St George

2023 Mental Health Awareness Month Promotion

On November 18, 2022, the Orthodox Bishops of the Assembly received a communication from the ROCOR Eastern American Diocese regarding Archpriest Peter Heers. This communication stated “that the Very Reverend Archpriest Peter Heers is not a clergyman of the Eastern American Diocese or of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia, nor is there any pending consideration of his reception.”

During the process, it was noted that the Assembly of Bishops training program, Peace of Mind, is a groundbreaking effort to bridge the gap between faith and mental health.

During their January 28, 2023 meeting, the Executive Committee of the Assembly of Bishops assigned Sundays to the two newest agencies, Orthodox Volunteer Corps and Orthodox Youth Ministries, and approved adjustments to the dates for the existing agencies.

We implore the Lord “to give rest to His departed servants in a place of light, in a place of green pasture, in a place of refreshment, from where pain, sorrow, and sighing have fled away.” Furthermore, we ask that God may “bring peace from above” to those enduring the loss of their loved ones.

Finally, an expression of appreciation was extended to Saint Sava Serbian Orthodox Church, the Greek Orthodox Metropolis of San Francisco, and the Greek Orthodox Cathedral of Saint Sophia for their Abrahamic hospitality.

The greatest risk that the Church has always faced is not persecution from without, but fragmentation from within. And in our modern, technologically-driven age, where anyone can become an influence on others via Social Media, we have an uphill battle to take command of the narrative about the Church and about the Faith.

We are very blessed indeed to be gathered together here in Los Angeles, where we have been in prayer and fellowship with one another the past days. I believe that these opportunities to come together as Hierarchs of the Holy Church are precious and few; so let us take full advantage of this καιρός that the Lord has granted us.

The light with which Sava illuminates our present and future still shines today. It is up to each of us to recognize him and to adopt Sava’s ethos, as much as possible. Today, my brethren, we are called to listen to his call, a call which he addresses to us from the Communion of the Saints. This call is identical with the one Christ gives to us in today’s Gospel reading: “I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.” And the saying “There shall be one flock, one Shepherd” (Jn 10:16) we experience as something already accomplished.