On May 22, on the Sunday of the Paralytic, as well as on the feast of the Transfer of the Relics of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker, we had a nice celebration in our temple. Our Rector, Archpriest Igor Tarasov served the Divine Liturgy. Following the Gospel reading he preached the following homily in English:

“Dear brothers and sisters! Today we celebrate Sunday of the Paralytic. We commemorate the event described in today’s Gospel lesson: healing of the paralytic at the pool located at the Sheep Gate (Jn. 5, 1-15). The pool was called Bethesda which means the “House of mercy”, “Mercy house”.
”The state of paralysis reminds us of the state in which the whole mankind was living due to sin. The human kind was spiritually paralyzed. It needed a Savior, a great Healer. But who could become such a Healer, such a Savior? In many legends and myths people thought that it should be a great man, a hero. Even the Jews who believed in one God thought that the Messiah should be a human person. However, this was not possible for any man because human kind was sinful. It could be done only by God, but God willed to do it becoming also a Man.”
“The whole attitude of waiting for a man, for a hero to save is reflected in today’s Gospel. The paralytic says, “Sir, I have no man to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up…” (Jn. 5, 7). He put his trust on men and he was unsuccessful for many years. He should have learned from the Scripture saying, “Do not put your trust in princes, in the sons of men, in whom there is no salvation” (Ps. 145, 3). These words of the Psalm we sing every Sunday at the Divine Liturgy. People who attend the church should know them by heart. We should not put our trust in men but in God.”
“Jesus was the Son of God, thus He could help the paralytic. So, He can help all the people in need, in sufferings, in pain. He is able to do this because He conquered death, was risen from the dead.”
“On the other hand, the people who follow Christ, who are united with Him, can also become the partakers of His power. They continue His miracle working and the mission of salvation. In today’s Epistle we heard that Holy Apostle Peter was able to heal the paralytic also. And he was able to raise a recently dead young woman. St. Peter healed by the name of Jesus Christ (Acts 9, 34). And it is not accidental that today’s Epistle mentions that the followers of Christ were already called “Saints” (Acts 9, 32). People dedicated and belonging to God are saints. Such people are able to conduct the divine grace and the will of God. If we put our trust on God, He can act through such men.”
“One of such holy men was St. Nicholas the Wonderworker whose feast we celebrate today. On this day we commemorate transfer of his relics to the city of Bari. St. Nicholas was a man who became known for a number of great miracles. He performed them during his earthly life and after he passed away, when the faithful offered their prayers to him. But he did all these miraculous works not by himself. He was a conductor of the divine power, of the God’s grace. Jesus Christ is the Source of such power, and the holy men and woman are the partakers and conductors of it.”
“Dear brothers and sisters! Let us put our trust in God. Let us be faithful to our calling as Christians. Let us strive for being the partakers of our Lord’s grace and the conductors of His power. Let us also acquire this power in the Church where we can meet the people dedicated to God, the Saints of our days. The Church is our House of mercy, our healing place, a place of God’s graces. Let us belong here and become a part of our Lord’s Resurrection.”

Following the dismissal of the Liturgy the Rector preached a short sermon in Russian to explain the ideas of his English homily.

Recently a new sign of our church had been installed beside the building of our parish temple.
It was prepared in an artistic manner by our parishioners Vitaly and Andrew Malyshew. They put the new sign just before Pascha. Later they finished decorating the sign by making a beautiful mini-dome with a cross on the top of it.
We are very grateful to Andrew and Vitaly Malyshew for their dedicated labor and great assistance to our Parish!

On May 8, on the Sunday of Antipascha, or Sunday of St. Thomas, our Parish family gathered for a beautiful celebration. Our Rector, Archpriest Igor Tarasov served the Divine Liturgy in our temple.

Following the Gospel reading he preached a homily in Russian. In that homily the Rector spoke about the great value of faith when someone believes without any proof. However, for many people some proof may be helpful and may strengthen their faith. This was the case of the Holy Apostle Thomas who desired to believe in the Resurrection of Christ but needed a proof. And the Lord condescended to him and showed Thomas His risen body. Thus many people may doubt but a doubt should be positive, with a wish to believe. Then the Lord may help us and give us a chance to make our faith stronger.

After the Liturgy dismissal the Rector preached a short sermon in English explaining the ideas of his Russian homily.

Following the service the Rector distributed Paschal blessed bread, called the Artos, to the parishioners.

On May 6 the Church commemorates Holy Great Victorious Martyr George. This is a Patronal feast of our Parish.

St. George parish family had a solemn and beautiful celebration. It was headed by our Archpastor, Most Rev. John, Bishop of Naro-Fominsk. His Grace arrived at 10:30 AM and was greeted by our Parish Warden Olga Roussanow at the entrance to the temple. Bishop John entered the church where he was met by the Rector, Archpriest Igor Tarasov.

During the Paschal Hours the Bishop was vesting in the altar. Following the Hours His Grace began the Divine Liturgy. The Liturgy was concelebrated by our Rector, as well as by Hegumen Nicodemus (Balyasnikov), Secretary to the Bishop, Hieromonk Eutychius (Dovgan), cleric of the Synodal Cathedral (ROCOR), Priest Ion Arama, Rector of the Annunciation Church in Flushing, NY, and deacon Mark Rashkov. Service was also attended by our former Rector, Hieromonk Zosimas (Krampis) who prayed in the temple and sang along with the choir.

Following the Liturgy dismissal the Bishop along with the serving clergy came out of the sanctuary to the middle of the temple and performed the rite of glorification singing the troparia, the kontakion and the magnification in honor of St. George.

At the end of the Liturgy His Grace preached a sermon. He also congratulated the Rector and parishioners on the joyful Patronal feast of St. George. As a response to the Bishop’s speech Archpriest Igor Tarasov greeted His Grace in our temple. Traditional Polychronion (“Mnogaia leta!”) was sung.

After the liturgical service the celebration of our Patronal feast continued at the trapeza table where His Grace, the clergy, our parishioners and guests together enjoyed delicious food and a nice company.

On May 1 of this year 2016 all Orthodox Christians celebrated the greatest holy day, the Resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ, Holy Pascha.

Celebration at St. George Church began at 11:30 PM on Saturday, April 30. Our Rector, Archpriest Igor Tarasov performed Midnight service at the Lord’s Tomb and transferred the holy Shroud to the altar.

Right after midnight joyful Paschal celebration began. The Rector assisted by the altar servers led faithful in the procession around the temple. At the end of the procession everyone stood in front of the closed church doors where Fr. Igor began Resurrection Matins and proclaimed the Easter greeting, “Christ is risen” in Slavonic, English, Greek and Georgian languages. Faithful responded and sung Paschal troparion. Then the priest opened the doors of the temple and faithful entered into the church.

After the Matins the Rector served the Divine Liturgy. The Gospel lesson on Pascha is traditionally read in several languages. The faithful had an opportunity to listen the verses of the reading in Greek, Latin, Hebrew, Church Slavonic, English, Russian, Ukrainian, Georgian, Serbian, Romanian, Belorussian, Polish and Spanish. Following the Gospel reading Fr. Igor proclaimed Catechetical Sermon of St. John Chrysostom on Pascha.

After the Liturgy dismissal the Rector greeted the parishioners on the occasion of the greatest Christian holy day, wished them to be blessed by the Risen Christ.

Following main services the Rector blessed Easter food.

Rector and parishioners continued their celebration of Pascha at the tables where they had an opportunity to enjoy delicious meals after the long time of Lenten restrictions.

         CHRIST IS RISEN!       ХРИСТОС ВОСКРЕСЕ!

On April 29, on the Holy and Great Friday we had two special services in our parish temple. This day is the most sorrowful day in Christian calendar. On Holy Friday we commemorate crucifixion of our Lord Jesus Christ, His death on the Cross, as well as His burial. St. George Church’s Rector, Archpriest Igor Tarasov served Vespers with the procession of the Shroud at 4:00 PM. At the end of this service holy Shroud had been solemnly carried out from the altar to the middle of the church and placed there for veneration.

At the end of Vespers the Rector preached a sermon in Russian. He pointed out that the people who surrounded our Lord Jesus Christ at the end of His earthly ministry can be divided into several types. In particular, according to the New Martyr, St. Seraphim, bishop of Dmitrov, those who caused His holy Passions and His death on the cross were Judas, the leaders of the Jews and Pontius Pilate. Judas betrayed the Lord because he was a materialist. Judas was seeking for material wealth and power. When he realized that Jesus is not going to be a powerful earthly ruler, and being with Jesus cannot make him wealthy he betrayed his Teacher. The leaders of the Jews, especially Caiaphas, were rationalists. They used their reason to kill Jesus in order to avoid the anger of the Romans. And Pilate although he knew that Jesus was innocent, could not free him, but let Him be crucified. Pilate was seeking political stability and was not able to act justly. However, there were the people who followed Christ. These were His Blessed Mother, the women disciples who stood beside the Cross, as well as St. John the Theologian. When Jesus died righteous Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus came and asked for His body. They buried the Lord. Thus, the Rector called the parishioners to imitate those persons who remained faithful to the Lord and to avoid resembling those who caused His condemnation and death. He also called the parishioners not to crucify Jesus again by inappropriate choices and sinful deeds.

 At 7:00 PM the Rector celebrated Matins on the Lord’s Tomb. Most of this service was performed before the Shroud placed in the middle of the church. After the Great Doxologion the Rector, altar servers and parishioners performed the procession around the church. The priest carried the holy Shroud resembling burial of the Lord.

On April 28, on Holy and Great Thursday when the Church commemorates the Last Supper of our Lord Jesus Christ we had a service in St. George Church. Our Rector, Archpriest Igor Tarasov served Vespers with the Divine Liturgy of St. Basil the Great.

Following the Liturgy dismissal the Rector preached a brief homily in Russian about the significance of the special Gift of our Lord left to His followers, the Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist. This special Mystery is a remembrance of the Lord, of His Sacrifice on the Cross and of the Last Supper He had with His disciples.

On April 24, on Palm Sunday we had a solemn celebration of the feast of the Entry of our Lord Jesus Christ into Jerusalem. The Rector of St. George Church, Archpriest Igor Tarasov served the Divine Liturgy.

After 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.

Following the readings from the Scripture Fr. Igor preached a homily in Russian. An English translation of that homily is as follows:

“Today we celebrate Entry of the Lord into Jerusalem, a feast preceding the commemoration of the holy Passions. In fact, yesterday we started this separate calendar period of the Passion week, celebrating Lazarus Saturday, a miracle of resurrection of the dead man, a friend of our Lord whose name was Lazarus. Lazarus died and after four days passing his death our Lord came to the village where Lazarus lived and called him away from the tomb. Today’s celebration continues that theme and today we sing the same troparion which mentions righteous Lazarus resurrected by our Lord. At the end of today’s reading from the holy Gospel of John we also heard that the people of Jerusalem went out to greet Jesus because “they heard that He had done this sign” (Jn. 12, 18). People heard that Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead, so they believed in Him, at least, for some time.”
“We could notice that the miracle of the resurrection is here called “a sign”. This expression is often used in the Gospel to describe some miraculous and important events. This is done because those miracles served as the signs of the true coming of the Messiah, of the Savior. These miraculous events indicated that Jesus Christ was truly the Son of God and the One promised by the Prophets. Every miracle the Lord performed had to show that He is the true Messiah. Thus these were His signs.”
“Signs are important in the life of the people. We use and have them everywhere. The signs tell us about the shop’s working hours, whether it is open or closed. They point us to a right direction. We well know the road signs showing us the way, traffic signs which help us to drive. These are signs used in our regular, earthly life. But also in the spiritual life we use and need signs. The most known religious sign is the sign of the cross which we make many times when we pray. There many other important signs in our holy rites and traditions. For instance, today we bless the pussy-willows, take them and hold. This is a sign, a sign of our allegiance to our Lord. We imitate those people, especially those Hebrew children who came out to greet Jesus when He entered Jerusalem. They held the palm and olive branches which were the signs also, the signs of allegiance and homage. Those people met Jesus as their Lord, their King who entered the holy city with a triumph.”
“We say that the people need the signs. However, the signs by themselves are not solving all the problems. We need to follow them, to obey them or to use them properly. Otherwise they won’t be helpful. If we disregard a stop sign on the road we may have an accident. A similar thing happens with the signs of spiritual nature. Our Lord Jesus Christ performed a lot of miracles before the eyes of the people. He healed the sick, cleaned the lepers, returned the sight to the blind, He even raised the dead, as He did with Lazarus. However, not everyone believed in Him. The Jewish leaders were not persuaded by all those signs. They plotted to kill Him. As the Gospel tells us they still asked Him to show some sign that He is the Messiah, even after He performed all other signs. Jesus answered these people and said: “An evil and adulterous generation seeks after a sign, and no sign will be given to it except the sign of prophet Jonah. For as Jonah was three days in the belly of a great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth” (Mt. 12, 39). Thus, according to the words of Jesus, seeking for a sign may be wrong. The Lord, as we already said, did perform many signs but certain people still did not recognize Him. Therefore, He announced in advance that there will be a sign of prophet Jonah who was three days in the belly of a wale. In a similar way, our Lord was buried for three days before His Resurrection.”
“People in today’s world are very often similar to those leaders of the Jews who failed to believe in Christ and to recognize Him. Many have a very little faith or no faith at all. They seek for the signs. They say, “Show us a sign that God exists”, “Show us a proof that Jesus really lived”. No matter that God shows us a great number of signs every day. Every day we see that the sun is rising. For a person who believes it’s a sign of God’s ruling the world. Every year at spring we see that the flowers bloom, like those pussy-willows we bring today to the church to bless. For a believer it’s a sign of God’s care for the creation. But, of course, for the one who doesn’t believe this is no sign. We may go on and recall that our Lord Himself came to this world and became a fulfillment of the Old Testament prophesies. Everything that happened to Him was foretold by the prophets. However, the leaders of the Jews who knew those prophets did not believe that Jesus was the Messiah. They were still seeking for some sign. And the unbelieving, evil and adulterous generation of our times seeks for a sign, but never finds it. And it never will. Because it does not trust God. It is about them the Gospel says: “Neither they be persuaded though one rise from the dead” (Lk. 16, 31). Most of the scribes and Pharisees did not believe even after Christ Resurrection. And modern unbelievers wouldn’t believe even if one rise from the dead.”
“Today we take those blessed branches and try to resemble the people greeting the Lord, recognizing Him as the Messiah, paying Him homage as our King and the King of kings. Let us really mean that and sincerely name Him our Master and our Lord. Let us trust Him and not demand a sign, for He always gives us enough signs and assurances. Let us be able to recognize them. And seeing them, let us truly recognize our Lord and Savior and praise Him saying: “Hosanna, blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!””

After the Liturgy dismissal the Rector and altar servers came before the stand in the middle of the church and performed the rite of glorification before the festal image singing the troparia, kontakion and the magnification of the feast.

Following the glorification the Rector preached a short sermon in English explaining the ideas of his Russian homily. He also reminded the parishioners about our service schedule for the Holy Week and Pascha. The Rector said that we are beginning the Holy Passion Week, a very important and spiritually intense time, and called to attend the services celebrated during that week.

After the service parishioners and the Rector enjoyed delicious meals and interesting conversation during the coffee hour.

On April 23, on Lazarus Saturday the Rector of St. George Church, Archpriest Igor Tarasov celebrated the Mystery of the Anointing of the sick in our parish temple. All persons who desired to receive that Sacrament participated in the service and were anointed with the blessed oil.
At the conclusion of the service Fr. Igor preached a sermon about the significance and importance of the Mystery of Anointing of the sick which is aimed for the healing of soul and body.

On April 17, on the Fifth Sunday of Lent, the Rector of St. George Church, Archpriest Igor Tarasov served the Divine Liturgy in our parish temple. Following the Gospel lesson he preached a homily in English:

“On the Fifth Sunday of Lent we hear again, for the second time, that our Lord Jesus Christ is foretelling His death and sufferings. In this way we, little by little, are being prepared for the days when we are going to commemorate the holy Passions of the Lord. These days are coming soon. Next Sunday will be the beginning of them. We will observe the feast of the Entry of the Lord into Jerusalem. And following that feast we will enter into the Passion week. The Lord says, “Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of God will be betrayed…” (Mk. 10, 33). We are also going up to Jerusalem, we do it in a spiritual way.”
“Today’s Gospel is also telling us about the difference between the ideals of the Christian teaching and the ideals of worldly life. The Lord rebuked His disciples, James and John who wished to be given the seats closest to the Lord in His Kingdom. He said to them, “Whoever desires to become great among you shall be yours servant. And whoever of you desires to be first shall be slave of all” (Mk. 10, 43-44).”
“Today we also honor Venerable Mary of Egypt. She was a great sinner who became a great Saint. There is no such thing as sinless life, but there is no such sin that cannot be forgiven if the sinner repents. Mary being a harlot for 17 years (from the age of 12 to the age of 29) repented and became a greatest woman-Saint. We usually like to say that people don’t change. But here is an example of a person who totally changed her life. If you read the life story of St. Mary of Egypt you can be convinced of that. When she could not enter the church in Jerusalem because some unknown force prevented her to do so for the reason of her impurity and sinfulness, she prayed to the Most Holy Mother of God in front of Her icon outside of the temple. The Blessed Mother told Mary that she must repent and listen to Her. After she repented, received the Mysteries of Penance and Communion, Mary heard the call of the Mother of God, “Cross the Jordan, and you will find true peace”. She crossed the river of Jordan and spent the rest of her life in the desert.”
“The life of St Mary teaches us that the true and everlasting values are quite different from those of the world. Mary of Egypt went out into the desert and had nothing. She had no friends, no home, no possessions, no clothes and almost no food. The world looked for pleasure, the satisfaction of the senses, money and power, but St Mary had no money, no property and no power in the world. Today’s Gospel confirms the choice of St Mary, for it says that those who wish to be great must be servants. This is the opposite from all the ways of this world. But our Lord preached this and St Mary lived by this.”
“As we said, the Church calls St Mary “the greatest of Saints”. The use of this word “great” may surprise. In everyday life, we use “great” in other meanings. The world speaks of “great politicians” “great soldiers”, “great movie stars”, “great sportsmen”. But the Church calls St Mary of Egypt “great” and all the centuries after she lived we ask for her prayers, but not for prayers of any politician or soldier or movie star or sportsman. Let us then think more carefully when we use this word “great”.”
“And as we approach the days of the holy Passions of Christ, the feast of the Entry of the Lord into Jerusalem, let us also think of the words of the Mother of God, which led Mary to her salvation through repentance and her greatness: “If you cross the Jordan, you will find true peace”. These mysterious words are today also addressed to each of us; the interpretation of their mystery is open to the souls of each of us, but only if we ask the Mother of God and St Mary to guide us. And then we shall find our own “entry into Jerusalem”.”
“Therefore, dear brothers and sisters, let us pray to the Most Holy Mother of God and to Venerable Mother Mary of Egypt to assist us in our journey to our own Jerusalem! Holy Mother Mary, pray to God for us!”

After the Liturgy dismissal the Rector preached a brief sermon in Russian to stress the main ideas of his English homily.