The month of June is a month of Sunday feast days. The Sunday after Ascension Day begins the month on June 1; June 8 is the great feast of Pentecost, followed by Trinity Sunday on June 15; we celebrate the Sunday within the Octave of Corpus Christi (the actual feast day is on the Thursday following Trinity Sunday) on June 22; and we end the month 
with the feast day of Ss. Peter and Paul, the patrons of our Patriarchate. Each of these important days presents us with beautiful scripture readings, hymns, and prayers which illuminate Christian truth.
Many thanks to all who helped to make the visit of Bishop THOMAS a memorable event. The services, the wonderful banquet, the flowers, the music all helped to welcome Sayedna THOMAS back to celebrate with us the anniversary of the dedication of our building, his first visit since the actual dedication in 2007.
On Pentecost, following the reading of the story of the first Pentecost told in the book of Acts, we will read some of that same story in as many languages as we can find represented at St. Gregory’s (last year, we had about a dozen).
On Thursday, June 5, our archdiocese will convene a special convention in Chicago for the purpose of nominating three candidates for Metropolitan. The names and biographies of the ten bishops and priests who are eligible have been sent to each parish. From that list, three will be chosen by the votes of the priests and delegates from each parish (Subdeacon Jerome will be the delegate from St. Gregory’s). These names will then be sent to the Patriarch and the Holy Synod of Antioch, who will make the final appointment of our new Metropolitan.
We will have a votive Mass for the election of a new bishop on Tuesday evening, June 3, to offer prayers for our clergy and delegates, the Patriarch and the Holy Synod of Antioch as they seek the guidance of the Holy Spirit in this most important task.
The Antiochian clergy and members of area choirs presented a service of Vespers on Sunday, May 18, at the Franciscan Monastery in Washington. This was at the invitation of the Franciscans and had the blessing of Metropolitan Philip, of blessed memory, before his repose. The event was one of several commemorating the 50th anniversary of the historic meeting of Pope Paul VI and Ecumenical Patriarch Athenagorus in Jerusalem when the anathemas (which had been in place since 1054 when the Great Schism officially began) were removed. Pope Francis I and Patriarch Bartholomew met in Jerusalem on May 25 to celebrate that occasion and to further the cause of fraternal love between our two churches.
View the complete June newsletter here.