The Reverend Maria Evangelou was ordained to the priesthood by Bishop Sean in a service at St Paul’s Cathedral, Nicosia yesterday, attended by lay people and clergy from across Cyprus.

Revd Maria began her professional life as a nurse—a calling that Bishop Sean referred to in his sermon as one that would serve her well in her new ministry.

“We don’t have to look far to find people who are oppressed, broken-hearted, captive or grief-stricken,” he said. “So much healing is needed, and your career in nursing will, no doubt, endow your ministry with valuable pastoral insights and skills.”

Reflecting on the Parable of the Sower, Bishop Sean described its posing “a bold and challenging theological basis for understanding the mission of God’s priestly people.

“The sower sowed everywhere even though he knew where the optimal soil was. We simply do not know where that soil is—and it would be a mistake to assume that it only exists within the walls of a church building.

“Only God knows whose soul is open and ready to receive his good news. And so, the church in faith and obedience must share God’s love and goodness boldly, prodigiously, widely—not only in the obvious and easy places. We must be a priestly people who are constantly searching for new opportunities and means to make Christ known in the society around us.”

Bishop Sean called upon Maria to help people see themselves as people of faith—”people resourced by a living and limitless God. And encourage them to take leaps of faith, and in practical, honest obedience to God be people of love whose love-in-action reveals the God of love. I and many others,” he said, “can testify that when we take leaps of faith in line with the Gospel, the resources will always follow.”

Maria, who also serves as Community Outreach Coordinator in the Archdeaconry of Cyprus, was welcomed and applauded by a congregation that knows and loves her well.