Auxiliary Bishop Marc of Neamț celebrated the Divine Liturgy at the “Holy Apostles Peter and Paul” Romanian Orthodox Parish in Nantes, France, on Sunday, July 12.
The parochial community took advantage of his pastoral visit to properly celebrate its patronal feast last Sunday. The feast of the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul had previously been marked without the presence of the faithful, according to pandemic sanitary restrictions still in force in France at the time.
“People are called to know God”
In his homily, His Grace Marc spoke of the Lord’s healing of the two demon-possessed men presented by the Gospel of the day. He concluded that the “demons recognize Lord Jesus Christ as the Son of God” and this “shows us that we, people, need to do more”.
Related to this, the hierarch quoted St. Sophrony of Essex.
“St. Sophrony of Essex, celebrated on July 11, said that believing in God is one thing, and knowing Him is another. Therefore, if we believe in God and this belief does not change our lives, in fact, we do not really believe in Him and do not really know Him. People are called to believe in God and also to know Him”, explained the Auxiliary Bishop of the Romanian Orthodox Archdiocese of Western Europe.
At the end of the service, Father Adrian Iuga, Parish Priest, thanked His Grace Marc for visiting the Romanian Orthodox community of Nantes just a few weeks after French authorities permitted liturgical services to be performed in the presence of the faithful.
HG Marc in Bern
Previously, on Saturday, July 11, HG Marc of Neamț had visited the “Holy Great Martyr George” Romanian Orthodox Parish in Bern, Switzerland, where he ordained to priesthood Deacon Cătălin-Ionel Mija.
Faithful from Basel and Zurich were also present at the religious service, as the Romanian church from Bern has enough space to welcome a great number of people at the religious services.
Photo credit: Nantes Romanian Orthodox Parish / Narcis Costache