This weekend, His Eminence Ioan Casian joined the Orthodox Romanians of Windsor, in the Canadian province of Ontario, for the 103rd anniversary of the “St. George and Holy Hierarch Andrei Șaguna” Cathedral.
On Saturday, the Bishop of Canada participated in the Vigil office and, on Sunday, he celebrated the Divine Liturgy together with Parish Priest Dragoș Giulea.
The hierarch told the faithful about the importance of Sunday as the Day of Resurrection and bout the real presence of Christ in the life of the Church: “In the Divine Liturgy we have materially, visibly, we could say, Christ present in the life of the Church in the Holy Eucharist.”
The bishop said the goal of the Divine Liturgy is communion with Christ through the Holy Eucharist.
“The Divine Liturgy is not a service of praise in which we come to hear beautiful songs. It is a Sacrament in which we first listen to the Word of God, and the second part, after Cherubikon, which is a more concrete part, the gifts of bread and wine carried on the Holy Altar, due to the invocation of the Holy Spirit and the prayers of the clergy and believers, are transformed into the Body and Blood of Christ,” said Bishop Ioan Casian.
Next to a quarter of a million Romanians live in Canada, of which almost 100.000 have unique ethnic origins, which means they do not come from mixed families.
The Romanian Orthodox Cathedral “St. George and Holy Hierarch Andrei Șaguna” was built by the families of the first Romanians who emigrated to Canada at the beginning of the last century.
