Sunday of St. Gregory Palamas at the Episcopal Cathedral "Holy Great Martyr George" in Saint-Hubert

On the second Sunday of Lent, His Grace Ioan Casian, the Romanian Orthodox Bishop of Canada, celebrated the Divine Liturgy surrounded by a group of priests in the Episcopal Cathedral "Saint George the Great Martyr" in Saint-Hubert.

In his sermon, the hierarch pronounced an exegesis of the evangelical pericope, speaking of the healing of the paralytic man and its theological symbolism. After placing the episode in the liturgical context of the period we are going through, the hierarch spoke about the symbolic significance of the paralytic man, which some of the Church Fathers see as the image of the fallen humanity and his four friends as images of the four Gospels. which are meant to bring man closer to Christ. The aspects that defined the geography and architecture of the Holy Land during the time of the Savior were also brought to attention. Thus, the Romanian hierarch of Canada showed that since the roof was flat and built mainly of easily dislocated elements, the four friends managed to avoid the congestion that blocked their access to the Christ and to slip the patient to Him over.

The faith of friends was also an important aspect on which the homily was focused. HG Bishop Ioan Casian thus showed that, as the Holy Fathers would like to point out, the healing of the paralytic was done thanks to his friends.

As it was in the Old Testament, so it is in the New Testament. Nothing has changed in this regard. Forgiveness of sins is not an attribute of our human nature. No matter how much we want to forgive sins, we cannot do it in the sense that God does. Sins are forgiven by God. "Son, your sins are forgiven" is therefore a statement about the identity of the Savior the hierarch stressed.

The religious service was attended by many believers from Saint-Hubert and the surrounding area, as well as many young people. Thank God for everything!

Notes by

Protos. Maxim Morariu