BOSTON – His Eminence Archbishop Elpidophoros in an encyclical urged all the faithful of the parishes of the Archdiocese to support Holy Cross Greek Orthodox School of Theology, saying, “I exhort all the families of the Archdiocese to support our beloved School with prayer and every manner of sustenance.”

The Archbishop did not travel go to the School for the Feast Day of Holy Cross and the beginning of the new academic year as is customary, reportedly because of the pandemic. Instead, he assigned Bishop Athenagoras of Nazianzos to represent him and officiate at the Vespers Service. Metropolitan Methodios of Boston officiated at the Divine Liturgy on the Feast of the Elevation of the Holy Cross.

The full text Archbishop’s encyclical follows:

“The Feast of the Universal Exaltation of the Precious and Life-giving Cross is a milestone in every liturgical year of the Church, a marker where we can measure our journey of faith. The ‘Yψωσις’ is a moment when we recall that our Lord Jesus Christ was raised up high upon a cross of death and shame, so that He could transform our sinfulness that leads to death, into the perfection of love and sacrifice that leads to eternal life.

As Orthodox Christians, we observe this feast of the Cross with both joy and with fasting. With joy, because we recall the miraculous discovery of the True Cross by Saint Helen. We fill our churches with fragrant basil herbs, to remind us of the life-giving power of the Cross, which was marked by this royal plant, and the sweet savor of our Lord’s love for us.

This love of God for all people is why our Theological School and Seminary is named in honor of the Holy Cross. For our sacred ‘Σχολή’ in Brookline is the place where we instill the tradition of love and service that flows from the Cross on Golgotha, much as the Lord’s Holy Blood ran down the rugged wood to make a river of compassion and mercy for the entire world.

Therefore, I exhort all the families of the Archdiocese to support our beloved School with prayer and every manner of sustenance. For we are all the beneficiaries of the training and education with which HCHC equips our clergy, so that they may preach and teach the great lesson of love that the Universal Exaltation embodies. May we always be so blessed to worship at the footstool of His feet, for He is Holy.”