On Sunday the 5th of March, the Antiochian Orthodox Archdiocese gathered to celebrate the Sunday of Orthodoxy and the first Sunday of Great Lent at the church of St. Mary of the Nativity.
Parishioners had the opportunity to bring an icon from their home and join in the procession and participate in the prayers in order to rejoice in the Triumph of Orthodoxy and the silence of heresies from the years of iconoclastic controversy.
His Eminence Metropolitan Basilios led the vespers service and shared his wisdom on the challenges the faith endures in the modern world and how it is our duty as a Church to teach our kids the true faith and not waiver or succumb to the provocation that exists in society.
Your pure image do we venerate, O Good One, asking forgiveness of our sins, O Christ Our God; for by Your own will You did ascend the Cross in Your Body, to save Your creatures from the bondage of the enemy. Wherefore, with thankfulness we cry aloud to You: “You have verily filled all with joy, since You did come, O our saviour, to save the world.”
