NEW YORK – A Hierarchical Con-celebration for the Sunday of Orthodoxy was celebrated at the Archdiocesan Cathedral of the Holy Trinity in New York City on March 24. The service, held to symbolize the unity of Orthodox Churches in America, included hierarchical and clerical representation from members of the Assembly of Canonical Orthodox Bishops of the United States in America, as noted in a press release from the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America.

In his Homily, His Eminence Archbishop Elpidophoros of America said that “when we celebrate the Sunday of Orthodoxy, which is shared around the world by all the Local Autocephalous Churches, we celebrate the triumph of truth over falsehood, of knowledge over delusion, of faith over doubt.”

Participating in the Divine Liturgy were hierarchs from the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America- His Eminence Archbishop Elpidophoros, His Grace Bishop Joachim of Amissos, and His Grace Bishop Athenagoras of Nazianzos, from the Albanian Orthodox Diocese of the Americas- His Grace Bishop Theophan of Philomelion, and the Georgian Apostolic Orthodox Church in North America as well as representatives from the Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of North America- V. Rev. Archimandrite Jeremy Davis, and the Orthodox Church in America- V. Rev. Archpriest Alexander Rentel. Also concelebrating were Rev. Protopresbyter of the Ecumenical Throne Elias Villis, the V. Rev Archimandrite Chrysostomos Gilbert, the V. Rev. Archimandrite Philotheos Tomczewski, V. Rev. Archpriest Arsenios, Rev. Hieromonk Irenaios, Rev. Hieromonk Ieronymos, Archdeacon Dionysios Papiris, Deacon Jeremiah Mandoras, and Rev. Deacon Spyridon Green.

The Sunday of Orthodoxy is celebrated in Orthodox churches worldwide on the first Sunday of Great Lent and includes a procession with the faithful holding icons to commemorate the ‘Triumph of Orthodoxy’ in 843, when the icons were restored after nearly 100 years of iconoclasm.