This Sunday is the first of Great Lent, which is the Sunday of Orthodoxy. We all have been to the Divine Liturgy and appreciated the procession of the icons by our Sunday School Children. We do this to give them a strong identity with their Church. In today’s world, identity has become politicized, and young people are identifying according to the wrong values. What we as Church are attempting to instill in our youth—which really means in all of us—is an identification with their faith.
Who are we first and foremost? Christians. What are we? Orthodox Christians. Whom do we follow? Jesus Christ as did all the saints who have gone before us to show the way. This is our identity as children of God.
On Sunday evening we further proclaim this message and our adherence to One Faith, the Orthodox Christian Faith. We do so by gathering together for a Pan-Orthodox Great Vespers service. Priests, chanters, choir members, acolytes and faithful from various Orthodox backgrounds annually come together to proclaim not only the victory of Iconography as a sacred tradition, but of all the dogmas of the Orthodox Faith—to proclaim our identity.
For those who may not be aware, for eight years now we have been participating in this annual Triumph of Orthodoxy Great Vespers. Each year, it has been celebrated at a different Orthodox parish. If you have never attended, you missed a great event and missed out on meeting our brothers and sisters beyond our parochial confines.
This year we are the host parish. We will have the Richmond area churches (one Greek Orthodox and two Orthodox Church in America parishes) and the Hampton Roads area churches (three Greek Orthodox, an Orthodox Church in America, a Romanian Orthodox, and an Antiochian Orthodox parishes) coming to St. Demetrios. As we are the host of this great event, we especially need to turn out. At least 12 priests will be concelebrating as well as many chanters and choir members. The Very Reverend Chrysostomos Onyekakeyah is our invited guest speaker.
Fr. Chrysostomos is a Nigerian priest, ordained under the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Alexandria and All Africa in the Orthodox Diocese of Nigeria. He now serves in the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America as the Project Coordinator for Mission and Outreach Development. He received his Master’s of Divinity degree at St. Vladimir’s Seminary in Crestwood, New York. For 18 years, he worked in the mission field in different regions of Nigeria and the Benin Republic. Fr. Chrysostomos founded numerous parish stations, one Mission Nursery/Primary School of St. Christopher’s, Prayer groups, and a vibrant Youth’s Association. He is the author of four Orthodox Books, including the well-known Orthodoxy in Africa. The theme of his address to us on Sunday will be “Baptizing Culture.”
Please, as the host parish of this event, let us have an excellent turnout. Be here to support me and to be good hosts to our sister Orthodox Christian parishes. The Great Vespers will begin at 5:00 p.m. on Sunday.
