His Grace Bishop Justin of Maramures and Satmar offered pastoral advice at the beginning of the Dormition Fast on August 1.
The Bishop of Maramures recalled that the two weeks of fasting established by the Orthodox Church before the feast of the Dormition of the Theotokos are an excellent occasion to thank God “with devotion, faith and gratefulness” for all his gifts bestowed through the intercessions of the Most Holy Theotokos.
Pointing to the widespread devotion Romanians have to the Theotokos and the spiritual zeal of priests and monastics in the Diocese of Maramures, Bishop Justin urged everyone to officiate the supplicatory canon to the Theotokos every evening during the Dormition Fast.
“We urge the priests to carefully prepare the faithful, and especially the young and the children, given the pilgrimage that is made according to tradition to our holy monasteries, to crown the fasting and prayer with the gifts and blessings received from the Mother of God in response to the love, piety and veneration that we bring to her as true sons and daughters of her holy maternal love.”
In the conclusion of his message, Bishop Justin prayed to the Theotokos “to grant us much progress and holy help in our spiritual labour to reap rich fruit.”
Photography courtesy of the Diocese of Maramureș and Sătmar