Deacon ordination at the feast of St. Demetrius and Holy Three Hierarchs Parish

from Richmond Hill / Toronto

On the 24th Sunday after Pentecost, His Grace Bishop Ioan Casian was present among the faithful of the Saint Demetrius and Saint Three Hierarchs Basile, Gregory and John from Richmond Hill, Ontario. The priests serving together with the hierarch were Fr. Viorel Țencaliuc, the parish priest of this church and dean of Canada Centre and Fr. Mihail Cristea from St. Parascheva and St. Prophet Elijah the Prophet Parish from Newmarket, Ontario.

During the Holy Liturgy, the ordination to the rank of deacon of the theologian Ștefan Cârcoană was also officiated.

In the homily given at the end of the Holy Liturgy, the Romanian hierarch spoke about the two healings from this Sunday's Gospel passage and about the role of faith in physical and spiritual healing: « In the case of the woman with blood bleeding in today's Gospel, the Savior felt that the person who touched Him, did it with faith and with the hope that God would heal her. Her healing was performed by the grace of God because of her faith.

This shows us how important is our faith and our coming to church to meet God. It is very important to believe that God can work in your personal life a change or a physical or spiritual healing. It is faith that brings us close to God, makes us able to contemplate Him closely, and thereby receive healing. »

Speaking about the other example from the Gospel, the hierarch said:

« As for the episode of the resurrection of Jairus' daughter, it deals with a deeper problem of our life, namely death. As we know, God gives Adam freedom to choose and use all the good things of Paradise, except for the tree of knowledge of good and evil. Through the commandment not to eat from it, God draws attention to man's desire not trying to appropriate the knowledge of the created world without God's blessing because the sin of separation from God brings death.

Nothing can be done appropriately in the human life in this world without God's blessing. Nothing can be accomplished without His help. And this is because the world, the heaven, man and woman, were all created by God and He is the Architect who knows best everything about this world. We cannot wish to form a superfial opinion about what God created because it would not be authentic. We are not the architects of this world. We can by faith and love humble ourselves and receive the true knowledge of the world which means its contemplation thanks to the work of grace. We may be good at interpreting what we see, but we are not the Architect of it. »

Next, the Romanian hierarch of Canada spoke about the contemporary world and the importance of looking at it through the lens of the Gospel and the Church, i.e. the word of God:

« Looking at the society we live in, the arguments we hear in the conflicts that take place today in which thousands of people die, are based on superficial opinions. Even if sometimes they are better justified - the defense of the country or nation - still their justification is very limited and contextual.

When we come to the Church, God reminds us through the scriptural texts, through the text of Church services and the words of clergy, who we really are. The true value of different doctrines, such as the atheistic regime that said there is no God and defined man from an economic, cultural and social point of view also formed by the simple opinions of some people, can be weighted by the unimaginable number of victims it created.

Christ, the Son of God died on the cross. He died for us all. That is why it is important to read and to understand our human tradition through the lens of the Holy Scriptures, the word of God. We can thus see the aspects in society that are not beneficial to us, that bring hatred, malice, violence, destruction, etc. »

HG Bishop Ioan Casian spoke further about the power of Christ conquering death:

« The three disciples that the Savior took with Him when He entered the room where the child who died, was laid, are the same ones that He also took on Mount Tabor at the Transfiguration: Peter, Jacob and John. We see in this Gospel that death, which entered man's life because of sin and the falling away  from God in Paradise, can be overcome at the Savior's command: Child, arise! Christ's command shows through the resurrection of the child that He, Christ, is above death. He is the Giver of life. His word was sufficient to bring about his resurrection. He did not pray for a long time like Elijah and Elisha. They were God's elect, but they were not divine persons. They needed prayer towards God in order that He may work the miracle of resurrection. Christ accomplished it by Himself. »

Before receiving the final blessing, the believers venerated the relics of St. Constantin Brancoveanu, St. Calinic of Cernica, St. Grigory the Metropolitan of Wallachia, St. Adrei Șaguna and St. Irodion of Lainici.

The celebration ended with a festive agape meal organized by the ladies of the parish coordinated by Presbytera Ioana Țencaliuc.

(notes by Nun Ana)