The Righteous Soul Enters Heaven
Yelena Cherkasova
Undated (2000s?)
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Editor’s Foreword:
What’s appropriate now is respect for a deceased elder… anything else would be gauche. I’ll comment later on oca.org’s inaction (on Friday, for there must be a decent interval after the burial)… but for now, it’s time to honour the dead and comfort the living… we all, believer and unbeliever alike, stand in silent awe at the mystery of death…
BMD
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IN MEMORY of PREOTEASA ELEONORA LAZĂR
On Monday, 15 August 2011, the feast of the Falling Asleep of the Birthgiver of God and Ever-virgin Mary, Doamnă Preoteasa Eleonora Lazăr peacefully fell asleep in the Lord at the venerable age of 96 years at the Manor of Farmington Hills MI Nursing Center. Services will be in Detroit at the Romanian Orthodox Cathedral of St George (18405 W Nine Mile Rd, Southfield MI), the Saracusta (Wake) on Wednesday, 17 August at 19.30 CDT, and the Funeral and Pomana on Thursday, 18 August at 10.00 CDT, with burial to follow at Vatra Românească.
Born in Sharon PA on 7 November 1914 to Ioan and Anna Banceu, Orthodox emigrants from Romania, Preoteasa had two sisters, her twin Elizabeth, Victoria, and a brother, Aurel. She was a 1932 graduate of Newton Falls OH High School and, later, Warren Business College. On 1 July 1939, she married the theological graduate Eugene Lazăr of Youngstown OH, who was ordained as a priest three days later by Bishop Policarp Moruşca at Vatra Românească. The Lazărs were blessed with two children, Eugenia (Dr Virgil) Tirmonia of Canton OH, and Archpriest Laurence (Preoteasa Anita) Lazar of Southfield MI, six grandchildren, and six great-grandchildren. Preoteasa and Fr Eugene, a most beloved priest of the Romanian Episcopate who fell asleep in 1978, served at St Stefan Church, South St Paul MN; Holy Trinity Church, Detroit MI; Descent of the Holy Ghost parish, Gary IN; Presentation of Our Lord Church, Akron OH; and, Holy Trinity parish, Youngstown OH. For a time, Fr Eugene was also Administrator of St Mary Church, St Paul MN, and St Mary Church, Chicago IL.
As St Paul wrote, We each have different gifts according to the grace God gives us (Epistle to the Romans 12.6). Thankfully, throughout Preoteasa’s life, the grace given her became a gift for many others. She was part of that very small, dedicated generation of pioneers in parish religious education who established our Saturday or Sunday Church Schools. She adapted, translated, or created the appropriate lessons for which Orthodox material (especially in English) was extremely rare. She taught the teachers and the children in tiny church basements or whole school buildings. For her efforts, the Holy Synod of Bishops expressed its appreciation in 1996. With Father Eugene, she coordinated parish programs for children, teens, and young married couples; organised Romanian cultural groups and events and taught the Romanian language, chaired banquets and bazaars, sang in the choir, was often elected President of the Ladies Auxiliary, and served on their national board (ARFORA). In her private life, she gave an example of charity, always sharing what little the family may have had. Beggars, who often came to the parish house, never went away hungry and never without hearing her say, “God be with you”. She chaired Folk Festivals of the International Institute; was a volunteer for the International American Red Cross, and counselled bereaved families as a hospital volunteer. For a period of time, and in spite of being so petite, the county employed her as a live-in counsellor and monitor of combative and, at times, dangerous juvenile delinquents.
In the 1950’s, Archbishop Valerian Trifa chose her to be the Director of Camp Vatra. Working with him, and later with Archbishop Nathaniel, this became her most beloved ministry for over 25 years. She wrote the menus, ordered the food, taught classes, served as the nurse, wiped away the tears, and hugged away the loneliness of many a child. Every summer, she was the “little mother” of up to 70 campers, plus their teachers and staff, who cherish wonderful memories of her. For nearly a century, the unassuming Maica Preoteasa Eleonora, whose demeanour was always that of a lady, committed herself to a life of sacrifice and service, and proved to be a gift to the whole Church. As another priest’s wife said of her, “I learned much from her… patience, perseverance, and unconditional love. She taught me much by her example”. She was a strong and holy helper of her priest and husband, his “Scumpi”, as he called her; a loving mother blessed to see her children’s children; and, as Holy Scripture says, “a virtuous woman” who touched the lives of many in the parishes and diocese, always giving thanks to the Lord for the gifts given her, and urging others… especially, the children… to do the same in their lives. She rarely stood in the limelight, but certain of the resurrection and the life to come she prayed for and trusted in God’s promise of a radiant crown in Paradise.
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Doamnă Preoteasa Eleonora Lazăr (1914-2011)
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Preoteasa Eleonora Lazar departs from us asking for God’s forgiveness of her sins and, as she would want to say, “You, my family and friends, pray for God’s eternal mercy upon my soul. My daughter whom I loved, Eugenia (Dr Virgil) Tirmonia; your children Dr Michael (Allison) Tirmonia and family, Victoria (Joseph) Chaffin and family, and Elizabeth (George) Teodorescu and family; my son whom I loved, Fr Laurence (Preoteasa Anita) Lazăr, your children John Eugene, Nicholas, and Ana (fiancé Michael); my many Godchildren through baptism and marriage; my dear nieces Eleanor Shade and Victoria (Wally) Booher, my great-nieces and nephews, and other family members in America and Romania; my spiritual children and parishioners who kindly remembered me over the years; my hierarchs, Archbishop Nathaniel, and Bishop Irineu; Fr Romey Rosco and Fr Sabin Pop who brought me Holy Communion, Fr Michael Oleksa of Alaska, who was close enough in prayer to call me mother, and all the priests who prayed for me in the Divine Liturgy; the faithful of Presentation of Our Lord Church whom I respectfully thank for their remarkable and greatly appreciated spirit of Christian generosity; my St George Cathedral family, especially those who brightened my days with visits, a flower, a bowl of soup; my friends and the caring staff at the Manor of Farmington Hills; and every soul I have neglected to mention. May the Lord bless all of you with peace and love”.
Memory eternal! May she receive a crown of glory! Dumnezeu s’o ierte!
At her request, you may make offerings to:
(Preoteasa) Eleonora Lazar Memorial Fund
c/o 18430 W Nine Mile Rd
Southfield MI 48075
USA
Barbara-Marie Drezhlo
Voices from Russia 
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