On December 27, 2020, Metropolitan Vladimir of Chisinau and all Moldova celebrated the Divine Liturgy in the Nativity of the Lord Cathedral on the Sunday of Forefathers (the 29th Sunday after Pentecost).
The arch-pastor was assisted at the service by Cathedral Dean and Metropolitan Secretary, archpriest Vadim Cheibas, and the synaxis of priests and deacons of the holy shrine.
During the Small Entrance, Metropolitan Vladimir awarded to archpriest Vitalie Golban a high church distinction – the right of wearing Epigonation.
With the blessing of the hierarch, archpriest Vadim delivered a message of pastoral teaching on the Sunday Gospel Reading, explaining that Christ calls all Christians to Communion. This is the Evangelical Great Supper to which a certain man invited many. A certain man is the Son of God Who calls His people to partake in the Joy of the Heavenly Kingdom. However, the invited people refuse to come, invoking a variety of arguments: some of them are bound to their plots of land, others are happy with their possessions, and others feel self-sufficient having precious people around them. All those people find pleasure in other things than the holy matters, and that is why there are unworthy of the Lord’s invitation. Son of God, however, finds other people, who were strangers once, but who eagerly answer to His invitation and arrive. These are the pagans who once worshiped demons and idols, but who found the Lord’s Supper truly important.
The Gospel explains that participation in the Communion is open to all those who want to answer God’s calling, but that people need to prepare to it. The Church teaches that one can prepare to the Communion with prayer, fast, acts of charity, and, most importantly, repentance, that is, changing sinful life and stepping on the way of salvation.
Synodal Sector of Institutional Communication and Mass-Media Relations