful with the following homily:

“Dear brothers and sisters in Christ! Today is the 4th Sunday of Lent, and we have already made more than a half way of our journey towards the Holy Pascha. And today the Church offers us a Gospel story about casting out of an evil spirit and it also honors Venerable John of the Ladder, a holy ascetic man who wrote a book on spiritual perfection. Thus today we have to realize that there are different difficulties and dangers on our way to the Kingdom of God. Realizing them we may understand how to overcome them”.
“First of all, we have to be aware that there exists an enemy of the human race, the devil. He is tempting us and is willing to lead us away from our salvation. In today’s Gospel lesson we heard that the Lord cast out an evil spirit from some young man (Mk. 9, 17-31). Such things happen although rarely – a demon enters into a human body and tortures a man willing to destroy him. And we have to believe that it really happens because in our days many people, even those who call themselves the believers in Christ, refuse to believe in the existence of the devil and evil spirits. However, the cases of direct and physical possession by the demons are not so many. It much more often happens that the enemy is tempting us spiritually and we give in to that temptation, committing a sin and turning away from God. Such thing happened to Adam and Eve”.
“But we have already said in the past that people should not blame the devil for their sins. If we did not consent to commit a sin, the devil would never force us to do it. But he finds different ways and approaches to our heart, to our nature perverted by sin and seduces us to act sinfully”.
“We have to note that the enemy especially attacks those who is attempting to lead a spiritual life and engages in the acts of piety. Ven. John whom we honor today described spiritual perfection as a Ladder leading from earth to heaven. Today we may see the image of that Ladder in the middle of the church. Observing that icon we may see that some people pictured there are climbing the Ladder but some of them fall being snapped by the demons. Some fall being on a higher step. And we see that among them there are monks, priests and bishops. What does it mean? It means that the higher a person ascends in his spiritual life, the more he is overcome by the evil forces”.
“The destiny of Judas Iscariot is a perfect example of that. He was one of the 12 Apostles chosen by the Lord. He was close to Jesus Christ. But this could not preserve him from being tempted, and in his case the devil attained a victory. Judas was not possessed by a demon in a literal sense but Holy Evangelist Luke writes, “Satan entered Judas, surnamed Iscariot, who was numbered among the twelve. So he went his way and conferred with the chief priests and captains, how he might betray Him to them” (Lk. 22, 3-4). Thus Judas became filled with the spirit of Satan and betrayed the Son of God. This is why we have to be very careful about our thoughts and desires. Judas did not become filled with the spirit of the devil from the beginning. We read in the Gospel that he was the Apostles’ treasurer. And behold, the devil found his weakness – his love of money. Holy Evangelist John writes that Judas was a thief and he used to take from the donations given for Christ and the Apostles (Jn. 12, 6). Later this weakness and this sin made Judas mad, so he decided to betray Christ Himself for the money. Therefore, dear brothers and sisters, let us be careful with our passions!”
“Another thing that we need to understand from today’s celebration of the 4th Sunday of Lent is that we need a firm faith. In today’s Gospel we heard what the Lord said to the father of the possessed young man, “If you can believe, all things are possible to him who believes” (Mk. 9, 23). The father of the young man cried out, “Lord, I believe; help my unbelief!” (Mk. 9, 24). Our faith is weak and appears like unbelief. Therefore, we need to ask the Lord to help our unbelief. And we have to strengthen our faith by the acts of piety, by prayer and fasting”.
“In today’s Gospel story we heard that the Disciples of Christ were unable to cast out a demon. And we should note that this happened after many of them, particularly not the 12 but the 70 Apostles did cast out the evil spirits. They joyfully reported the Lord that even the demons are subject to them in the name of Christ (Lk. 10, 17). But here the Apostles failed. The Lord later explained that this kind of demons is being driven out only by prayer and fasting (Mk. 9, 29). Therefore, dear brothers and sisters, our struggle against the enemy of the human kind, our fight against him is possible only if we practice prayer and keep fast. Otherwise we are not going to overcome him as the Apostles failed to overcome him in today’s reading from the Gospel”.
“Dear brothers and sisters! Let us remember that the devil never sleeps. As Holy Apostle Peter teaches us, “Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour” (1 Peter 5, 6). But if we will have a firm faith, we will be able to overcome the intrigues of the evil one. And if we are going to live by prayer and fasting, we will be able to chase the unclean spirit from our thoughts, from our deeds and from our lives, and then we will be able to reach the Kingdom of Heaven!”

During the Litany of Fervent Supplication the Rector had a petition for the suffering country of Ukraine and its people. He also added a commemoration of the “suffering Ukrainian land” at the Great Entrance.

The choir director prayerfully performed hymns dedicated to Venerable John Climacus during preparation for Holy Communion.

After the dismissal the Rector made some announcements regarding the April schedule in our church and encouraged the parishioners to attend special services that are going to be held in that month.

On March 19, on the Third Sunday of Lent we held a celebration at St. George Church. On that Sunday the Orthodox Church venerates the Holy Cross.

Before the reading of the Hours the Rector, Archpriest Igor Tarasov solemnly transferred the cross from the altar to the middle of the church and placed it on the stand.

Following the Hours the Rector served the Divine Liturgy of St. Basil the Great. After the Gospel lesson he preached the following homily:

“Dear brothers and sisters in Christ! On this Third Sunday of Lent we come to the very middle of our journey towards Holy Pascha. On this Sunday we are offered to take some rest under the holy Tree of the Cross of Christ. As we venerate that Precious Cross, we have to realize that the only way to the Kingdom of God is the way of the Cross. If we wish to be back in paradise, there is no other way than this”.
“Everyone has his or her own cross in this life. Such a cross consists of our sorrows and sufferings, our worries and cares, our misfortunes and pains. The Lord says, “Whoever desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me” (Mk. 8, 34). It means that we need to carry our crosses and thus we will follow the Lord Jesus who Himself carried His Cross. It is understood that we may not like our crosses and even hate them. But let us remember that this is the difference between the Christian Church which wishes to carry the Cross and the sinful world which desires to reject the Cross and to find an easy way. However, those who attempt to reject their cross, suffer anyway and suffer even more. For instance, if people do not wish to be patient with each other, and they fight and lose their temper, they suffer. If a person does not want to be abstinent and indulges in drinking or drugs, he suffers himself and also brings suffering to his loved ones. If a married couple does not want to have a child and they decide to have an abortion, that innocent child suffers, but the mother who does it suffers too. Every sin is a pain, and our enemy desires to tempt us not to suffer the cross, but then makes us suffer even more”.
“When our Lord Jesus Christ had been suffering on the cross, the devil through sinful people tempted him saying, “Save Yourself! If You are the Son of God, come down from the cross” (Mt. 27, 40). In the same way the devil in many different ways tells us to avoid sufferings and to leave our crosses. But let us remember that our Lord remained on the cross to save us from our sins. If He did not take up His cross, we would not be redeemed. As the Lord teaches in today’s Gospel lesson, “Whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake and the Gospel’s will save it” (Mk. 8, 35). Jesus preferred to lose His life for us. As a result, He conquered death and redeemed us. Now it is our turn: if we do not take up our crosses, we do not follow the Lord, and we cannot be saved”.
“Today’s Gospel lesson ends with the following words of Christ: “Assuredly, I say to you that there are some standing here who will not taste death till they see the Kingdom of God present with power” (Mk. 9, 1). What do these words mean? They were said about some of the Disciples of Christ who later had a chance to be witnesses of Christ’s Transfiguration. They did not taste death till they saw the divine glory of Jesus on Mt. Tabor. But these same words of Jesus are referred also to all of us. We may also do not taste death till we see the Kingdom of God”.
““To taste death” means to suffer from all that entered into the world when death entered into the world. For when Adam and Eve fell, not only did death enter, but also hard work, pain, sorrow, worry, disease, old age. And all these things are the taste of death. How then are we to overcome them? Only by returning to paradise. And to return we need to carry our cross. Christ is the New Adam and the Cross is the new Tree which is not forbidden. Its fruit is the Resurrection. The tasting its fruit is tasting the Body of the risen Christ. We do it when we receive Holy Communion. And this precisely is the meaning of the words in today’s Gospel that it is possible “to see the Kingdom of God come with power”. If we face up to the difficulties of life with the Cross of Christ, we shall not taste death, those difficulties, in the light of the resurrecting power of the Cross”.
“Everyone has his or her own cross. Let us then carry it following our Savior Jesus Christ. Let us ask Him that His eternal Kingdom may touch our souls. There is no pain, sorrows and sufferings in that Kingdom. Let us look for a comfort in the Holy Cross of Christ and let us put our trust in the Lord Jesus Christ who died for us on the Cross and who was risen from the dead”.

The choir director prayerfully performed the hymns dedicated to the Holy Cross during preparation for Holy Communion.

Following the dismissal of the Liturgy the Rector had a speech pointing out to the parishioners that children present in the church still do not behave appropriately. During that particular service they distracted the priest during very important parts of the service, such as Eucharistic Canon. Fr. Igor was very emotional in his criticism and called the parents to improve the situation before Pascha. He also imposed a penance on all the faithful and said that he himself will fulfill it also.

After his speech the Rector and the altar server came out of the sanctuary before the stand in the middle of the church and venerated the Precious Cross. The faithful followed them in that veneration.

On March 12, on the Second Sunday of Lent, the Rector of St. George Church, Archpriest Igor Tarasov headed the Divine Liturgy in our parish temple.

Following the readings from the Sacred Scripture Fr. Igor preached a homily based on the Gospel lesson and addressing the necessity of divine grace for attaining salvation. He mentioned St. Gregory Palamas, the Holy Father whom we honor on the Second Sunday of Lent. In his writings, St. Gregory stressed the importance of grace and a possibility to acquire it by pious and godly life.

The choir nicely performed the hymns dedicated to St. Gregory Palamas during preparation for Holy Communion.

On March 5, on the First Sunday of Lent, also known as celebration of the Triumph of the Orthodoxy, St. George parish had a nice liturgical service. Our Rector, Archpriest Igor Tarasov served the Liturgy of St. Basil the Great. After the Scripture readings he preached the following homily:

“Dear brothers and sisters in Christ! On the First Sunday of Lent we celebrate feast called Triumph of Orthodoxy. It is a commemoration of the victory of the Orthodox teaching regarding the holy images. Being Orthodox Christians and believing that God became Man, we venerate the holy icons, the images of Christ, of His Blessed Mother and of the Saints. There was a time when many Christians refused to honor those images, so it was a long struggle to reach that victory of the Orthodox faith. But that was only one page in the history of the Orthodox Church, one episode in the whole history of human salvation. Christian life requires to struggle and to get the victories all the time. Thus, let us today reflect on that”.
“History of mankind is full of different quests for victory and triumphs. A basic example is when people fight a war. Nowadays we are witnessing a terrible war in Ukraine. Regardless, whom do you support in that conflict, it is obvious that both sides are willing to win. But we, Christians, have to remember that the most important war in our life is our war against sin. And regardless, whom we consider our enemy in this life, our worst enemies are our sins, our passions and the devil. Sin is a cause of all wars people fight and of all conflicts they have. Therefore, our most important victory would be the victory over sin; and our most important and desirable triumph is our triumph over our passions. That would be our personal triumph of Orthodoxy”.
“Lent is a special time when we have a chance to fight our war against sin and passions. Such war should be fought all the time, but Lent gives us more opportunities to be be victorious. It can be compared to a special military training when the soldiers are focusing on their effectiveness, are actively preparing for the successful operations. During Lent we have special Church services, special prayers and Scripture readings. We have to abstain from certain food and limit our entertainment. All that helps us to fight our spiritual warfare. And Lent is leading us to the celebration of the greatest victory in the history of salvation – to the Resurrection of Christ, to Holy Pascha. Thus Lent can also be compared to a war, after which we anticipate a victory, a triumph of Orthodoxy – Holy Pascha”.
“Now, if we want to be victorious, we have to be good fighters in that war, to act like the heroes. Today’s Epistle lesson enumerates many heroic actions of the Old Testament Saints. First of all, we hear about Moses. Faith made him choose to renounce the riches and power and to become a leader of the Israelites. Adopted by the Pharaoh’s daughter, Moses had been brought up in great luxury of Egypt. He was a prince. But he had never forgotten his people. And the day came when he decided to join them. To do so, he left behind the riches and power, the royalty he might have had. So, St. Paul says that Moses considered “the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures of Egypt; for he looked to the reward” (Heb. 11, 26). In other words, Moses looked to the spiritual victory, to the triumph of true faith. And that was his greatest reward. Could we choose reproach of Christ over the riches and power? Unfortunately, sometimes we are not able even choose to pray, to attend the church over our earthly cares or simply over our laziness”.
“St. Paul also mentions other Old Testament heroes: Gideon, Barack, Samson, Jephthah, David, Samuel and other Prophets. He describes their endeavors (Heb. 11, 32-38). Can we imitate them, or we will prefer to go with the flow? Do we want to act or we want to cheat? Do we want to succeed or we want to slide? If we act, if we fight and want to succeed, we will become victorious. We will get our triumph in this Lent and in our life as well”.
“Today’s Gospel lesson describes the first encounter between certain Disciples of Christ with their Teacher and Lord, Jesus. It shows that they had a quest, a goal to find “Him of whom Moses in the law, and also the prophets, wrote” (Jn. 1, 45). They desired to find the Messiah. That was their spiritual goal. And we read in the Gospel that they succeeded. Meeting Jesus, they found Him. But to succeed, Nathaniel had to be “an Israelite indeed in whom no deceit” (Jn. 1, 47). The Apostles had to be spiritually and morally prepared, to be fit. Just as the soldiers have to be trained and prepared to fight the war to win. And that first encounter with Christ was not their final victory yet. It was a success but it was just the beginning of their long journey, of their ongoing warfare which finally led them to the victory, to salvation and to their triumph of faith. It was the start of their great life in Christ which led to the desired moment when they truly saw “heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man” (Jn. 1, 51)”.
“Dear brothers and sisters! Let us continue our started journey of Lent by spiritual endeavors which can make us victorious in our quest for salvation. We have passed the first week of Lent and some of us could get already involved into spiritual warfare against sin to get a triumph of Orthodoxy on Pascha. Those of you who did not – you still have the remaining six weeks of that blessed time. Again, let us remember that our main war is against sin, and our worst enemies are sins, passions and the devil who inspires them. Let us recall that our patron Saint, Holy Martyr George is called Victorious not because he was a warrior and defeated the human enemies on the battlefield. It is an error to think of him in that way. That error, unfortunately, is widespread. As every Christian Martyr, St. George became victorious because he defeated the sin and conquered the intrigues of the devil; because he preferred to die for Christ, he chose “the reproach of Christ greater riches” than the career of the Roman military officer. Thus, let us seek spiritual sense in our life and doing so, let us seek Christ. Then we will be successful in our spiritual warfare and will reach our own triumph of Orthodoxy – our salvation and Heavenly Kingdom!”

During the Litany of Fervent Supplication the Rector had a petition for the suffering country of Ukraine and its people. He also added a commemoration of the “suffering Ukrainian land” at the Great Entrance.

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

After the dismissal of the Liturgy the Rector performed prayer service of the Sunday of Orthodoxy solemnly declaring the Orthodox faith and proclaiming eternal memory to the champions of that faith and the Polychronion to the Church hierarchy and Orthodox Christians.

Following the service the Rector made some announcements and had a speech addressing some aspects of parish life. He pointed out that we need to be more zealous in our spiritual and liturgical life, to be attentive to the service schedule and to improve our pious behavior in the temple.

On March 2, on Thursday of the first week of Lent the Rector of St. George Church, Archpriest Igor Tarasov served the Compline with the reading of penitential Canon of St. Andrew of Crete.

This Canon is composed as a conversation of a person with his own soul. It reveals that often we imitate sinners mentioned in the Scripture but do not wish to follow the steps of the righteous ones. It also calls us to bring the fruits of repentance and not to exalt ourselves.

Following the service the Rector thanked the faithful for joining together for that special service which inspires us to spiritually move from everyday life to the realm of pious reflections on our salvation and on the state of our souls. The Canon of St. Andrew calls us to imitate the just and to avoid the attitude of the sinners, encouraging us to sincerely repent.

On the Cheesefare Sunday the Church commemorates the exile of Adam from paradise. This day is also known as the Forgiveness Sunday because Orthodox Christians ask mutual forgiveness before they begin the spiritual journey of the Great Lent. On this day, on February 26, St. George parish had services in our temple. Our Rector, Archpriest Igor Tarasov celebrated the Divine Liturgy. After the Gospel lesson he preached the following homily:

“Dear brothers and sisters in Christ! Today is Cheesefare Sunday, the last Sunday before Lent. Tomorrow we will begin that special season, a time of fasting and spiritual endeavors. Before we do so, the Church wishes us to remember the fall of Adam and Eve and how they lost Paradise by eating the forbidden fruit, which is why we fast, eating only “the permitted fruit”. How exactly did that fall happen?”
“We know from the Scriptures that the first man and the first woman lived in Paradise, in Eden. We know also that they walked with God, meaning that they lived in harmony and communion with God, suffering neither sin, nor sorrow, neither aging, nor death. We know also that they disobeyed God. The cause of their disobedience was in the temptation of pride: they thought that they knew better than their Creator. They thought that they could disobey Him and benefit from that. The fact that the first man and first woman preferred to trust in themselves, rather than in God, to trust in their proud self-importance, led to their fall from communion with God. But once they had rejected God, they also rejected freedom from sin and freedom from sorrow, rejected freedom from aging and freedom from death”.
“The cure for their fall was made clear to them. It was in doing the opposite of all they had done. Instead of disobedience, they needed obedience; instead of pride, they needed humility. In other words, they had to turn back on what they had done in repentance and ask forgiveness. At first they had been unable to do this. When God had first spoken to Adam and Eve after their act of disobedience, Adam blamed Eve, and Eve blamed the serpent. Neither had the humility to take responsibility for his errors and ask for forgiveness. It was not that God did not know what they had done; it was simply that He wanted to give them the opportunity to ask Him, and to ask each other, for forgiveness. Instead they blamed each other and in the process blamed God their Creator”.
“To us, as children of Adam and Eve, God also gives opportunities to ask for forgiveness, as Adam and Eve should have done. He gives us the Sacrament of Confession. Confession does not exist because God wants to hear from us what we have done. He already knows that. Confession exists because God is giving us an opportunity to correct our mistakes and failings. He wants us to ask for forgiveness, so that we can then take strength from Him through the prayers of the priest, so as to clean ourselves and strive not to repeat our mistakes. God does not need our confession, but we do. Every confession is a repeating of that opportunity given to Adam and Eve in Eden, to ask God for forgiveness. And unlike human beings, God always forgives those who sincerely, with repentance, ask Him for forgiveness”.
“I once read what some child, probably a Sunday school student, said, “Forgiveness is like a fragrance the flower gives when it is being trampled”. What a beautiful saying! Adam and Eve trampled God’s love but God was ready to forgive. We also trample God’s love by our sins, but He is giving us a fragrance of forgiveness, an aroma of His compassionate love in the Mystery of Confession. How could we reject such love?”
“However, before we ask forgiveness of God, we first have to ask forgiveness of each other. And just at this time, on Cheesefare Sunday, it is a custom of Orthodox throughout the world to come to Confession, to ask each other for forgiveness. We can ask forgiveness of those who are not here by visiting them or calling them. But of those who are here, we can now ask forgiveness directly, for all our errors towards them in thought, word or deed, whether conscious or unconscious. On the other hand, let us imitate God in granting forgiveness to our fellow brothers and sisters. Let us engulf them with a fragrance of our forgiving love”.
“Dear brothers and sisters! The Lord said in today’s Gospel lesson, “If you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses” (Mt. 6, 14-15). For if we do not first ask each other for forgiveness, we cannot ask God for forgiveness. And without forgiveness, there is no way back into Paradise for any of us. Let us then forgive to be forgiven and to regain our lost blessedness with our ever-loving Creator!”

During the Litany of Fervent Supplication the Rector had a petition for the suffering country of Ukraine and its people. He also added a commemoration of the “suffering Ukrainian country” at the Great Entrance.

During preparation for Holy Communion the choir director prayerfully sang Psalm 33.

Following the Divine Liturgy the Rector performed Vespers with the Rite of Forgiveness. After the singing of the Great Prokimenon he changed his priestly vestments to the Lenten color of black.

After the dismissal of Vespers Fr. Igor preached a sermon in Russian and English about the importance of forgiveness at the beginning of Lenten journey towards Holy Pascha.

Following the services of this special day Rector and parishioners joined at the Blini Luncheon. All of them enjoyed delicious meals, especially the Russian blini prepared by Olga Roussanow and Maria Malyshev.

The Annual Parish Meeting of St. George Church was held on Sunday, February 19, 2023, following the Divine Liturgy. Parish Rector, Archpriest Igor Tarasov presided.

Church Treasurer, Emilian Suric read the minutes of the last Annual Meeting held in 2022.

The Rector, Archpriest Igor Tarasov had a speech. He first spoke about our spiritual state. The Rector mentioned that during the last year our parish lost 2 members who left for personal reasons. Some other people also stopped attending the church on the regular basis. Our attendance decreased a little but generally we are continuing to fulfill our spiritual mission.

Secondly, the Rector reported on financial situation. He pointed out that the last year showed some unusual financial developments in our parish. Generally, we did well receiving very generous donations. Our anonymous donors contributed more than $ 19,000. Thus, despite our challenges, parish revenue was very high.

On the other hand, our expenses increased very much. Especially it was due to the renovations and repairs we had to perform. We had to renovate the building after the fire and correct the floor renovations in the altar area. In addition, we were forced to pay for the plumbing repair of the street pipes which we did not have to do. The city though forced us to undertake that work.

After accepting the financial report, the Rector and parishioners discussed the perspective celebration of the parish’s 100th Anniversary this year. However, some parishioners expressed doubts as to the date when St. George was founded. Therefore, it had been decided that we should study the city records regarding the exact date of the beginning of our parish, and then make a decision regarding our anniversary celebration. But in any event it had been decided that we should do some more renovations in our temple this year. We certainly need to paint the walls inside the church. We may also consider installation of the air conditioning and heating system.

Having discussed some other matters the meeting was adjourned.