Today, 24 June 2015, feast of the Birth of Saint John the Baptist, His Beatitude Daniel, Patriarch of the Romanian Orthodox Church, visited the monastic community of Zamfira Monastery, county of Prahova. His Beatitude blessed the community of nuns and faithful present at the Divine Liturgy celebrated by rev archimandrite Nectarie Sofelea, abbot of Radu Voda Monastery and Exarch of the Archdiocese of Bucharest.
The Christians should pray for their life to be lived as a gift, as a blessing of God
To end with the Divine Liturgy, His Beatitude Patriarch Daniel delivered a sermon in which he showed that Saint John the Baptist is venerated especially by monks and nuns, because his life was closest to this way of living pleasant to God.
“Saint John the Baptist is a great teacher of repentance and faster. This is why he is also considered the spiritual father of the monks who lived in fasting and prayer, in caves, in secluded places not inhabited by people. Just like Saint Elijah the Prophet who is also considered a living icon of the monastic life, Saint John the Baptist shows us how important prayer is in the life of the Christian, in the life of the one who loves God and does good deeds. The prayer brings about the power of the devoted and merciful life which helps us do good deeds. Saint John the Baptist is a model for all Christians, because no matter if they are married or not, they should pray for their life to be lived as a gift, as a blessing of God.”
The feast of the Birth of John the Baptist shows us how important the birth of children is
“The feast of the Birth of John the Baptist shows us how important the birth of children is. There are parents who do not have children, so that they pray a lot, and if their prayer is not fulfilled they adopt other people’s children to have descendents to grow up, educate them in faith and save themselves through this merciful love. Those who choose not to marry and to become monks and nuns must be spiritualised and have spiritual children, namely disciples whom they must form not only through teaching, but also, and especially, through the model of their lives”, His Beatitude Daniel also said.
Every child born has a holy call from God
The Patriarch of Romania also showed that Saint John the Baptist is the protector of the children and family too: “Lots of families want to have children and read the akathistos of Saint John the Baptist, the akathistos of the Holy Parents Ioachim and Ana who had the Mother of God when they were rather old, as blessing, as well as the akathistos of other saints. On the other hand, unfortunately there are families who can give birth to children but they do not do it, but abort them, namely they kill them before giving birth to them, which is a very serious sin. This is why the Church urges that those who have many children should be helped by those who have no children, who can adopt a child deserted by his parents, or help materially and spiritually a family with many children, so that those who have children should feel that God loves them and that they can become a blessing for the Church and society. Today, unfortunately there are more funerals than baptisms for the Romanian people, the people are getting old, the number of Romanians diminishes, and the number of abortions exceeded the number of the population in Romania. Over 20 million abortions were registered in our country since 1990, and we are among the first ones in Europe from this point of view. We are Christians but we do not live a quite Christian life. This is why today’s feast calls us to thank God for the children we have, to give us children when we are married, and if we do not have children to help those who have so that we should feel the blessing of God. Every child born has a holy call from God”.
To end with, the Patriarch of Romania offered Zamfira Monastery several very useful liturgical, spiritual and pastoral books, and small icons to the faithful present. The community of the monastery offered His Beatitude an embroidered epigonation of the icon of the Resurrection of the Lord.
A group of young people from Zamfira locality and neighbourhood were also present, dressed in national costumes typical for the area, and wearing wreaths of Our Lady’s bedstraw flowers on their heads, typical to the feast of the day.
