Hierarchical visit and liturgical communion

in Windsor, Ontario on April 13-14, 2024

During April 13-14, His Grace Bishop Ioan Casian was in the middle of the Romanian community in Windsor, Ontario. In the evening of April 13, our hierarch officiated the Vespers service at the Descent of the Holy Spirit Parish in Windsor, together with Fr. Nicolae Codrea, diocesan secretary and Protos. Corneliu Andrasco. At the end of Vespers, the hierarch in his homily highlighted the spiritual pilgrimage of Great Lent and the useful spiritual teachings that emerge from the evangelical pericope of the Fourth Sunday of Great Lent, also called of St. John of the Ladder:

"Through the disobedience of Adam and Eve, who tasted from the fruit of the forbidden tree, man no longer knows how to talk to God; he loses the understanding of how he should address God. Through our participation in Church services and obedience to God's commandments, we relearn to speak spiritually, we learn how to address God."

Next, HG Bishop Ioan Casian highlighted the connection between the young man who had a mute and deaf spirit and the consequences of man's fall into sin, which make man powerless to listen to God and communicate with Him:

"The young man from the Gospel that will be read tomorrow represents the image of man, who after the fall, loses hearing and understanding of the word of God. Coming to the Church, we begin to glimpse into the image of paradise lost through disobedience."

The next day, on the Sunday of St. John of the Ladder, HG Bishop Ioan Casian celebrated the Divine Liturgy in the Cathedral dedicated to St. Great Martyr George and St. Andrei Șaguna, Metropolitan of Transylvania. At 9h30, the hierarch was greeted, according to tradition, with the Holy Gospel by the Protos. Corneliu Andrașco, the parish priest of the Cathedral and by many believers of the Romanian community in Windsor and its surroundings. At 10h00, he hierarch celebrated the Holy Liturgy at the end of which he gave a homily to those present.

"The last Sunday before the beginning of Great Lent is the Sunday of Adam's Expulsion from Paradise. It clearly indicates to us that the period of Great Lent is a time of personal spiritual introspection in which a particular spiritual effort is made that we associate with physical fasting. But fasting is not only a physical one, but also involves a spiritual rigor. The religious services during this period are longer. On the first five Sundays of Great Lent, on Thursday and Holy Saturday, the Liturgy of St. Basil the Great is also performed, distinct from that of St. John Chrysostom, which is served throughout the church year."

Speaking about the creation of man by God and the fall into sin, the hierarch said: "Man is not destined for death, but for eternal life. God, who is eternal, could not create man in view of death. Death came because of disobedience and sin. The devil presented God to man as his rival or competitor, deceiving him. The devil thus presents God in the image of man; it reduces God to the level of a creature like any other earthly creature. "

Referring to the reading of the day, the hierarch said: "In today's Gospel we see the example of a possessed young man who is brought to Christ. His father tells the Lord that his son is possessed by a dumb spirit. But Christ gives him the correct diagnosis even before the healing, when he commands the dumb and deaf spirit to come out of child. The one who possessed the young man was the devil. If we try to look through the lens of this miraculous event, the moment of the fall and its consequences, we can talk about two important things that affected the life of man. Man, through sin, loses communication with God. He begins to no longer know the language in which he should address God; and he becomes progressively spiritually deaf at the same time because he no longer understands the word of God. This is a spiritual muteness and deafness and not necessarily a physical one

The church is precisely the place where man comes to relearn to speak to God and to hear God's word.. Man's healing comes as a result of his demand and prayer. Each liturgical day begins with the cry of the Prophet David, which makes up the song of Vespers, O Lord, I have cried to you, hear me, and which culminates with the Holy Liturgy, during which we partake of the Body and Blood of Christ as food for eternal life – the hierarch said. Healing appears as the fruit of man's desire and prayer but is nourished by communion with God through His word, His grace and Holy Communion. They help man to grow spiritually in the likeness of God. "

Finally, Protos. Corneliu thanked HG Bishop Ioan Casian for the prayer service and episcopal blessing brought to the Romanian community in Windsor and offered the hierarch an icon of the Mother of God as a sign of appreciation and gratitude from the parish community.

Together with HG Bishop Ioan Casian and Protos. Corneliu concelebrated s Fr. Ilie Dimitrievsky, retired priest within the jurisdiction of the Orthodox Church of North Macedonia in the USA and Canada.

(notes by Protosyngellos Corneliu Andrasco)