Beloved in the Lord fathers, brothers and sisters!
I cordially congratulate all of you on the patronal feast of the Patriarchal Cathedral in New York — the feast of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker, Archbishop of Myra in Lycia!
Today we honor and glorify St. Nicholas, who has become the most beloved and venerated saint in the entire Christian world. This wondrous Saint of God is the patron, intercessor and quick helper of everyone who turns to him for help with faith and prayer. St. Nicholas has long been the patron of the city of New York. At the beginning of the 17th century, Dutch seafarers who especially venerated the saint founded the colony of New Amsterdam in North America, from which the modern metropolis grew. The first Russian church in New York was also founded under the heavenly patronage of this universally beloved saint.
Offering our prayers today to St. Nicholas, the Saint of God, we remember with love and gratitude the builders of the cathedral, now glorified among the saints — St. Tikhon, Patriarch of Moscow and All Rus’, and Hieromartyr Protopresbyter Alexander Hotovitzky, the holy Passion-bearer Tsar Nicholas and the righteous John of Kronstadt — who gave invaluable support and prayerful help in founding the St. Nicholas parish, which became the unifying spiritual center of Russian Orthodoxy in the New World.
In our days, the life of the Patriarchal Parishes in the USA is inspired by the personal example of an outstanding hierarch of the Russian Orthodox Church of the 20th century — Metropolitan Nikodim (Rotov). Through his labors 50 years ago, autocephaly was granted to the Orthodox Church in America, and the clergy of the Patriarchal Parishes of the Russian Orthodox Church were given the opportunity to continue their special missionary service on the North American continent.
This year, due to the global pestilence, we were unable to celebrate our jubilee together, but we continue to preserve our spiritual unity and to offer our common prayers to St. Nicholas the Wonderworker.
Venerating him as “a rule of faith and an image of meekness,” we ask that the Lord, through his prayers, strengthen us in the true faith and grant us meekness, love and patience.
May the All-Merciful Lord, through the intercession of St. Nicholas, preserve everyone in peace, good health and prosperity!
+MATTHEW December 19, 2020
Bishop of Sourozh
Temporary Administrator of the Patriarchal Parishes
of the Moscow Patriarchate in the USA