On the feast day of St. John Jacob of Neamț, August 5, the Patriarchal Auxiliary Bishop Varlaam of Ploiești celebrated the Divine Liturgy at the National Cathedral’s Chapel in Bucharest.
In his sermon, His Grace presented aspects of the life of the Romanian saint and stressed that “we have no excuse not to take care of our spiritual growth.”
“St. John Jacob lived in the 20th century, at a time when nuclear energy was known. He lived at a time when the world was preparing to go out into the cosmos, to walk on the moon, and yet, behold, St. John Jacob longing after God from childhood, cultivating prayer and spiritual labours, seeking peace and saintliness without which no one will see the Lord, as St. Paul teaches us in the Epistle to the Hebrews, sanctified his life from his youth.”
“He died at the age of 47 when most of us don’t even think about God, death, or doing anything to correct our wrongs. At the age of 47, St. John Jacob had travelled a long road of repentance, tears, prayer, and meditation on the word of God who is spirit and is life.”
“Therefore, his remembrance is an encouragement for us because neither modernity, nor technology, nor the hectic life of this age are excuses for us not to take care of our spiritual growth, not to devote time for prayer, attend Church, confession, read the word of God, reflect on the words of the saints who have crossed this path of sanctification and deification victoriously.”
The conditions in which St. John Jacob lived, first in a cave in the wilderness of Jordan and later in the cave of St. Anna in the wilderness of Chozeba, were not obstacles to sanctifying his life.
Given these conditions, “we realize how hard his spiritual struggle for the sanctification of his life was,” Bishop Varlaam noted.
“We have to carry the struggle in society, in the family, but we have enough means put at our disposal by Christ, by His Church, that by cultivating them, we too can attain the peace and holiness that will enable us to see the Lord as the three disciples, Peter, John, and James, saw Him 2,000 years ago, when Jesus’ face shone like the sun, and His clothes became as white as light.”
Patriarchal Auxiliary Bishop Varlaam of Ploiești prayed to God “to grant us to share in the gifts with which St. John Jacob was rewarded in this world.”
The bishop conveyed to those present the blessing of His Beatitude Patriarch Daniel, who delegated him to serve at the National Cathedral’s Chapel.
On the occasion of the feast, a reliquary with a fragment of the relics of St. John Jacob and an epitrachelion that the venerable ascetic wore during his life was brought to the National Cathedral’s Chapel. These relics were offered by the Patriarch of Jerusalem in 2018 for the National Cathedral and are kept at the chapel of the Patriarchal Residence.
St. John Jacob has a close connection to the National Cathedral in Bucharest. He is the patron saint of a chapel that will be set up in the basement of the place of worship.
Photography courtesy of Basilica.ro / Mircea Florescu
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