The Romanian Orthodox Community in Shrewsbury, Massachusetts celebrated its Patron, Saint Nicholas the Wonderworker, Archbishop of Myra. As probably the most beloved saint of the entire Orthodoxy, we prepared ourselves very well to celebrate St. Nicholas and also to receive the Orthodox Christians that came to visit our church.
His Eminence, our Father, Archbishop and Metropolitan Nicolae, in his message to our community says: “And as one who learned kindness from the Kind One, St. Nicholas took care of all those who needed help: those without material resources, those in peril on the seas, the hungry, the tired. Only the Kind One taught us that they are blessed who are poor in spirit, those who weep, and those who make peace. Through his life, St. Nicholas showed us how to understand those who seem impossible to understand. He showed us that we can be joyful and blessed when we weep, when we are poor, and when we are persecuted for Christ’s sake.”
Our church is blessed to host The Relics of St. Nicholas thus people from sisters’ churches come to venerate them.
We started our fest on Friday, December 1st, with the TeDeum service celebrating The Romanian National Day, flowed by Holy Unction. Thanks to Fr. Christopher Stamas and Fr. Onisie Morar for being with us!
Saturday, December 2nd, we prayed during Great Vespers for the wellbeing of our community and blessed the five loafs asking God to multiply them in our church and in our country. Thanks to Fr. Nicolae Simion and Fr. John Downie for praying with us! Sunday, after Divine Liturgy we had the Feast Day Luncheon. On December 5th and 6th, we served Vespers and the Divine Liturgy together with Fr. Mark Doku and Fr. Milad Selim.
Overall, we had a blessed, peaceful, and joyful Feast Day! Special thanks to our Lady’s Auxiliary, Parish Council and to all of you for supporting St. Nicholas Church!
God bless you all!
Fr. Vasile Aileni
