In a message at the beginning of the Dormition Fast, His Eminence Metropolitan Ioan of Banat has urged priests and believers to visit older persons in hospitals, retirement homes or private homes because “they are often alone and marginalised.”
The metropolitan reminded that the Holy Synod of the Romanian Orthodox Church dedicated 2023 to the pastoral care of the elderly.
“Among the most important feast days inscribed in the calendar of our Church is the feast of the Dormition of the Theotokos, for which, every year, we prepare spiritually for two weeks, starting on August 1,” His Eminence noted.
“The Dormition Fast is a blessed period of preparation to climb the steps of Christian perfection, as our Lord Jesus Christ commands us: Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect (Matthew 5:48).”
For this fasting season, the Metropolitan of Banat urged clergy, monastics and lay believers “to approach with the fear of God, with faith and love the seat of confession and the Chalice of faith.”
“Let us renounce everything that draws us away from God! Let us renounce our passions and grow spiritually by confessing our sins and partaking of the Holy Mysteries,” His Eminence Metropolitan Ioan advised.
Metropolitan Ioan ended his message with a prayer to the Compassionate God, “from whom every good and perfect gift comes, to pour out His grace and rich bounties upon us!”
Photo: Basilica.ro Files