JOHNSTOWN, PA - His Eminence, Metropolitan Nicholas, 75, spiritual leader of the American Carpatho-Russian Orthodox Diocese of the U.S.A., reposed in the Lord today, March, 13 2011 after waging a courageous battle with cancer.
All Diocesan Clergy and Faithful are asked at this time to remember the Newly Reposed +Metropolitan Nicholas as well as his brothers George and Michael and the entire Smisko Family in their prayers.
May Almighty God rest His Newly Departed Servant, Our God-Loving Metropolitan Nicholas in the Heavenly Mansions, where there is neither sickness, sorrow or pain, but Life Everlasting!
May His Memory Be Eternal!
Complete details will be forthcoming and posted as it is available. A special webpage has been established to memorialize His Eminence and keep diocesan clergy and faithful updated at www.metropolitan.acrod.org [metropolitan.acrod.org]
O Lord, receive the soul of Your servant, the High Priest Nicholas, who has departed from this earthly place to repose in Your Bosom; lead his soul to rest in a place of light, happiness, and peace, where there is neither pain nor suffering, neither grief nor sighing, but only life everlasting. As You are a gracious God and the Lover of Mankind, remember his service to You and to Your people, and forgive him every sin he has committed by thought, or word, or deed, for there is not a man who lives and does not sin, for You alone are without sin and You are the Resurrection and the Life.
May the memory of Metropolitan Nicholas be eternal and may his family and our brothers and sisters of the American Carpatho-Russian Orthodox Diocese be comforted in the loss of their beloved leader by the expectation that he serves now at the Holy Table in Heaven.
"One day all our ethnic traits ... will have disappeared. Time itself is seeing to this. And so we can not think of our communities as ethnic parishes, ... unless we wish to assure the death of our community."
Vichnaja Jemu Pamjat, nase Vladyko, Kyr Nikolai. Memory Eternal. One of the truest sons and friends of the Rusyn people, a pastor of great compassion, a Bishop beloved by both his Carpatho-Russian Orthodox flock and his Byzantine Catholic brothers and sisters and a man with the greatest living knowledge of Carpatho-Russian prostopenije in North America, we shall miss his smile and his voice. With the Saints, O Christ, give rest to your servant, bishop and priest Nicholas, where there is neither pain, sorrow nor mourning, but life everlasting. The heavenly choirs surely sing, Axios! Axios! Axios!
Well we knew it was only a matter of time. I see today as a joyous day, Not only did he depart this life on a Sunday, but The Sunday of Orthodoxy and his anniversary of ordination to the Episcopate.
O Lord, Give rest to the soul of your faithful servant.
Vichnaja Jemu Pamjat, nase Vladyko, Kyr Nikolai. Memory Eternal. One of the truest sons and friends of the Rusyn people, a pastor of great compassion, a Bishop beloved by both his Carpatho-Russian Orthodox flock and his Byzantine Catholic brothers and sisters and a man with the greatest living knowledge of Carpatho-Russian prostopenije in North America, we shall miss his smile and his voice. With the Saints, O Christ, give rest to your servant, bishop and priest Nicholas, where there is neither pain, sorrow nor mourning, but life everlasting. The heavenly choirs surely sing, Axios! Axios! Axios!
A few of my favorite video clips of the late Metropolitan from recent years...
In January of 2009, the Metropolitan was honored on the occasion of his 50th Anniversary of Ordination at his home parish of St. John in Perth Amboy, NJ. My father was asked to speak at the dinner by virtue of his being the senior priest of the diocese at that time. I thought that his remarks from that day were important to hear on this day of the Metropolitan's passing. I think that these remarks say a lot about the type of priest the Metropolitan was and his importance to the Orthodox Church as a whole. Shortly after the dinner, my father took ill and he reposed in April of that year. http://www.acrod.org/multimedia/audio/diocesaneventsaudio
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