New Liturgical Year Begins in September

His Eminence Stephanos, Metropolitan of Talinn and all Estonia

ESTONIAN APOSTOLIC ORTHODOX CHURCH (Ecumenical Patriarchate)

File News

A new liturgical year begins in September: the unstoppable circle of time, after the end of seeding time and the end of harvesting of land – the “land of people”. Too often is the “people’s land” filled with pain and trouble, but the other side of all this misery is brimming over with the germs of true Life it carries deep in the bosom.

Harvesting is hard work. It is the work gifting bread and wine to the Spirit, what His life-giving Breath turns into the Flesh and Blood of Our Lord Jesus. The mystery of the Eucharist that materializes fully in celebrating the Divine Liturgy is leading us, in essence, to the mystery of man himself, as man, frankly speaking, is a theological place, because Christ, our Bread of Life, penetrates into the meaning of our fate to elevate it.

With no doubt, September is a month, when the land makes preparations for a new life-giving sleep. Symbolically speaking, this predicts the renewal of our inner person, but also the renewal of our oneness not only with all the people but with the entire creation. September! Time for new seeding, that in the fire of the Holy Spirit gets started from the Flesh and Blood of our resurrected Lord.

We resemble September land: made of dust after the face of our heavenly Father, we bear all the seeds of our labour and trouble, combining joy and sadness, failures and triumphs. With continuous asceticism in religious dedication, our spiritual labour allows us to sweep away the dark clouds and the menacing storm. Doubtlessly a brave undertaking, it already bears the new crop of our victory. “Those who seed in tears harvest in jubilation,” the songwriter has said.

Our new harvest is born out of the ability to love God and people and, beginning from the heart, make our relations with others more close. It is also born from our attempts to work peacefully together for the glory of our Father, and from our ongoing care about fellow-men, about everyone who are, first and foremost, our brothers.

Let us learn evangelic poverty or we will never be able to truly serve the ones “poorer than us”. Therefore, Saint Gregarious Palamas has written, that “when land alone is cultivated with such ardour, then let us think how many times more important is the cultivation of our inner person, so that we could grow our faith in God and the deeds of love and mercy!”

I wish that the new liturgical year could bring you pure and endless joy – the outcome of bounteous and “everlasting bliss” of the abundant spiritual harvest.

How does this echo in the souls of our people? Thanks to God’s mercy, our church has got a new roof protecting us from the outside winds and storms.

Yet, dear children and beloved brethren: inner work is still ample and it will not end in our lifetime. We have been entrusted – and by now in full – God’s vineyard, so let’s attempt to harvest it and carry the fruit to the Heavenly Master, when time will come and He will so demand. As a token, God has given us His Flesh, He has appointed us to this work and the work does not wait.

My dear companions! With cordial love, I hereby summon you to tireless and selfless work for the glory of God; I summon each and every one of you in your congregation, job and life. Let us not be worn out by the counter-current, let us not be frightened by the raging waves of the “sea of life”: they will bring us hardships and trial, but never become despair, for the Lord, our Navigator, is on guard! With merciful eyes He looks upon the strugglers, who hold tight to what they have; with love He secures the failing hands and makes stronger the shaky knees. He will never blow out the glowing wick and never break the downtrodden reed.

Let God’s mercy unite today all the children of Estonian orthodox congregations for collective prayer before the Saviour and let the Holy Spirit, in this collective prayer, pour down on us new vigour and encouragement to proceed, grow and become better in all spiritual aspects by the adulthood measure of Christ.

Oh God, look down from heaven and see and water this vineyard that your right hand has planted. Amen.

+ STEFANUS
Metropolitan of Tallinn and all Estonia

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