On the Sunday of Pentecost, the Holy Trinity parish of Troy celebrated its feast day. Like every year, on this occasion, HE Metropolitan Nicolae was present among the faithful of our community. The feast days began with the celebration of Vespers by HE Nicolae, surrounded by a group of priests from the Romanian Orthodox Churches in the Detroit area: Fr. Laurence Lazar (St. George's Cathedral, Southfield), Fr. Aurel Sas (Church of St. Simion, Westland), Fr. Stefan Vlad (Church of St. Theodora of Sihla, Royal Oak) and Fr. Călin Barbolovici, parish priest. After the service of the Vespers, the Te Deum service was celebrated as thanksgiving for the protection of God for our nation and our country. Also, on the occasion of the Centennial of the achievement of the Romanian unitary national state through the realization of the Great Union on 1 December 1918. At the end of the service, the flags that would remain in the church were blessed to testify about the sacrifice and love that the ancestors had endeavored to achieve the Union in one country. In conclusion, HE Nicolae spoke of the importance and significance of the act of the Great Union on 1 December 1918.
The theme of the Great Union was the subject of the program presented by the children from the Sunday School, on the stage of the social hall, a program of poetry and patriotic songs. At the end of the presentation, all participants danced the Hora Unirii. Also, with the blessing of Patriarch Daniel, Metropolitan Nicolae made available to our parish a set of pictures from the time of the Great Union from the library of the Holy Synod. Pictures were exposed in the social hall for viewing. The evening ended with the dinner where all the participants were invited.
On Sunday, at the Feast of the Descent of the Holy Spirit, HE Metropolitan Nicolae served the Divine Liturgy, assisted by Fr. Călin and Deacon Aurel. At the appointed time, HE Nicolae prayed for the rest of the souls of the founders, benefactors, clergy, and believers of the Holy Trinity Church. In the sermon, HE Nicolae urged the believers to use the time given to us by God to endeavor to enter the Kingdom of God and not to be indifferent to the Spirit Who is given to us in every Divine Liturgy, trying to reap the fruits of the Spirit: love, joy, peace, long-suffering, faith, goodness, purity. He then spoke of the anniversary of the Centenary of the Great Union, noting the wound of division that still exists between the Orthodox Romanians in America.
During the festive meal after the Divine Liturgy, the children from the Sunday School presented a new program consisting of instrumental music pieces ending with Hora Unirii.
On his return to Chicago, HE Nicolae, accompanied by Fr. Călin and a group of believers, arrived in the Graveyard cemetery of Vatra Românească in Grass Lake, Michigan, where he prayed for the rest of the souls of the Holy Trinity Church believers buried there, as well as for Fr. Archimandrite Felix Dubneac, who painted icons on the iconostasis in Troy and many other Romanian churches in the United States and Canada.
Father Călin Barbolovici
