Easter Sunday at "Saint George the Great Martyr" Diocesan Cathedral from Saint-Hubert
An important number of Romanian Orthodox faithful from Saint-Hubert, Montreal, and the surrounding area attended the Resurrection service at the Diocesan Cathedral „St. George the Great Martyr” from Saint-Hubert, Quebec. The events presided over by His Grace Ioan Casian, the Romanian Orthodox Bishop of Canada, began on Saturday at 11 PM EST with the Canon of the Great Saturday. At midnight, all those present took the light and participated in the Canon of the Resurrection, followed by Divine Liturgy.
Due to the spiritual profile of the period, many believers received the Holy Eucharist in the Divine Liturgy. Also, at the appointed time, the pastoral letter of the first Bishop of the Romanian diocese of Canada was read. Here, the hierarch spoke both about the importance of the Eucharist and prayer in the Christian's life, referring to the character given by the Holy Synod of the Romanian Orthodox Church in 2022, and realizing a radiography of the situation of the contemporary world, speaking about the relevance of the dialogue, and living in the spirit of Scripture for the contemporary people:
"During the two years of the pandemic, we experienced moments of weakening of our ecclesial communion due to sanitary restrictions. Recently, the whole world, especially the Orthodox one, has been shaken by the armed conflict between Russia and Ukraine. This and other similar things not long ago spent are events that must remind us all the reality of violence and death present in our society. They should further convince us of the need for dialogue, communication, and communion between us as a means of resolving these issues. It should also make us better understand the deep void left by the loss of human life, the suffering caused by incalculable material damage and other consequences that are always impossible to foresee. Conflict should not justify the need to create more means to continue this cycle of violence and death, as it is the case today and was in the past. Otherwise, we will be participants in the same show that is repeated every time with other actors, in a different cultural and material context, but with the same scenario that brings suffering and death. The rationale of the existence and the seduction of these conflicts is often disguised in ‘legal grounds or humanitarian causes.’ However, on closer inspection in the light of the Holy Scriptures, the words, life, and deeds of Christ, all of these prove to be poor, misleading, damaging, and deeply distressing” underlined the Bishop Ioan Casian.
The events continued from 2pm EST with the service of the Easter Vespers, also known as the "Second Resurrection", in which the Holy Gospel was read in several languages.
Protos. Dr. Maxim Morariu
the ecclesiarch of the Diocesan Cathedral "Saint George the Great Martyr" from Saint-Hubert
