All Church
Orthros at 9:00 and Divine Liturgy at 10:00 am
Koliva may be brought to the Divine Liturgy or purchased through the Church Office. Cost $25 per plate.
Please call the office at 917-624-0595 for more details.
Dear beloved parishioners,
We will soon enter Great and Holy Lent, a sacred season that calls us to slow down, to pray more deeply, and to remember who we are and whose we are. Lent is not simply a change in diet or schedule. It is a return. A return to repentance, to humility, and to the life of the Church that has shaped and sustained generations before us.
In the weeks preceding Great Lent, the Church observes the Saturday of the Souls, one of the most meaningful commemorations of the liturgical year. The Saturday of the Souls is dedicated to the prayerful remembrance of those who have fallen asleep in the Lord. From the earliest centuries of the Church, Orthodox Christians have gathered to pray for the departed, affirming our belief that death does not sever our communion with one another.
On these Saturdays, we offer memorial prayers and bring kollyva, a simple but powerful mixture of boiled wheat, nuts, and fruit. Kollyva is not a custom for custom’s sake. The wheat reminds us of Christ’s own words that unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains alone, but if it dies, it bears much fruit. We also submit the names of our departed loved ones, speaking them aloud before God, proclaiming that they are not forgotten and that their lives still matter within the life of the Church.
This is how Orthodox Christians remember. We pray. We gather. We bring offerings. We speak names. We teach our children why these things matter.
The Saturday of the Souls is important not only spiritually, but generationally. We often speak about preserving the Greek language, and rightly so. Language carries memory and identity. But our spiritual traditions and actions are just as vital. If our children and grandchildren do not see us praying for the departed, bringing kollyva, and participating in these sacred moments, those traditions quietly fade. What is not practiced is eventually lost.
By participating fully in days like the Saturday of the Souls, we safeguard the faith that was handed to us. We pass on more than words. We pass on lived theology, embodied prayer, and a way of understanding life, death, and hope through Christ.
May Great Lent strengthen us. May our prayers deepen our faith. And may the traditions we live and teach continue to take root in the hearts of the next generation.
With paternal love and prayers,
Rev. Evagoras Constantinides
Dean of the Cathedral