Met. Saba Leads Weekend of Ordinations in New York and New Jersey

Photo: flickr.com/photos/antiochianarchdiocese

ENGLEWOOD, NJ — Met. Saba presided over a series of ordinations and one elevation at parishes in New York and New Jersey, marking a joyous weekend for the Antiochian Archdiocese. Across three days, His Eminence ordained five men—four to the diaconate and one to the priesthood—and elevated Deacon Elias Nicolas to the rank of archdeacon.

On December 7 at St. George Church in Little Falls, NJ, Met. Saba ordained John Whiteside, a second-year seminarian at St. Vladimir’s Seminary. The day before, at St. Nicholas Cathedral in Brooklyn, NY, he ordained Subdeacon Scott Strickland as Deacon Sophrony, reflecting on St. Nicholas’s legacy of mercy during his homily.

The weekend began in Yonkers, NY, where Met. Saba celebrated services for St. Saba the Sanctified and ordained Nicholas Aultman to the priesthood and Paisios Asfoura to the diaconate. His Eminence encouraged all the newly ordained to model their ministries on their patron saints.

Previously, UOJ reported that Met. Saba asserted to the Assembly of Bishops that, thanks to the increasing number of recent conversions to Orthodoxy, ours was becoming a "Century of Evangelization." 

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