Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

Christ is risen!

“Coming to Him as to a living stone, rejected indeed by men, but chosen by God and precious, you also, as living stones, are being built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ” (1 Peter 2:4-5).

The founder of this parish, the ever-memorable Archimandrite Peter (Zaychenko) fully understood the deep meaning of this verse from the first letter of the Holy Apostle Peter.  Indeed, throughout his many years of priestly ministry here in the United States, he worked diligently to establish and to build up already-established church communities and to found them, as well.  Our own parish of Saints Peter and Paul here in Phoenix, Arizona, was his last effort in this regard.  Even in his retirement, after having faithfully served Christ and the Church for over forty years, he worked to lay the foundation of a new church community here in the northern Sonoran Desert and, in 1951, our parish was founded and canonically established, built upon living stones.

In its first few years, the parish began to grow and began to flourish and it came to the moment when it was prepared to build a new temple… the one in which we now worship.  And, as we commemorate this month, this temple, this house of the Lord, was consecrated on May 12, 1968.

Our parish church, having been consecrated fifty years ago, has been faithfully cared for, worshipped in, and beautified throughout these past five decades.  And so, we gather to give thanks to God for the Mercy has shown to so many people in this “holy house.” As we gather to commemorate that event five decades ago, we are grateful for all the “founders, builders, and benefactors of this holy house” who built our church fifty years ago.  We remember them with the hope that, fifty years from now, those who gather to commemorate the centenary of this consecration will also remember us and give thanks to God for us, for what we, through our abilities, have also been able to accomplish.  May they see us, as we see those who have gone before us, as people who, in words printed on the occasion of the consecration fifty years ago were “dedicated to serving God and promoting the Holy Orthodox Faith.”  As they prayed fifty years ago, so we, too, pray today: “Grant forgiveness of sin to them that have diligently completed this building and the consecration of a church by Thy word, granting unto them such petitions as are unto salvation.  Stir them up to the fulfilling of Thy commandments; grant unto them the renewal of the gift of Thy Holy Spirit, that  uncondemned they may worship Thee, the only True God, and Jesus Christ Whom Thou has sent: through the prayers of the Theotokos, of the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul, and of all Thy Saints.  Amen.”

Thank you to all who have made this celebration possible.  We are grateful to His Eminence, Archbishop BENJAMIN, our Archpastor, for his presence with us, for leading us in prayer and worship, and for the archpastoral care he shows to us and to all those throughout the Diocese of the West whom the Lord has entrusted to his care.

With love in the Risen Lord,

+Bishop Daniel

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________