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SERMON OF H.B. PATRIARCH THEOPHILOS III OF JERUSALEM IN ST. GEORGE THE NEW CHURCH.

Sunday 26 October 2014

 

Your Beatitude Patriarch of Romania Mr. Daniel,

Beloved brothers and sisters in Christ,

 

The Holy Spirit, that is the Spirit of Our Lord Jesus Christ has gathered us together in this beautiful and historical church of St. George the New to concelebrate the Divine
Liturgy and to participate in and partake of the blood and body of our Lord Jesus Christ, thus manifesting our unity with our Lord the Leader of our faith, and unity between our Churchest, the body of Christ.

For Us, this church is of special importance and a deeper meaning, for it symbolizes a tangible, brotherly, relationship between the Church of Jerusalem and the Church of Romania, having been consecrated by our predecessor great Patriarch Chrysanthos of Jerusalem on June 29,1707.

Our presence here amongst you is an affirmation of the continuous and unbroken bonds of love in our Lord Jesus Christ and His saints, who constitute the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and the Church of the first-born who are enrolled in heaven, (Heb.12:22,23).

It is not accidental that Saint George the New actually bears the name of the great martyr of the love of Christ, Saint George, whose relics were transferred in the biblical city of Lod, where upon his motaf was erected a magnificent Byzantine basilica in his name. According to Saint John Chrysostom, the Church of the first-born who are enrolled in heaven has triumphed over the evil powers of darkness.

Furthermore the saints together with the prophets and the Apostles decorate the undivided divine and human body of our Lord Jesus Christ. It is precisely the saints of the Church who help us to understand, by their incorruptible relics, the message of the salvific mission of the Church in a world that is subject to the influence of the death of corruption, i.e., sinfulness.

It is in this regard that Saint George the New stands as a living and visible beacon of the light of the true and enteral life that we are called to attain, since we have been baptized, and therefore clothed in Christ. That is to say, we have been imbued with His light.

Having honored Saint George the New, and having asked for the unity of the faith and the communion of the Holy Spirit, let us entrust ourselves and one another, and our whole life to Christ our God, through the intercessions of the most-blessed and glorious lady, the Theotokos and Ever-Virgin Mary and all the saints, Amen.

His Beatitude

THEOPHILOS III

Patriarch of Jerusalem