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Abp. Elpidophoros Receives 28 New Orthodox at St. Nicholas Shrine Church
Twenty-eight catechumens were received into the Orthodox Church at the St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Shrine Church in Flushing through Baptism and Chrismation.
FLUSHING, NY — Twenty-eight catechumens were received into the Orthodox Church on Sunday, September 27, through Holy Baptism and Chrismation at St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Shrine Church in Flushing. His Eminence Abp. Elpidophoros presided over the service, welcoming the newly illumined into the life of the Church.
The baptisms followed missionary work carried out by Fr. Samuel Davis and Archimandrite Chrysostom Onyekakeyah, directors of the Apostolic Mission to the African Diaspora in the Americas, West Indies, and Caribbean. Their ministry uses pastoral care, catechetical instruction, and community outreach to introduce Orthodox Christianity to diverse communities, including members of the African Diaspora and African immigrants.
At the beginning of the service, the catechumens professed their allegiance to Christ in the church narthex. Abp. Elpidophoros then invoked the Holy Spirit over the baptismal waters, anointed the water with oil, and immersed each catechumen three times. He subsequently administered Holy Chrismation, after which the newly baptized received their first Holy Communion.
In his homily, the Archbishop emphasized that the Church’s mission extends across racial, ethnic, linguistic, and cultural boundaries. “The Orthodox Church is your home. You belong here. You belong within the fullness of the Faith handed down from the Apostles,” he said.
He also described the missionary work represented by the baptisms as an expression of the Church’s calling to reach people beyond its traditional communities. “It is the Gospel lived in the highways and byways. It is the Church going forth, searching, inviting, embracing, and saying to every person, without distinction: There is a place for you at the table of the Lord.”
The newly baptized, dressed in white robes and carrying candles, were welcomed into full communion with the Church. Concluding his address, Abp. Elpidophoros told them, “And now I say to you: This is your Church. This is your family. This is your home.”
Previously, the UOJ reported that Abp. Elpidophoros consecrated the only Greek Orthodox church in Alaska.
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