November 24, 2022
To the Clergy, Monastics, and Faithful of the Orthodox Church in America,
My Beloved Children in the Lord,
To my flock in the United States of America, I wish you all a happy Thanksgiving Day!
In a world that is often overwhelmed by fear, by details and complexity, by dissatisfaction and conflict and blame, how blessed it is to set aside a day devoted solely to giving thanks for God’s bounties.
Of course, for Orthodox Christians, stepping back from the dark roads of discontent, anxiety, and accusation should not be reserved for a single day out of the year. Rather, turning away from the tumult of the world should be a daily effort, one that we make through prayer, divine services, fasting, almsgiving, and spiritual study. Every day should be lived simply and filled with thanksgiving. Every morning should begin with glory offered to God; each evening should close with a doxology to his holy Name.
And so, on the occasion of this Thanksgiving Day, I invite all of the faithful of the OCA, in the United States and elsewhere, to join me in renewing our efforts to make the act of thanksgiving central to our daily lives and the lives of our communities, that we might better realize our calling as the eucharistic – that is to say, ‘thanks-giving’—Assembly of the Lord.
With the blessing of the present feast of the Entrance of Theotokos into the Temple, I remain sincerely yours in Christ,
+TIKHON
Archbishop of Washington
Metropolitan of All America and Canada