Liturgical communion in the Holy Mysteries and the Holy Liturgy

and multicultural fellowship in Kelowna

- The Sunday of Adam's expulsion from Heaven -

On Saturday and Sunday, March 16 and 17, the Orthodox faithful in the Kelowna / Okanagan Valley area had the joy and blessing of participating in two powerful liturgical and spiritual moments at the Romanian Orthodox Mission St. Nectarios of Aegina in Kelowna.

On Saturday, March 16, one of the seven Holy Mysteries of the Orthodox Church, the Mystery of the Holy Unction was celebrated by His Grace Ioan Casian, the Romanian Orthodox Bishop of Canada and five other priests from Montreal, Vancouver, Edmonton and Calgary – Fr. Mircea Panciuk, Fr. Nicu Liuță, Fr. Gheorghe Petrovan and Fr. Ciprian Pavel Roman.

All gathered to pray and celebrate the one year anniversary of the establishment of the new Orthodox Mission in Kelowna and to serve together with Rev. Fr. Ciprian Pavel Roman, the parish priest. Fr. Ciprian was also celebrating one year since his ordination as a priest.

The Orthodox Church teaches us that participation in the Sacrament of Holy Unction is particularly beneficial for those who are sick and who have confessed their sins.

HG Bishop Ioan Casian brought with him the holy relics of St. Nectarios of Aegina and four other saints - St. Constantin Brâncoveanu, St. Grigorie Dascălu, St. Andrei Saguna and St. Irodion from Lainici - to venerate and pray in their presence.

On Sunday, March 17, the faithful participated in the Divine Liturgy. As always encouraged by Fr. Ciprian, the English, Greek and Ukrainian speakers present read the Creed and the Our Father prayer in their own languages.

In the homily given at the end of the Holy Liturgy, the hierarch said:

"The Sunday of the Expulsion of Adam from Heaven is the last of the four Sundays preceding Holy and Great Lent. Fasting, in its spiritual but also material meaning, because we also fast bodily, represents an effort that has the role of helping man to return to his first human state, pure, to move away from sin, to correct injustice and to reintegrate in his own life, as much as is possible for a human person, the condition of Paradise – which means knowing God and obeying His word. If this had happened, humanity would not have reached the conditions of our world today, with conflicts, injustices, wars, sins, inequalities, lies, etc.

The Church teaches us at this beginning of the Great Lent, through the words of St. Paul the Apostle, to put on Christ, to do what Christ did in His life, to try to appropriate His way of living so that in this way we can become more and more like Him who is our Savior without sin.

Assuming the condition of Christ helps us to remove more and more sins and injustices from our lives.

The efficacy of this work of Christ in our lives, if we assume it by faith, is immediate. St. Paul says in the Epistle to the Romans (chapter 13): it is the very hour to wake up from sleep; for now, salvation is nearer to us than we believe. The night is at an end; the day is near. But let us cast off the things of darkness and put on the weapons of light. Let us walk decently, as in the day: not in revelry and drunkenness, not in debauchery and shameful deeds, not in strife and quarrels; but clothe yourselves in the Lord Jesus Christ and do not take care of your body for lust."

Next, the hierarch spoke about the weapons or means with which the Christian fights in the spiritual life against evil and which help him to get closer to Christ:

"What are these weapons of light that lead us to Christ, who is the Light of the world? We find the answer in today's Gospel, in which we find three great exhortations that bring us closer to the likeness with Christ: forgiveness, fasting, non-laying up treasures on earth.

Forgiveness of our neighbor's sins conditions God's forgiveness of our sins: If you forgive people their sins, your heavenly Father will also forgive you your sins; and if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses. St. John Chrysostom says that the virtue that brings us closest to the likeness with God is forgiving the sins of our fellows.

Next, Christ shows us in the Holy Gospel the way in which we should fast: When you fast, do not be sad like the hypocrites; that they darken their faces, to show to men that they are fasting. Verily I say unto you, They have received their reward. But you, when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, so that you do not appear to men to be fasting, but to your Father who is in secret, and your Father who sees in secret will reward you. On the Sunday of the Publican and the Pharisee we could see that there is a way of fasting that is not the most suitable and does not receive its full reward from God - that of the Pharisee. The latter boasts of fulfilling God's commandments but despises the people around him. The advice from today's Gospel is to not show a sad face when you fast like those who outwardly show that they are fasting, but to do everything within the heart, discreetly, and so the Heavenly God will see our effort and love.

The third admonition that will help us become like God concerns perseverance: Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break through and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys them and where thieves do not break in and steal them. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. Our greatest treasure is faith. When our hope is placed in God, in the Holy Trinity, in the entire mystery of God's work in the Church, our treasure will be spiritual, and we will become spiritual beings. Depending on what we have in our heart we will also see the results in our bodily life. If we want to be people of heaven, we must have the values of heaven in our hearts. If we want to return to heaven, we must live according to the realities that God created in the beginning."

The Orthodox Christians of different ethnicities in Kelowna / Okanagan Valley were able to enjoy these days of spiritual experience: "It is a blessing for the believers in the Okanagan Valley to feel welcomed by Father Ciprian and the other Romanian believers in communion and prayer. I cannot find words that are good enough to describe the power and effect of the two events on some of us. God bless all who helped put it together and prayed for us all before the Lord. Many thanks to the Romanian community because it is truly inclusive" said Mrs. Olga Magyar, one of the participants in the two events.

Next, HG Bishop Ioan Casian wished Father Ciprian good health, courage and zeal in the pastoral work he has carried out with so much dedication until now and gave him an icon of the Mother of God as a sign of blessing and encouragement.

  At the end, the hierarch blessed those present.

(notes by Nun Ana Bulgariu & Olga Magyar)