His Grace Assistant Bishop Timotei of Prahova celebrated the Divine Liturgy on Saturday at Radu Vodă Monastery in Bucharest. In his homily, he spoke about the spiritual significance of the Triodion. It calls us “to humility, which can exalt man to God,” he said. This path is like a ladder that is difficult to climb.
“The period we begin, the Triodion, which will end with the bright day of the Resurrection, is the period that calls us all alike – both those who recognize their state of distancing from God and those who are not yet on this path of acquiring humble thought – it urges us all not to despise others,” said the Assistant Bishop of the Archdiocese of Bucharest on Saturday.
“We will have to learn that each one works for their own salvation. I am not interested in what my neighbour is doing because the only judge is God,” he added.
“The Triodion period, which we are waiting for and which we will each spend according to their piety and love, calls us to return to God, to show love for Him and others and especially for humility, which can elevate man to God.”
“One of the Church Fathers tells us that repentance is the ladder we climb to the place where our forefathers fell through disobedience, and there are many steps on this ladder,” the bishop said Feb. 20.
“Let’s never think we can climb them spectacularly. We will have to climb one step at a time, with a lot of attention and a lot of humility and never look back, but only forward, because God is waiting for us all at the end of the ladder,” Bishop Timotei concluded his speech.
The Triodion period begins with the Sunday of the Publican and the Pharisee and concludes on Holy Saturday (before Easter). It has a total of 10 weeks. During this time, Orthodox Christians worldwide are preparing spiritually to be buried and then symbolically resurrected with the Saviour Jesus Christ.
Photography courtesy of Basilica.ro / Raluca Ene
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