HG Bishop Ioan Casian participated in the anniversary

of twenty years from the reception of the gift of episcopacy of HEm Metropolitan Nicolae

On Saturday, July 2, HG Bishop Ioan Casian with Hieromonk Policarp (Athenagoras) participated in the special event dedicated to the twentieth anniversary of hierarchical service of HEm Nicolae, the Romanian Orthodox Metropolitan of the Americas, during the Congress of the Romanian Orthodox Archdiocese of USA held at Holy Trinity Parish in Troy, MI.

After the reading of the congratulatory message of His Beatitude Patriarch Daniel at the event, the Romanian hierarch of Canada spoke, emphasizing the following:

"It is an important event to which we are all present at. As I pointed out in the anniversary message, I would like to mention at this time the role and openness that His Eminence had in creating the metropolitan context and structure that could contribute to the unification of all Romanians in the two Americas. It is a vision whose base has been laid and awaits the fulfillment.

Our mission as a Church, as a whole - clergy and believers - is very important. We are faced in contemporary society with challenges that we must respond today with the duty of the Christian mission."

Then HG Bishop Ioan Casian offered an icon of St. Nicholas on behalf of the two dioceses and from the Diocese of Canada a set - engolpion and cross -, a collection of Pastoral Letters, the series of the diocesan magazine The Word as well as other books.

Other messages followed from Rev. Fr. Nicholas Apostola – Chancellor, from AROLA and ROYA.

In the evening of the same day, the Vespers service was held. In his speech at the end, Bishop Ioan Casian said:

“Tomorrow's Gospel reminds us of the importance of discernment in our Christian lives. It depends for us on the purity of the inner eye which is done through the work of the Holy Spirit and the cooperation of man. At the Descent of the Holy Spirit, humanity receives the grace of the Holy Spirit that gives us the opportunity to become holy. The examples of the saints in our calendars are just as many testimonies and possibilities to live holiness in every time and place.

Does so-called carelessness about the worries of this world mean being irresponsible? Not at all. It means taking on the worries of the world with the force and spirit of God that will help us solve the difficulties we face in the spirit of God.”

Next, HEm Metropolitan Nicolae offered HG Bishop Ioan Casian a set - engolpion and cross - and an icon with the Hesychast Saints patron of 2022 on the occasion of the sixteenth anniversary of his ordination as bishop.

On Sunday, July 3, the Divine Liturgy was celebrated by the two hierarchs surrounded by a group of priests participating at the Congress. HEm Metropolitan Nicolae in his homily stressed the importance of the role of the Christian in contemporary society and how to approach the concerns of this world from the perspective of God.

The event ended with a festive agape meal.