Fr. John Vass, our Dean, celebrated Divine Liturgy on February 5 in our parish.  The 2023 Church Council was sworn in following Liturgy. An updated list can be found here.

Dear fathers, brothers and sisters!

I wholeheartedly greet all of you on the blessed feast of the Nativity of our Lord God and Savior Jesus Christ!

In these holy days full of Christmas joy, all our hearts with trembling and reverence rush to "God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory (1 Tim. 3:16)”. This is one of the many mysteries of the spiritual world invisible to us - the mystery of the Incarnation, in which the incomprehensible power and depth of the infinite love of God's Son is manifested both for humanity as a whole and for each of us. He came into the world to bring hope to our hearts and open to us the path of salvation.

And today, in the days of difficulties and severe trials, we trust in the Lord with all our hearts, because we believe that the Lord God is “an everlasting stronghold” and in Him “our strength and eternal salvation (Isaiah 26:4).”

Sharing with you the joy of the great feast, I sincerely wish you spiritual and physical health, and I pray with you that the feast of the Nativity of Christ will become for all of us a day of our spiritual enlightenment and rebirth, that the coming New Year be filled with peace and prosperity. The way the Nativity light of the Star of Bethlehem will sanctify us with Divine grace and fill our hearts with infinite joy, the gracious spirit of peace, love and hope.

I invoke God's blessing on all of you. With love in the newborn Savior,

+Matthew,
Bishop of Sourozh
Interim Administrator of the Patriarchal Parishes in the USA & Canada