Published August 7, 2025 by Robin McClelland
Globe Gazette
Metropolitan Nathanael of Chicago spoke to the parishioners of Mason City’s Holy Transfiguration Greek Orthodox Church on Tuesday as they celebrated the Feast of the Holy Transfiguration.
“The Transfiguration reveals that our relationship with Jesus Christ is ecclesial, is familial, but it’s also something far greater than anything, any institution, church or otherwise,” Nathanael told parishioners.
Father Nickalas welcomed Nathanael to the church.
“It doesn’t seem right to welcome a father into their own home,” March said. “We are here to be with you in love. You bring the completeness of the church to us so that we can experience that communion with Christ, that love that you spoke of so well.”
Nathanael’s visit to the Mason City Church is the beginning of a tour of the metropolis that will take him to parishes across the region. The Feast of the Holy Transfiguration is one of the 12 great feasts, and Nathanael used the opportunity to share a message of hope and community.
“I want us to reflect on what it means for us to be connected to Christ in love. It means that we can be a lot of things for each other. It means that he accepts us as we are, that he has done all the work, has made all the necessary offering, the sacrifice. He has put in all the work and our invitation is to accept that love,” Nathanael told the congregation. “He cannot force that love upon us. He cannot force us to enter this relationship of love with him,” he continued. “Sometimes we’re very hard on ourselves. Sometimes we feel like we don’t deserve his love, that we have to earn it. And then he says, ‘No, I accept you as a prodigal son and as a prodigal daughter.'”
Nathanael presides over the Greek Orthodox Metropolis of Chicago, consisting of 58 parishes and 2 monastic communities in Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota, Wisconsin, central Missouri, and northern Indiana.
The Transfiguration is a feast honoring Jesus Christ’s transfiguration before his disciples as well as the fullness of the Holy Trinity.
A reception followed the vespers service. Holy Transfiguration Greek Orthodox Church is located at 1311 Second St. S.W. in Mason City.
Visit holytransfiguration.ia.goarch.org for a schedule of services.
