Spiritual growth in the parish of St George Great Martyr in Elizabeth, NJ

With the Archpastoral Blessing of His Grace Bishop Dr. MITROPHAN of the Serbian Orthodox Diocese of Eastern America, on Sunday November 2nd, for the first time in its 47-year-long history, the parish of St George Great Martyr in Elizabeth, NJ greeted a number of holy relics for our spiritual growth as well as the healing of both the body and the soul:

A piece of the Cincture of the Most Holy Theotokos,
The relics of:
St George, Great Martyr, the patron of our parish,
St Nicholas the Wonderworker,
St Basil the Great,
- St John Chrysostom,
St Charalampus,
Holy Martyr Irene,
Venerable George Chosebite,
Martyrs of St George Chosebite by Persians,
Martyrs of Mar Sabba by Persians,
Venerable Parasceva of Trnovo, Martyr,
Venerable Xenophont,
St Herman of Alaska,
St Elizabeth, and
Venerable Xenia Holy Martyr.

Our parish priest, Reverend Father Zoran Radovic, celebrated the Divine Liturgy before a multitude of the faithful. A lot of people from all the neighbouring parishes came to venerate the holy relics and the copies of the miraculous icons of the Most Holy Theotokos which had been blessed on the original ones:

The Mother of God of the Three Hands,
The Mother of God of Jerusalem,
The Mother of God of Sitka,
The Kursk-Root Mother of God,
The Mother of God "The Milk giver",
The Mother of God of Humility, and
St Anna with the Mother of God as a Little Girl.

The icon "Not Made by Hands" (Holy Napkin) of our Lord Jesus Christ from Jerusalem, as well as the icons of St John of Shanghai and San Francisco and St Herman of Alaska blessed on the holy relics of both the saints respectively, and the icon of St Catherine Great Martyr brought from the monastery dedicated to the saint on the mount of Sinai, were also available for veneration.

Upon the completion of the Divine Liturgy, the prayer to the Mother of God found on Her tomb in Gethsemane and the prayers to all the saints were read. The faithful venerated the icons and the holy relics and were anointed with the holy myrrh from the miraculous myrrh-streaming icons of the Mother of God "Iveron", St Anna of Philadelphia, and St Nicholas, and oils from the lamps burning before the icons of the Mother of God on the Mount of Athos, Holy Land, and on the relics of St John of Shanghai and San Francisco and St Nektarios of Aegina.

Great spiritual joy was evident on the faces of all the faithful gathered for the prayer especially those with serious health issues.

Together with the renovation of our church, we are working on the spiritual renewal. Our parish was blessed to have the weeping icon of St Anna from Philadelphia twice: in February and in September. God willing, we expect to have more miraculous icons and holy relics in the future.

Popadija Vesna Radovic