On Sunday 5 March 2017, Saint George Orthodox Church in Buffalo NY celebrated a blessing of icons followed by the traditional procession of icons to celebrate “Sunday of Orthodoxy” (the first Sunday of Great Lent). The process of making the icons began three days earlier as Church School children, together with their teachers and families, gathered to make icons while learning about the importance of icons and how we are called to be “living icons” of Our Lord, God, and Savior Jesus Christ.

“We also had two blessings at our parish on the Sunday of Orthodoxy,” said Father Jason Vansuch (parish rector).  Sean Coverdill was blessed with prayers for “the Making of a Catechumen” and will be Chrismated on Holy Saturday, 15 April. Secondly, the parish was blessed by the presence of Dr. David Ford (Professor of Church History, Saint Tikhon’s Orthodox Theological Seminary), who was visiting over the weekend to lead a parish retreat: “Achieving Sainthood in the Contemporary World.” On Sunday evening, as part of Orthodoxy Vespers, Dr. Ford presented “The Meaning of Sainthood as seen in the lives of Married Saints.”

Father Vansuch summed up the weekend: “Truly, the Sunday of Orthodoxy was a great blessing in the life of our parish as we came together to not only proclaim but more so to re-strengthen our commitment of being those “living icons of Our Lord, God, and Savior Jesus Christ.”