On Sunday, September 7, 2025, the Sunday before the Exaltation of the Holy Cross, Metropolitan Arsenios of Austria and Exarch of Hungary, assisted by the Protopresbyter of the Ecumenical Throne, Fr. Ioannis Nikolitse, and concelebrating with Bishop Maximos of Aristi, presided over the Hierarchical Divine Liturgy at the Holy Trinity Cathedral in Vienna.
After the conclusion of the Divine Liturgy, a memorial service was held for those who perished during the “Events of September” in 1955.
Before the Dismissal, the Golden Cross of the Holy Metropolis of Austria was bestowed upon Mr. Oleksandr Volodymyrovych Petrovskiynek, a Ukrainian entrepreneur and benefactor.
In his homily on the day’s Gospel passage, the Metropolitan emphasized that, before His Passion, the Lord assured not only His Disciples but all of us that just as the raising of the bronze serpent by Moses in the desert saved the Israelites, so too the eternal Word of God became incarnate and had to be lifted on the Cross so that humanity might be saved. According to the Gospel command, whoever believes in Christ will have eternal life. He then referred to the efforts people make today to dominate, even through the violence of war. “If, in the face of this prevailing tendency, we instead seek to know the Triune God, if we follow Christ and allow Him to dwell in our hearts, then we shall know peace,” The Metropolitan remarked, “for true joy is found in the small and everyday things: in a loving relationship among relatives and friends, in a good deed that we do, in walking together through life’s difficulties, in sharing with others what is rightfully ours.” He urged the faithful to strive to “understand” the people around them and to show them compassion, so that they too may receive understanding and compassion in their hour of need. The condition for harmonious and peaceful coexistence among people, as well as for personal happiness, is to turn our eyes and souls to Christ, to seek Him continually, recognizing that He alone grants true blessings and eternal life.
After the conclusion of the Divine Liturgy and the Memorial Service for the Constantinopolitans who perished during the massacres of the “Events of September” in 1955, a ceremony followed during which His Eminence awarded the Golden Cross of the Holy Metropolis of Austria to Mr. Oleksandr Volodymyrovych Petrovskiynek, who, as a faithful child of the Church, has repeatedly contributed to the rebuilding of churches in Ukraine and continues to support the ministry of the Ukrainian-speaking parishes within the jurisdiction of the Holy Metropolis of Austria.
