On Saturday March 12, clergy of the Eastern States Deanery of the Patriarchal Parishes in the USA gathered at St. Nicholas Church in Bayonne NJ to hold a Deanery Meeting. 

Divine Liturgy was celebrated prior to the meeting by parish Rector, Archpriest Mikhail Kapchits and Archpriest Andrew Lowe, Rector of St. John the Baptist Church in Little Falls NJ. Praying in the church was Patriarchal Parishes Chancellor Archpriest George Konyev; Dean of the Eastern States and Rector of St. George Church in Bayside NY, Archpriest Igor Tarasov; Hieromonk Stephen (Bushman) and Protodeacon Daniel Sudol, cleric of Three Saints Church, Garfield NJ. 

After an abundant meal prepared by the parish, Fr. Igor opened the meeting and expressed his gratitude to all those in attendance. The clergy finalized the schedule of the traditional Lenten Vespers held during Great Lent as well as other administrative and pastoral issues.

On March 6, on the Meatfare Sunday, St. George Parish had a nice liturgical celebration in its temple. The Rector, Archpriest Igor Tarasov served the Divine Liturgy. After the reading from the Holy Gospel he preached the following homily in English:

“Today’s Sunday the Church dedicates to the Last Judgment which, as we believe, is going to happen at the end of this world, at the second coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. The Gospel reading which we just heard describes that unique and awesome event (Mt. 25, 31-46). It tells us that the Lord will come to judge everyone, He will divide all the people into two groups. One kind of people will be blessed and inherit eternal Kingdom prepared for the blessed ones, while another kind will be condemned and sent to eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. Commemorating that future event, let us reflect upon those two kinds of men.”
“It is very easy to understand that the two large groups of people divided by the Lord at the Last Judgment are those who tended to be good in their lives and, on the other side will be those who adhered to the evil. Simply saying, these are good and bad people. Whether someone is good or evil will be defined at that Judgment. And it is comforting because living our earthly lives we often do not really know who is good and who is not. It all tends to be confused. And many people like to think that way, to believe that not everything is black or white, but there are lots of shades of grey.”
“Thinking of that, we realize that good and evil coexist in this world. The earthly life is a constant fight between them. Very often we see that evil is winning and good is losing in that fight. The history of mankind is full of wars and injustices. Any plain earthly joy is often changed by sorrow and sickness. The just and unjust live together, and it is often noted that the sinners enjoy welfare while the righteous ones suffer. The warfare between good and evil is taking place everywhere, especially in the hearts of men. As the great Russian writer Dostoyevsky said, “God and the devil are fighting there, and the battlefield is the hearts of men”.”
“Many people ask, “Why all these evil is happening? Why the world is so unjust?” The answer we may find in the teaching of our Lord Jesus Christ. In a parable He said that the Kingdom of God is similar to a field on which the wheat grows along with the tares. When the servants of the field’s owner asked whether they should go and gather the tares up, the owner said, “No, lest while you gather up the tares you also uproot the wheat with them. Let both grow together until the harvest” (Mt. 13, 29-30). By this parable the Lord teaches us that good and evil will not coexist forever. Thus the existing order of things will not be everlasting. It will end at the Last Judgment. That Judgment will be the time of harvest when the tares will be gathered together, bound into bundles and burned while the wheat will be gathered into the barn (Mt. 13, 30).”
“Those who at the Last Judgment will be placed at the right will not be without sin. However, these will be those who asked God’s mercy, help and forgiveness. God wants everybody to be saved. He said, “The one who comes to Me I will by no means cast out” (Jn. 6, 37). If we, being sinful and evil, ask God to help us, He will. But if we continue to be evil and do not repent, God will not save us. Thus those who will find themselves at the left side, among the condemned, could not blame God for their condemnation. It will be their fault because they deliberately chose to reject God’s love. It will be their destiny because they themselves chose eternal torment. This is the justice of God – to forgive those who wish to be forgiven and to condemn those who do not.”
“Dear brothers and sisters! If we wish that the Son of Man may place us at his right hand, among the blessed ones, at the Last Judgment, let us repent, let us open our hearts to God that the Holy Spirit may cleanse them from all impurity. Let us serve our neighbor and perform the deeds of mercy, as today’s Gospel teaches us. Then we may have a hope that the Lord may grant us blessed eternal life, that He may place us at His right hand, among the blessed ones. This hope will not make us ashamed at the Last Judgment.”

Since there was no memorial service performed on the day before which was Meatfare Memorial Saturday, the Rector added the Litany for the deceased to the liturgy with commemoration of those who had fallen asleep.

Before the Holy Communion the choir beautifully sang penitential hymns in preparation for Lent

After the Liturgy dismissal the Rector preached a short sermon in Russian stressing the main thoughts of his previously preached homily in English.

The Annual Parish Meeting of St. George Church was held on Sunday, February 28, 2016, following the Divine Liturgy and coffee hour. Rector, Archpriest Igor Tarasov presided.

Church Warden, Olga Roussanow read the minutes of the last Annual Meeting held in 2015. The Rector reported on financial situation. He informed that parish income in the year 2015 was about the same as in the previous year. The expenses were reduced because there were no repair or renovations performed at the church building and premises. As a result, the deficit was not very high. However, the Parish is still in a great financial need. Parishioners still do not cover our spending. Fr. Igor recommended again that Parish should introduce some principles of stewardship and that parishioners should plan their contributions for the church needs. It is expected that those parishioners who miss the church services should send their donations by mail.

Following the discussion of financial situation it was pointed out that Parish Treasurer, Valentina Dron should leave her position and a new Treasurer elected. Such proposal was supported by all present members of the Parish. After a unanimous vote Sophia Kay had been elected the new Parish Treasurer.

Among other issues discussed at the Meeting were the need to paint the church walls inside before the celebration of Pascha, a possibility to hold religious instructions for children on Sundays after the Liturgy, as well as some other concerns.

On February 28, on the Sunday of the Prodigal Son, we had a nice celebration in our parish temple. Our Rector, Archpriest Igor Tarasov served the Divine Liturgy. Following the Gospel lesson he preached a homily in Russian. The English translation of that homily is as follows:

“On this Sunday the Church tells the parable of the Prodigal Son (Lk. 15, 11-32). It is a very profound and detailed instruction on repentance. Last Sunday we began to sing, “The doors of repentance open to me, o Giver of life”. It is important to remember about repentance these days. However, we may also reflect today upon some other idea of the today’s parable. It is about the Father who had two sons. Who is the Father and who are the two sons?”
”The Father represents God, the Father of all mankind. The elder son represents the Jewish people because alone of all people the Jewish people had kept the memory of God. They remained with the Father. They kept the memory of God having the Book describing God’s creation, the fall of mankind and telling that God will save His people, will send the Messiah.”
“On the other hand, the younger son represents the Gentiles, that is the pagan world. At the time of Christ, this meant the whole world except for the Jews. Unlike the Jews, the pagans had confused their memories of God the Creator with all sorts of false stories, myths and legends. They had confused the Creator with creation, and instead of worshipping God, they worshipped stones and rivers, the sun and the moon, kings and queens, thinking that they were gods and so making them into idols. The pagans, the younger son, had journeyed into “a far country” and there “wasted their possessions” (Lk. 15, 13). In other words, they distanced themselves from God, forgot His Truth, so wasting their spiritual inheritance. As a result, they suffered from “a severe famine”, in other words, from spiritual hunger, and so ate with “swine”, that is, ate with the illusions of the demons. However, they repented and turned back towards the Father, who welcomed them with open arms, running out towards them to embrace them.”
“This parable is in fact a warning to the Jews. We can see the Father showing love and forgiveness towards the repentant son, who lies at His feet, begging forgiveness. The elder son, however, is angry, full of bitterness and jealousy.”
“Perhaps we feel some sympathy with the elder son. After all, he never wasted his possessions, he did remain loyal to the Father. The problem is that the elder son’s service was a form of slavery; he did not stay with the Father out of love, but out of self-interest, in expectation of a reward. This was not love, but an obligation fulfilled in the hope of being paid. We can compare this with the attitude of the Father. He instantly forgives all that the younger son, the pagan world, has done and says: “Let us make merry” (Lk. 15, 23). The attitude of the Father is not gloom, but joy. The elder son, on the other hand, is full of gloom and cannot bring himself to be joyful or express love, because he has no love for his brother. The Father says: “All that I have is yours” (Lk. 15, 31), and shares everything. The elder son wishes to share nothing, for he is locked up in pride and self-love. Indeed, the elder son does not want to share in all that the Father has. Yes, he wants to share in His wealth and His property, but he does not want to share in what the Father has above all else – in His merciful compassion and love.”
“Thus, dear brothers and sisters, we are reminded of the words of the Apostle Paul, that though we may have all qualities, if we do not have love, then we are nothing (1 Cor. 13, 1-3). In this way, this parable has a meaning for us. We may have great wealth, wonderful gifts or talents, we may have a great profession, a nice house, but if we have no love, then all what we have is worthless and our lives themselves have no meaning. If there is no love, there is only the emptiness of vanity and the gloom of selfish pride.”
“Therefore, dear brothers and sisters, let us not imitate the elder son from today’s parable, but let us learn from the merciful Father.  Let us too be merry, for God the Father Most Compassionate is waiting for us. Let us rejoice, for Jesus, the Lord of Love makes joy even out of the greatest sinner who repents. Let us be glad that all we prodigals are able to return to the Father and be embraced by His love!”

Before the Holy Communion the choir prayerfully sang the Psalm 136 (“Down the rivers of Babylon…”) which the Church begins to add to the services on this Sunday.

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

Following the sermon the altar server Andrew Malyshew spoke and congratulated the Rector on his appointment as Dean of the Eastern States. The choir and congregation then proclaimed “Axios” (“Is worthy”) to Fr. Igor. In response to that the Rector expressed his gratitude to the parishioners and also his joy that they sang the Greek word “Axios” without any command, but as an expression of their feelings. Such was the attitude of the Christians in the early Church when that word was proclaimed by the congregation and defined whether a candidate is worthy to be ordained or to become a Church official. Fr. Igor said that he is glad that our Parish doing so resembles the early Christian community. He also asked the faithful to pray for him that the Lord may assist him to fulfill his new obedience which had been added to his duties as Rector of St. George Church.

Following the liturgical service the Rector and parishioners enjoyed delicious meals and a nice company during the coffee hour. Then Annual Parish Meeting had been held after the trapeza.

On February 21, 2016 by the decree of His Eminence, Bishop John, Rector of St. George Church, Archpriest Igor Tarasov had been appointed new Dean of the Eastern States of the Patriarchal Parishes.
The Eastern States Deanery which now will be headed by our Rector includes 8 parishes located in the States of New York, New Jersey and New Hampshire.

Our very young parishioner, John (Ethan) Kay have won in the chess tournament organized by the Long Island Chess Center of Massapequa, NY. John had been awarded first place in that competition held on February 21.
We are very proud to have such a bright young parishioner. Congratulations to John (Ethan) and many more chess victories!

On February 21, on the Sunday of the Publican and Pharisee, Rector of St. George Church, Archpriest Igor Tarasov served the Divine Liturgy for our parish community. After the Gospel lesson he preached the following homily in English:

“In today’s reading from the Gospel our Lord tells us that two men went up to the Temple to pray. One of them, who was a public sinner, went home justified. Yet another who was viewed as a just man was condemned. Why? Simply because of their attitudes: the publican has the right attitude. He is asking God for mercy in repentance for his sins of which he is conscious. On the other hand, the Pharisee has the wrong attitude. He is not asking for mercy. On the contrary, he is satisfied with himself. He is under the illusion of being righteous. And he has this illusion merely because he fulfils all the outward observances of the Jewish Law. His piety is all for show, it is all outward and does not come from the heart. We may say that the Pharisee does the right things, but he does them for all the wrong reasons, and thus they lose all their force.”
“The error of the Pharisee is to confuse the means with the ends. Our end, or goal, is to find salvation. There are many means to salvation, to preparing our souls to be with God. However, we should not think that the means to salvation automatically bring salvation, merely because they are outwardly observed. In order to understand this, we first need to know what the means to salvation are.”
“First of all, we have to worship God and pray to Him. True, we can worship and pray to God everywhere, but there is one place where we can be particularly close to Him, and where it is easier to speak to Him in prayer, and that is at church. Only at church are services held in His honor and we can thank Him, worship Him and pray to Him more easily during those services and only at church can we partake of the Sacraments.”
“Secondly, we can deepen our worship of God through reading and obeying His Word, through fasting and through almsgiving. Just as worship, prayer, reading of the Word of God and almsgiving are only means to salvation, and not salvation itself, so fasting too is only a means to drawing closer to God. It is an experience of the spiritual people that fasting helps us to reach certain spiritual state to be closer to our goal of salvation. It is said: “We are what we eat”. It makes sense not only for our body, but for our soul. But fasting is not a goal by itself. The Church therefore does not ask us to fast twelve months of the year. It asks us through Great Lent, the three other Fasts, and Wednesdays and Fridays, to fast for six months of the year. The Church’s approach is balanced. That is why this coming week, there is no fast – to remind us that although salvation is not in fasting, on the other hand, it is also true that fasting for Christ’s sake will help us draw closer to salvation.”
““We are what we eat”. We can see this especially clearly in holy Communion. If we come to Communion frequently, we are with Christ and He is with us. But if on the other hand, we never come to Communion, then we shall never be with Christ and He will never be with us: “We are what we eat”.”
“We may come to a conclusion that if we sincerely, from our hearts, worship and pray to God, read His words, fast and give alms, then we are not behaving as the Pharisee, but as the publican, we are asking for mercy, and thus we find justification. Not justification because of our outward actions, but justification through the Mercy of God, which alone makes our salvation possible. In doing all these things, we are actually saying the Prayer of the Publican, which is at the root of the Jesus Prayer: “God, be merciful to me a sinner”. For it is only the Mercy of God, given as a gift to us for our sincerity, which brings us into His presence, bringing us salvation, for our God is merciful and He loves mankind.”

Before the Holy Communion the parish choir prayerfully sang penitential hymns from the Lenten Triodion, the liturgical book the Church begins to use on this Sunday.

Following the dismissal of the Liturgy the Rector preached a brief sermon in Russian pointing out that we should avoid the Pharisee’s attitude of pride but to imitate the Publican’s sense of sinfulness and his repentance. “We should act outwardly like a Pharisee but to think and pray like the Publican,” – concluded the Rector.

On February 14, on the 37th Sunday after Pentecost, Rector of St. George Church, Archpriest Igor Tarasov served the Divine Liturgy in our temple. On this day we also celebrated holy day of the Meeting of the Lord which had been transferred to Sunday. Despite a very cold weather, a sufficient number our parishioners attended the church.

Following the Gospel readings the Rector preached a homily in Russian. In that homily he combined the main themes of the Gospel lessons assigned for this Sunday (Lk. 19, 1-10) and for the feast of the Meeting of the Lord (Lk. 2, 22-40). Fr. Igor said that both Gospel readings tell us about a meeting between a sinful man and sinless God. The whole purpose of the Lord Jesus Christ coming into our world was to make such a meeting possible. If Adam turned away from God and was expelled from God’s glory and from constant communication with God, Christ did reconcile sinful man with sinless God. Zacchaeus, a publican and a public sinner, wished to see the Lord, made an effort climbing on a tree, and Jesus blessed him and proclaimed salvation for him. Righteous elder Simeon also expected to encounter the Lord, the Messiah, and Jesus being a small Child, made that encounter come true. We need to serve the Lord and to remember that our own meeting with Him may happen every moment. This is so because, according to the teaching of the Holy Fathers, every moment, every day in our life is the best for our salvation. God’s Providence arranges thus. And our encounter with the Lord is possible any time because we any time we may leave this earthly life, like Simeon did after seeing the Chris of God. Therefore, we need to be ready for such a meeting all the time, to make efforts like Zacchaeus and to expect like righteous Simeon.

Following the dismissal of the Liturgy the Rector and the altar servers came before the icon of the feast and performed the rite of Glorification singing the troparion, kontakion and magnification of the Meeting.

After that the Rector had a short sermon in English explaining his homily previously preached in Russian.

Following the service Rector and parishioners had an opportunity to continue their celebration at the trapeza table where they enjoyed delicious meals and interesting conversations.

On February 7, on the 36th Sunday after Pentecost, as well as feast of the Synaxis of the New Martyrs and Confessors of the Russian Church, our Parish had a nice liturgical service. In the Rector’s absence the Divine Liturgy was served by Priest Aleksiy Paranyuk from St. Nicholas Cathedral. Following the Scripture readings he preached a homily interpreting the Gospel lesson.

At the end of the Liturgy Fr. Aleksiy performed the Memorial service (Litia) to commemorate all the departed who perished or were put to death at the time of godless persecutions of the 20th century.

On January 31st, on the 35th Sunday after Pentecost, we had a nice liturgical celebration at St. George Church. Our Rector, Archpriest Igor Tarasov served the Divine Liturgy. Following the Gospel lesson he preached a homily in English.
In his homily the Rector spoke about eternal life and reflected upon different ideas a Christian mind can have about it. Since the Gospel lesson was telling a story of a young ruler who asked Jesus how to enter into eternal life (Lk. 18, 18-27), such an important subject was appropriate for the sermon.

After the dismissal of the Liturgy the Rector congratulated our young parishioner Anton Malyshew, as well as his stepmother Maria Malyshew on the occasion of their name days (January 30 and 31). Traditional Polychronion was sung.

Following the Liturgy we had an opportunity to listen to a brief speech of a missionary priest, Archimandrite Juvenal (Repass) who was present in our temple and prayed at the Divine Liturgy. After the service ha told about his missionary work in Guatemala and invited parishioners to make charitable donations for that noble cause.