The Feast Day Celebration for the Parish of St. Paraskeva in Andover, MA, was once again an occasion of joy for the faithful and ministers, an opportunity to give thanks to God and to St. Paraskeva who has protected our parish for 27 years. The feast was full of emotions because in our holy church we were able to venerate part of the Holy Relics of Saint Nicolae, Archbishop of Myra in Lycia.
The celebration of the Feast began on Friday evening with the service of the Paraklesis of Saint Paraskeva and the Akathist of Saint Nicolae. On Saturday, Matins was officiated, followed by the Holy and Divine Liturgy by the parish priest, Father Nicolae, with Father Vasile Aileni from St. Nicholas Parish in Shrewsbury, MA and Father Ovidiu Sabău from Saint Andrew Parish in Reading, PA.
In the afternoon, His Eminence Nicolae, our Archbishop and Metropolitan of the Americas, was welcomed with joy. Later that same afternoon, there was also a meeting with the members of the Parish Council, the main topic on the agenda being the necessary preparations for the consecration of the new parish church.
On Saturday evening, Great Vespers was celebrated by His Eminence Nicolae together with the parish priest and Father Vasile Aileni. The sermon of His Eminence after Vespers focused on the teachings and decisions of the Holy Fathers at the seventh Ecumenical Council, which established the teaching of the right faith regarding the veneration due to the Holy Icons and Holy Relics.
On Sunday, Matins and the Holy and Divine Liturgy were celebrated by His Eminence Nicolae, together with the Vicar Father Nicholas Apostola and the parish priest. The teaching word of our Father Hierarch had two themes: the explanation of the parable of the sower and the life of St. Paraskeva, revealing new and profound teachings and necessary advice for each of us in the Christian life:
“A pure heart is a heart ready to receive the word of God through all spiritual efforts. But the pure heart must also be kind or merciful; therefore, the preparation for the word of God, the purity of the heart, must be complemented by mercy, by kindness. In a clean and good heart, the good word and the good deed are shown through the mercy shown to those in spiritual or material need.”
The fruits of the Holy Spirit, St. Paul tells us in his Epistle to the Galatians, are "love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, good works, faith, gentleness, self-control, purity" (Galatians 5:22-23). It should be noted here that love is placed first, then kindness, good works, which recalls the good heart in the parable of today, and then faith, gentleness, self-control, and purity. A clean and good heart is the spiritual state of those who wish to fill the sanctifying word of the Gospel and make it fruitful. We have countless examples in the Saints of the Church, in the multitude of categories of saints, of the Venerable and the Venerable Nuns, of the Fathers of the Church, of the martyrs, of holy families, who have fulfilled this preparation through repentance, fasting, prayer, the mysteries of the Church, and the Word of the Gospel has brought forth fruit in their souls.
Finally, at the end of the service, His Eminence presented on behalf of AROLA, the ladies Paula Ivan, Marga Evdochia Lincă and Silvia Obor with diplomas of gratitude for their particularly fruitful work over the years in our parish. The celebration of the feast day ended with the traditional agape meal in the social hall.
We thank God for everything!
Parish Priest Nicolae Simion
