The Honour to be a Servant of God Is a Special Call

Romanian Orthodox Church

On 2 September 2012, the Orthodox Christians were on the 13th Sunday after the Pentecost. The fragment of the Gospel of Saint Evangelist Matthew, chapter 21, lines 33-44, was read in all churches, describing the example of the bad workers narrated by Jesus Christ, our Lord.

His Beatitude Daniel, Patriarch of Romania, showed in the sermon delivered in the historical chapel of “Saint Great Martyr George” of the Patriarchal Residence that the example of the evangelical pericope read today refers, first of all, to the behaviour of some of the Jews of ancient times towards the prophets and towards Jesus Christ: “This thing shows us that humankind suffering from sin fulfils sometimes the will of God, while some other times they reject the will of God to save the people. But God has a plan of saving the world and calls the workers. If the lazy and sly ones do not work well in His vineyard, then He calls some other ones. At that time, the Saviour identifies the vineyard with the Kingdom of God, because the salvation work is for entering the Kingdom of Heaven and getting eternal life. This is why the conclusion of today’s example is the following: The Kingdom of God will be taken from you and will be given to some other ones. It will be given to a faithful people who will make it fruitful”.

His Beatitude Patriarch Daniel said that this example can be referred, by analogy, to all the servants of the Church, because they are called to work for the people’s salvation. Some of them work with fear of God, with faith, love and sense of maxim responsibility. Some other ones are careless and do not bring the fruits expected from them through their work for preparing the people to earn the Kingdom of Heaven. This is why the Holy Fathers emphasised a lot the responsibility of the “workers in the vineyard of the Lord”, namely the shepherds of souls: ‘Saint John Chrysostom says that the priest has a greater responsibility to God than the layman, because he will account only for his own deeds, but also for the way in which he took care (or did not) of the salvation of the faithful entrusted to him for salvation. This thing shows us that although the honour for a servant of God is great, his responsibility is much greater. It is greater because he was entrusted with the spiritual leadership of many people on the way to salvation. We can be good or bad shepherds, diligent or lazy, shepherds who know that the vineyard belongs to God, that the Church belongs to Christ who never changes the Church into a personal property, who know who the master of the vineyard is and never consider themselves its inheritors, but only workers in the vineyard. So, the Gospel calls us to very much responsibility.’

‘It is a remarkable fact that this special honour to be servant of God is a special call. This call comes from God, says Saint John Chrysostom. The call to be shepherd is not the result of the vote of the faithful, he says, but the choice of God. Saint John Chrysostom also says: do not disdain the vote of God. In other words, do not despise the call that God addressed you when He called you to be a servant in the vineyard of God (…) The joy that God gives to those who work in the vineyard is the fact that the servants of God resemble Christ, our Lord, who fulfilled the will of God, who obeyed till death, even death on the cross and who is called Servant of the Lord”, His Beatitude said too.

To end with his sermon, the Patriarch of Romania wished to address a few words of appreciation to the servants of the altar who responsibly work in the missionary field of the Church: ‘Today, we pray God to strengthen all those called to serve in the Church, to give them wisdom, holy diligence, love to all hierarchs, priests and deacons, workers in the vineyard of God, so that they may bring joy to the Church, to the angels and saints in heaven. In general, when the faithful see that the workers in the vineyard of God are diligent, honest and aware of their mission, they love them very much. They see how the vineyard of God, the life of the Church, is more beautiful because it is well cultivated and brings crops. This is why we congratulate all those who are aware of the holy call to which they were called and answer this call with love for Christ, for His Church and for our people’.

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