Addressing the twenty thousand believers who came to Nicula Monastery to celebrate the feast of the Dormition of the Theotokos, the Metropolitan of Cluj said that the Mother of God cries for the approximately five million Romanians who left the country.
‘At first they left for objective reasons, because they did not have a job here, but then a trend was set and we believe that through the intercessions of the Mother of God some of them will return home,’ Metropolitan Andrei Andreicut said August 15.
His Eminence cautioned that emigration has devastating effects on Christian families and children.
Romania’s emigrant population is the fifth largest in the world and growing, OECD report finds
The Mother of God suffers every time ‘we go astray from the right way,’ but also when she sees ‘so much hatred, so much misunderstanding between people’.
The Metropolitan urged the believers to pay attention to their fellow people who suffer and to become more involved in social actions.
‘The essential question we should ask ourselves, the Christians of the 21st century, is this: Does the Mother of God like what we do?’
“Does not the Mother of God grieve the secularization that haunts the world, the lack of spiritual activities, the rare participation in church services, the many sins committed by people?”
‘Does the Theotokos like our weak involvement in social service, in the care of the poor, the sick, the elderly and the orphaned or abandoned children?’
‘Are we opening enough centres to support these marginalized people?’ His Eminence asked.
Ending his speech, the Metropolitan of Cluj entreated the Mother of God to take care of all the villages and cities, urging everyone to be kind, so as not to sadden the Blessed Virgin.
‘Let each one of us be missionaries of the Lord Jesus and the Mother of the Lord and show the world the beautiful way of living, and this way the tears on the face of the Mother of God will abate.’
Concelebrant for the Divine Liturgy included His Eminence Metropolitan Innocentios of Burundi and Rwanda.
Photography courtesy of Metropolis of Cluj
