"We worship Your holy face, O Good One,
asking forgiveness for our faults, O Christ our God..."
(Sunday of Orthodoxy Troparion)
Great Lent or Lent of Pascha has been and continues to be the greatest opportunity for Orthodox Christians to enjoy the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ through the Divine Services, by following the footsteps of His saints, humbly rising from the multitude of sins, fasting, praying, confessing their sins, and partaking in the sacrament of Holy Communion with the Body and Blood of the Lord, all under the unfailing love and protection of the Eternal God for us weak and sinful.
The holy and wonderful faces of the inhabitants of heaven, depicted in the icons painted on church walls, surround the souls of the parishioners, emanating love, sanctification, mercy, sacrifice and holy life. Many of the faithful feel the descent of the Holy Spirit through the mercy and love of the Holy Trinity in the midst of the Holy Church of the Saviour Jesus Christ.
This year the faithful of the St. Nicholas and St. George Church community in New York turned out in large numbers for the church's services during the first week of Great Lent.
The Liturgy on the Sunday of Orthodoxy celebrated a week of repentance and cleansing of the souls of the faithful. After the Divine Liturgy followed the beautiful and traditional procession of icons carried by the children of the church, led by the parish priest, in memory of the victory of Orthodoxy over iconoclasm in 843.
Therefore, strengthened by humility and by love for the Savior Christ and for their neighbor, for the Mother of God, for the saints, the faithful of the Church of St. Nicholas and St. George in New York became more enriched, more merciful, more enlightened by the Holy Spirit, making a new beginning for the passage through the Holy and Great Lent and the ascent to the bright and great Feast of the Resurrection.
Prof. Tudor Spătaru
