The year 2022 brought for the Annunciation Cathedral in Olmsted Falls, Ohio, 86 years blessed by the Good Lord - years in which thousands of Romanians, some continued, while others began the most important work of man on this earth: the working out of the salvation of the soul that can never be conditioned by time and space. These 86 years of existence of our Romanian Church in the American lands, brings a spiritual strength, especially if we think about the countless prayer offerings brought to the Holy Altar that have comforted souls longing for salvation in the Apostolic Orthodox Faith, inherited from our ancestors. In this way, every Romanian was able to become the "light to foreign peoples" of true life in Jesus Christ our God, awakening their curiosity and desire to follow the path of truth and life.
So that each of us may understand, at this time of weakening faith caused by the turmoil in the world, that the Savior Jesus Christ, together with all the saints and the Mother of God are with us, this year's anniversary was blessed with the immense joy of having in our midst the myrrh-streaming Hawaiian Icon of the Mother of God. As its caretaker, Father Deacon Nektarios, says: "The icon goes only where the Mother of God wishes." We received the news that the Icon would come to our church when we got the message: "we can come on Saturday evening, if you are available", and we immediately understood that this could not have been better, as Saturday evening marked the beginning of the celebration of the anniversary of our church with Hierarchical Vespers - celebrated together with our Archbishop and Metropolitan Nicolae, who gives our parish great joy on every anniversary and on other occasions as well.
The Icon of the Mother of God gathered about 600 Romanian, Greek, American, Russian, Ukrainian, Antiochian, Albanian believers at our church, first to comfort them and then to celebrate the 86th anniversary of the presence of the Church of her Son among the Romanian community. May the Church remain, through the prayers and grace bestowed upon it, pure and unstained for our children and their children, until the Second Coming of Our Lord! We thank the Mother of God for having visited even our church.
This beautiful icon is a copy of the Iveron Icon of the Theotokos from Mount Athos. The icon was received as a gift in 1997 by its present caretaker, Father Deacon Nektarios of Hawaii, and in 2007 the icon began to stream myrrh; in 2008 it was officially recognized as a miracle-working icon by the ROCOR Synod. This year marks the 15-year anniversary since the icon began performing thousands of miracles, comforted millions of people, travelled all over the Orthodox world showing people the tangible gift of God to strengthen their faith.
The celebration of our anniversary continued the next day, Sunday, September 18, when His Eminence Metropolitan Nicolae celebrated the Hierarchical Divine Liturgy together with the Most Reverend Father Ioan Gherman and with the parish priest. In His Eminence Nicolae's homily, on the Sunday after the Exaltation of the Holy Cross, we received the exhortation to deny ourselves of all our weaknesses and sins and to follow Christ, the only true God who is the Way, the Truth, and the Life.
At the end of the Liturgy, we had an agape meal at the Crystal Party Center where, in addition to the anniversary banquet, we enjoyed an artistic program of Romanian songs and poems by the Sunday school children who reminded us of the "green grass of home".
First of all, we would like to thank His Eminence Nicolae for adorning this feast with fatherly love, the women's group for the tasty food generously provided during these two days of celebration, the Parish Council for the great organization, the Sunday School teachers, together with our children and all the members of our Parish, as we are all one big family blessed by God and each one of us contributes to the maintenance and care of this holy place. Glory to God for all things!
Your brother in Christ,
Father Petru Neaga, parish priest
Olmsted Falls, OH
20 September 2022
