On Sunday, March 27, 2022, the third Sunday of Lent, Metropolitan Arsenios of Austria and Exarch of Hungary presided over the feast of the Veneration of the Holy Cross at the Church of St. George in Vienna, along with Fr. Aristides and Archdeacon Fr. Maximos.
Many believers participated in the Divine Liturgy and received the blessing of the Holy and Life-Giving Cross. Metropolitan Arsenios prayed for the repose of the souls of the Fighters of the Greek Revolution, participating in the celebration of 201 years since the declaration of the Revolution in 1821. The official Doxology for the National Day was attended by the Ambassadors of Greece, Aikaterina Koika, and of Cyprus, Elena Rapti, members of the Diplomatic Corps, students and teachers of the National School of Vienna, representatives of the institutions and associations of the Greek Community, as well as many faithful.
In his sermon, the Metropolitan referred to the feast of the Holy Cross and the meaning of the promotion of the Holy Cross by the Church, in order to strengthen the spiritual struggles of Christians in the middle of the forty-day period of Fasting, as the conceivable road sign of the path of the faithful towards meeting the Risen Lord. The Cross, prefiguring the Resurrection, prepares us for a life in accordance with the example of our crucified Lord Jesus Christ, that is, in a spirit of sacrifice and love, with effort and toil in the struggle for Salvation, the Metropolitan stressed. The Christians belong to the “Constitution of the Cross”, the Metropolitan continued, and they try to make the world the Kingdom of God. Metropolitan Arsenios also referred to the self-denial of the fighters of 1821 and their heroic struggle to ensure the freedom of their descendants.
This was followed by the ceremony of the Veneration of the Holy Cross and the official Doxology for the Greek National Day of March 25. The Ambassador of Greece, Koika, delivered a celebratory speech in which she presented over the years the greatness of Hellenism and the struggles of our ancestors for Freedom. She stressed the responsibility of the Greeks of today for the future of the Homeland and the preservation of humanitarian ideals in Europe and in the world.
The large congregation, the diplomatic authorities, the representatives of the institutions and the associations, the teachers with the students attended a memorial service for the repose of the souls of the participants in the liberation struggles of Hellenism at the Church of St. George. This was followed by the laying of wreaths before the monument of the National Martyr Rigas Feraios. The ceremony ended with the National Anthem.
The Metropolitan then presided over the ceremony of the Veneration of the Holy Cross and spoke at the Holy Trinity Cathedral in front of faithful Ukrainian refugees and the congregation of the 2nd Divine Liturgy.