On Friday, February 28th and Saturday, February 29th, 2020 His Eminence Archbishop and Metropolitan Nicolae made a pastoral visit to St. John Cassian Mission of San Antonio, TX.
On Friday, February 28th, HE Nicolae served Vespers in the new Church of the Mission with the parish priest Valentin Ilieş and Fr. Iulian Aniței from the Protection of the Mother of God parish of Houston, TX and Fr. Vasile Tudora from St. John the Baptist Greek Orthodox parish of Euless, TX. The answers were offered by six members of the Tronos choir of the Romanian Patriarchate led by Archdeacon Mihail Bucă to the great joy of the large number of the faithful of the parish that were in attendance. As an introduction to the next day sermon on the life and mission of Saints John Cassian and Gherman of Dobrogea, the hierarch spoke about the monastic life of the second half of the 4th century, as showed by the two monks.
On Saturday, February 29th, His Eminence served the Divine Liturgy surrounded by several priests: Fr. Valentin Ilieş, Fr. Dumitru Ilieș from St. Mary's parish of Austin, Fr. Iulian Aniței, Fr. Vasile Tudora, Fr. Mark Vair from St. Ephrem's Antiochian Church and Fr. David Wooten from St. Anthony the Great Church (OCA) of San Antonio.
In his sermon the hierarch spoke about the mission of St. John Cassian, the founder of Western monasticism, by transposing the experience of the Eastern Fathers into the specificity of Christianity in Gaul at the beginning of the 5th century. Then, he continued about the confession of Orthodoxy as the responsibility of all who are on this path:
"We do not know what happened to St. Gherman after completing the mission in Rome with St. John Cassian. But we know that one of his disciples, another Gherman (Herman) came to Alaska in 1794. One of our brothers born in Dobrogea brought Orthodox monasticism to Western Europe, and one of the other monk’s disciples brought Orthodoxy on the American soil, calling us all to follow this Orthodoxy and confess it. We are all disciples of St. John Cassian, of St. Gherman and St. Herman of Alaska. We are Orthodox, and their disciples are called to be witnesses of Christian faith in the world.”
HE Metropolitan Nicolae referred to the unity of the Church today and urged to prayer:
"You know that the unity of our Orthodox Church is being challenged hard today. We must pray for the restoration of the unity of our Orthodox Church, so that we can be together at the Divine Liturgy, as we have done here today. The Orthodox Church means unity, it means the opportunity to pray together as brothers and sisters, though in different languages, but being in one place and bringing the same eucharistic sacrifice and sharing the same cup. This is the unity of the Orthodox Churches, which is shaken today.”
"Perhaps we, the servants of the altar, have more responsibilities than you, the faithful, but the Church is not made up only of bishops, priests and deacons. The church is all of us. We are all responsible for maintaining the unity of the Orthodox Church. We need to fervently pray to God and ask Him to help us overcome these divisions together, to help us return to the unity of our Church.”
At the end of the Divine Liturgy, the members of the Tronos choir held a byzantine music concert and patriotic songs appreciated by the Romanians from San Antonio, many of them who had left Romania for many years. The agape meal prepared with much love and effort by the Ladies Committee concluded the pastoral visit of HE Metropolitan Nicolae to St. John Cassian Mission.
Glory to God for all!
Father Valentin Ilies
