The holy prophet, psalmist and king, David, sings: “And they that seek the Lord shall not be deprived of any good thing.” The merciful Lord, Whose eyes behold all, certainly did not neglect His humble flock in Eugene. The parish of St. John the Wonderworker found itself thrice blessed on the Sunday April 7th, with the great and holy Feast of Annunciation, coinciding with the celebration of the Holy Cross, and the joy being accentuated by the coming of His Grace Bishop Maxim.

The holy solemnity began with the arrival of His Grace on Saturday evening, being received by Father John Suvak, Protodeacon Stephen Dyer, and many parishioners who came out with hymns and flowers to honor their Master in Christ. Upon entering the Church, His Grace gave the blessing to commence Great Vespers, to which the service of Lity in honor of the Feast was joined. To the edification of the people, His Grace served Lity interceding before Lord for his people and blessing the five loaves. This solemn and reverent service ended with the people receiving the festive nourishment of the Artoklasia, and the sacred anointing of the Feast from the hand of their Bishop.

The day of Annunciation dawned brightly, with the sun fittingly for such an occasion, pushing aside the gloom of the clouds. Again, the festal celebration began with the arrival of the Hierarch being greeted by the faithful. Upon vesting, His Grace honored this humble parish, by raising the servant of God, Dimitrios Johnson, to the rank of Reader. To the glory of the Incarnation was added the solemnity of the Lord’s Cross. The newly tonsured and vested Reader then immediately led the choir in the Great Doxology of Orthros, while Father John carried out the Holy Cross from the Altar. After the veneration of the Cross, the Liturgy began.

After the conclusion of the Gospel reading, His Grace gave the homily, speaking about the Cross and freedom. He spoke about Christ’s willful acceptance of the Cross, the sacrifice of our redemption. This sacrifice, a profound agony, was a freely chosen act of love. His Grace went on to note that we as human beings all suffer from the various circumstances of life, each one of us bearing our own cross of affliction. Vladyka added that we often do not enter voluntarily into these crosses, rather we are subject to them via life’s unfolding events. However, even though these crosses that we experience are often involuntary, we could exercise our freedom to choose to embrace these sufferings out of love for God. If we were to do this, we would begin to identify ourselves with Christ and His Cross. The Bishop ended by mentioning the Annunciation as another example of exercise of freedom, and encouraged all of us to bear our crosses, and freely “announce” the truth of our redemption to the wider world.

The Divine Liturgy concluded with His Grace extending his love for the parish and his joy at being present. He added one more very poignant statement about the Cross. He said that the Cross is so often personified in the hymnography of the Church, because Christ completely identified Himself in His self-offering, with the pain of its Sacrifice. After giving this final teaching, His Grace gave Antidoron to the people.

Following the Liturgy, everyone went to the Trapeza hall where a festive meal of fish was served in honor of the Sacred Annunciation. The people took joy in this opportunity for fellowship. The parish expressed its happiness at the coming of their Bishop, with many people seeking blessings. The joy of the Feast continued from the Trapeza hall to the backyard where everyone delighted in the light and warmth of God’s freely given sun.