One Year Memorial for the Repose of Metropolitan Iakovos

To the Reverend Clergy, Monastic Communities, and blessed people of the

Holy Metropolis of Chicago.

Beloved fathers and brethren,

Beloved children in the Lord of the Holy Metropolis of Chicago,

During this season of Resurrection, it gives me great joy to share with each of you the proclamation of Pascha:

Christ is Risen! Truly He is Risen!

By greeting each other with this hopeful message, we confirm the presence of God’s Light in the world, and bear witness to the victory of Christ over death. As Saint Paul summarizes in his First Letter to the Thessalonians, “For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with Him those who have fallen asleep” (1 Thess. 4:14). The promise of our Resurrection has comforted aching and grieving hearts for two millennia.

During the past year, we have mourned the passing of Metropolitan Iakovos, who served the Holy Metropolis of Chicago as its Chief-Shepherd and father with Christian love and dignity for more than 38 years.

In an effort to help us continue through the grieving and mourning process, and as an opportunity to fervently pray for the soul of Metropolitan Iakovos, the Divine Liturgy and the formal Hierarchal Memorial service will be offered on Saturday, June 2nd at the Holy Monastery of Saint John Chrysostom in Pleasant Prairie, Wisconsin, the location of the Metropolitan’s interment.

Moreover, on Sunday, June 3rd, following the Divine Liturgy, each of our parishes will offer a memorial service, which will grant our entire metropolis family the opportunity to pray for the repose of Metropolitan Iakovos. I invite you all to participate in both of these special days.

With paternal greetings and love in the Risen Christ,