Shelton, Connecticut, November 20, 2024
Photo: mitropolia.us
A new Romanian Orthodox church was consecrated in Connecticut earlier this month.
On November 9-10, 2024, the Holy Brancoveanu Martyrs Mission in Shelton, Connecticut, received His Eminence Metropolitan Nicolae of the Romanian Orthodox Metropolia of the Americas to bless the new place of worship.
In July 2024, the Holy Brancoveanu Martyrs Mission acquired the building of the former Holy Trinity Lutheran Church in Shelton, Connecticut, which thus became the new place of worship for the mission, reports the Romanian Orthodox Metropolia of the Americas.
The celebration began on November 9 with Saturday evening Vespers officiated by Met. Nicolae, together with a group of priests. The service followed by a fraternal meal.
The next morning, Met. Nicolae celebrated the Divine Liturgy together with a group of priests, which was preceded by the Lesser Blessing of Waters (Sanctification) service served for the new building.
Photo: mitropolia.us
In his sermon, the Metropolitan interpreted the Gospel of Luke from the 25th Sunday after Pentecost, which tells the parable of the Good Samaritan, which the Holy Fathers interpret as the history of our salvation, with Christ as the Good Samaritan Who lifts fallen humanity from sin and death, just as the stranger helped the man among thieves.
While the priests and Levites of the Old Testament failed to help, God Himself came to show mercy, with the Samaritan’s wine and oil representing the Church’s Sacraments of Holy Communion and Baptism through which Christ heals us. The Church thus serves as the inn for spiritual and physical healing—as St. John Chrysostom says, it is a hospital for healing, not a tribunal for judgment—teaching us both how to view our fellow humans and revealing the symbolic history of our salvation.
The parish priest Archpriest Mihai Faur expressed words of gratitude to the fathers and all the faithful who participated in large numbers at this hierarchical service, as well as to all those who sacrificed and labored with love for these festive days. The service was followed by a fraternal meal.
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St. Constantin Brancoveanu was ruler of Wallachia from August 15, 1654 to August 15, 1714, when he was dethroned and captured by the Ottomans and transported to Istanbul together with his four sons where he was tortured and eventually executed by decapitation together with his sons and his treasurer Ianache Vacarescu. The holy Brancoveanu Martyrs were canonized by the Romanian Orthodox Church in 1992.
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