This year the community of the Life Giving Fountain Romanian Orthodox Church of Long Valley, NJ celebrated, with the Church feast day, a decade of existence since the beloved Parish Priest Ionuț Voicu has been ordained in the holy sacrament of priesthood and the service of the holy altar. On this occasion, the faithful enjoyed the presence of His Eminence Nicolae, the Romanian Orthodox Metropolitan of the Americas, who wanted to be with us at this great celebration.
The visit of His Eminence Nicolae began on the afternoon of Saturday, May 8, when His Eminence Nicolae met with members of the Parish Council and the Marketing Group for the construction of the Maramures-style wooden church to discuss progress and current construction needs. The traditional wooden church in Maramures style is the soul project of the Life Giving Fountain community, a huge work that began in 2017 at the initiative of the Parish Priest Ionuţ Voicu and continued with determination despite the countless obstacles encountered everywhere. The meeting was followed by Vespers served by His Eminence Nicolae together with the Parish Priest Ionuţ Voicu, Father Abbot Ieremia and Father Hierodeacon Seraphim from St. Dimitrios the New Monastery in Middletown, NY and Father Mircea Schirta from St. Sophia Bay Parish (Ukrainian Orthodox Church in the USA).
Sunday, May 9, was a day full of spiritual weight, where our community had the opportunity to listen to the wise words and further advice of His Eminence Nicolae at the Divine Liturgy on St. Thomas Sunday:
St. Thomas the Apostle also wanted to have the experience of the Apostles, to meet the Risen Christ. Thomas' faith was not manifested by touching the body of Christ with his hand, with his senses, but by meeting Christ the Risen One. Our faith is not related to touch, to have material proof, to enlighten all our senses that Christ has risen from the grave, but our faith is based on their testimony, of those who have met Christ, and on the words To the Savior Himself: “Because you saw Me, you believed. Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed”, all of us who did not meet the Risen Christ 2000 years ago. The words of St. Peter the Apostle about our faith in the Risen Christ are fulfilled: “You love Jesus Christ, even though you have never seen Him. Though now you do not see Him, yet believing, you rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory, receiving the end of your faith—the salvation of your souls” (I Peter 1: 8-9).At the end of the Divine Liturgy, the Marketing Group, founded in January 2018 as a support for the wooden church project, expressed a message to His Eminence and to the Romanians present at this assembly. Next, His Eminence Metropolitan Nicolae offered to all members of the community, as a symbol of appreciation and gratitude for their hard work and sacrifice in the construction of the wooden church, copies of the Commemorative Icon of the Romanian Orthodox Metropolia of the Americas for 2021. The icon represents the Mother of God from Guadalupe, Patroness of the unborn and protective children of the Americas and has in the center the image of the Mother of God together with the image of the Holy Emperors Constantine and Helen, protectors of our Metropolia, along with St. George the Pilgrim and St. Raphael of Brooklyn, protectors of the Deanery of New York, New England, and the Eastern USA.The feast of our church ended with a fraternal agape organized in honor of His Eminence Metropolitan Nicolae and the anniversary of Father Ionut in the social hall of the church and prepared with much love by the ladies of the parish.The visit of His Eminence Nicolae was an occasion of great joy and confession of our Orthodox Christian faith. We thank him from the bottom of our hearts for the support given to the construction of the new wooden church in Maramureş style and we ask him to keep us in his prayers. We hope to see you again as soon as possible at the consecration of the wooden church, a symbol of the continuity of the Romanian spirit and our millennial tradition on the American lands!May 9, 2021Long Valley, New Jersey
