His Eminence Archbishop Elpidophoros of America
Nice Vespers of the Feast of Saint George and Saint Thomas
April 22, 2023
Saint George Greek Orthodox Church
New Britain, Connecticut
My Beloved Brothers and Sisters within the Risen Christ,
Χριστὸς Ἀνέστη! [and in response: Ἀληθῶς Ἀνέστη!]
Christ is Risen! [and in response: Truly He is Risen!]
Χριστὸς Ἀνέστη! [and in response: Ἀληθῶς Ἀνέστη!]
I’m delighted to be right here at this glorious and exquisite parish of Saint George the Nice-Martyr for the Nice Vespers of the Feast. Your love for this most beloved Saint of our Church is manifest in each face I see.
We’re so very blessed by our Risen Lord to have celebrated Holy Week and Pascha with the entire panoply of our liturgical companies. As you all know, since April twenty third has come after the Holy Pascha – throughout Lent, the festivities of Saint George are stored on April twenty third. And now, on the conclusion of Vibrant Week, we have a good time your Heavenly Patron on a Sunday, sharing the day with the Apostle Thomas.
In his Apolytikion, Saint George known as “τῶν αἰχμαλώτων ἐλευθερωτής, τῶν πτωχῶν ὑπερασπιστής, τῶν ἀσθενούντων ἰατρός” – “the one who units the captives free, the defender of these in poverty, and the doctor of these dealing with infirmity.”
His mighty deeds are the equals to the praises we sing. For if you happen to think about his fame around the globe, you’ll really be astonished. From the Isle of England, the place he’s thought of to be the Patron Saint of the Kingdom, to the Island of Büyükada, within the Sea of Marmara, close to my birthplace in Constantinople. There, on the Greek Orthodox Monastery of St. George, tens of 1000’s of Muslims make a pilgrimage yearly. They arrive to make votive choices on the place – the sacred τόπος, of this most well-known Christian Saint, well-known even within the Muslim world! The nation of Georgia and the Georgian Orthodox bear his identify. Certainly, all over the place you go, your will discover your patron, Saint George.
And why does the world keep in mind him so? If the story of his martyrdom, then it was very lengthy, very painful, and really public. It was over the last nice persecution by the pagan Roman Emperors, Diocletian – just some years earlier than the victory of Saint Constantine and the legalization of Christianity.
Saint George was an ideal army commander, and his martyrdom turned well-known as a result of he by no means wavered in his religion in Christ. He’s the Trophy-Bearer of Love, as a result of his love for Christ was his best weapon for the reality. By way of our Lord Jesus Christ, Saint George was victorious over dying. By selecting to die for His Lord and Savior, he conquered hatred, envy, and injustice. Nobody remembers the identify of his tormentors in the present day, however the Identify of George echoes throughout the globe.
Subsequently, my beloved Christians, allow us to rejoice within the mild and the love of the Nice-Martyr and Trophy-Bearer George on at the present time, and daily.
Particularly on this season of Pentecostarion, when pleasure fills the Church at each Liturgy after we declare the Resurrection, we rejoice within the praises for Saint George.
We give thanks for his witness of affection and reality, and we pray for his intercessions on our behalf, and on behalf of the entire world.
And we give thanks for this Saint George Parish in New Britain, the place the Greek Orthodox Religion is flourishing and serving the world.
By the holy prayers of the Nice-Martyr and Trophy-Bearer George, might we ever be granted worthy to bear the identify of Christian, and to glorify his sacred Martyrdom.
Amen!
Χριστὸς Ἀνέστη! [and in response: Ἀληθῶς Ἀνέστη!]
Photograph: GOARCH/Dimitrios Panagos
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