His Eminence Metropolitan SABA Archbishop of New York and Metropolitan of All North America His Grace Bishop Alexander
Pastor: Fr John Vazquez| fatherjohnvazquez@gmail.com | stgeorgealbany.org | 1 St George's Pl Albany
Office Hours: Mon/Fri 10am-5pm/Confessions: After weekly services or by appointment
Parish Council Leadership: Chair—Michella Rizk, Treasurer—Ranya Palmer, Secretary—Daniel Palmer, Vice Chair—Linda Grady
Beloved,
I write to you with a sorrowful joy as surely many of you have heard about the bombing of the Church in Damascus, Syria on Sunday. We have sorrow because of this senseless act but simultaneously we have joy because it is through the blood of the martyrs that the Holy Church is established and revealed as Christ's body, which pours out blood for the life of the world.
Our beloved Patriarch John X—whom we had the blessing of meeting with on this current pilgrimage—was in Damascus on Monday and conducted a Trisagion (Memorial) service for these new martyrs. Our own Metropolitan Saba has asked each Church in the Archdiocese to pray the Paraklesis to the Theotokos a couple times this week and since I am gone and we will not be able to hold this service I would like to ask each of you to pray this service in your homes for all those affected by this evil act.
Click the links below for the service, to see the pictures and speech of Patriarch John and to read Metropolitan Saba's address:
Speech and Pictures of Patriarch John
For the Paraklesis service when it comes to the priest parts just say—"Through the prayers of our Holy Fathers Lord Jesus Christ have mercy on us and save us" and for the petition sections just say "Lord have mercy" 12 times.
This pilgrimage has been filled with so many blessings. You can read about it and see pictures on our website or the Archdiocese website. We are safe and in good spirits here. Thank you for your prayers—you continue to be in mine daily.
Holy New Martyrs of Syria pray to God for us!
With love in our Sweetest Christ Jesus the defeater of death and evil,
Fr John
Services and Events
FR JOHN IN LEBANON— June 12th–July 3rd
You can be in touch with Fr Manni @ St Basil's in Troy (518-573-1884) or Fr Gregory @ St George in South Glens Falls (508-468-5758) in the case of an emergency.
Saturday, June 28th—12pm—Street Naming in honor of Camile Rezek in Troy (Ferry St and 5th Ave)
Sunday, June 29th—9am—Orthros followed by Divine Liturgy and Memorial for Camile Rezek—Meal to Follow
Sunday, July 6th—Orthros followed by Divine Liturgy and Memorial for Fr Gregory DesMarais and Will Carragan—Potluck Meal to Follow
Click Here to View our Church Calendar
