Source: Antiochian.org
Metropolitan Philip of Thrice-Blessed Memory Celebrates Pascha in 2013
Beloved in Christ:
Greetings to you and your families as we begin our season of fasting, prayer and almsgiving. I pray you are having a blessed beginning of the Fast.
March 19 will mark the one-year anniversary of the falling-asleep of our beloved Metropolitan PHILIP of thrice-blessed memory. It is hard to believe a whole year has already passed since our father and chief-shepherd of more than 48 years reposed. His life and legacy will continue to be with us and inspire us for many years to come. May God rest his soul with the saints and may his memory be eternal!
So that we might commemorate this anniversary in a unified way, I am directing all of our hierarchs and clergy to hold Trisagion Prayers of Mercy in their respective parishes throughout the entire archdiocese on Sunday, March 22 (the Fourth Sunday of the Fast) at the conclusion of the Divine Liturgy.
I will preside over the official memorial at St. Nicholas Cathedral in Brooklyn, NY on that Sunday along with several guest hierarchs from our sister jurisdictions. Along with any of our hierarchs that might be able, any clergy who would like to join me that day for the liturgy are also welcome to do so as long as they have a replacement for their respective parishes and their churches remain open. If you wish to be present and to serve in the Cathedral that Sunday, please contact the Cathedral Dean, Archpriest Thomas Zain, at abounathomas@me.com.
While the one-year memorial traditionally marks the end of the official mourning period in the Church, I urge you to continue to remember our late father in Christ in your proskomedia commemorations and personal prayers, keeping in mind all we have inherited from his tireless labors and prayers over almost half a century.
Wishing you a blessed and spiritually rewarding Fast, I remain,
Your Father in Christ,
+Metropolitan JOSEPH, Primate
Archbishop of New York and Metropolitan of all North
America
