Episcope Jakov Stobiski: We are only afraid if we end up without our Lord
“We are only afraid if we end up in the darkness of this world, alone, without Him (the Lord), He is given to us only in the Church, during the Holy Liturgy.”
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There is no knowledge of God, my dears, outside the Church and Its Holy Liturgy. We must not be deceived that we can practice a godly life in our own homes apart from and disregarding the Church.
Therefore, anyone who does not come to the holy congregations when we break the Bread cannot know Christ. How can we explain to this world that there is nothing in this world that can frighten us, even the death itself !?
We are only afraid to end up in the darkness of this world, alone, without Him, and He is given to us only in the Church during the Holy Liturgy, which for us is not only an emotional memory of the crucifixion, death and the resurrection of our Lord. We can do that (emotional memorisation) in our own homes.
Every Holy Liturgy for us is the same event and the same experience as Luke and Cleopas had in the house by the road to Emmaus. Nothing could have made up for the presence of Christ to these two apostles, nor the fact that some of their women went early to the tomb and to whom the angels told that He is alive, nor the fact that some of the apostles themselves went to the tomb and assured themselves that the tomb was empty. All of that did not change anything for them. They walked on the road to Emmaus saddened until the breaking of the bread, until their personal participation in the Liturgy of the Resurrected Christ (Luke 24,31).
There is no relativisation (downgrading) of the Holy Liturgy and online replacement. I categorically refuse to be told and assured by some who have been and seen the empty tomb, even if angels have revealed it to them.
I will walk sadden like Luke and Cleopas until I go and see for myself, and until He Himself gives Himself to me. Not in any way, and not anywhere, but at the Holy Liturgy of His Church. Only then will my grief turn into joy and my joy will be complete.
That is why I am telling you that he who does not understand the Holy Liturgy and relativises it in any way, neither understands the Church, nor has any idea what Christ has done for him; Unfortunately, it is in these difficult conditions for all of us that we are convinced of that.
Hold on to the Holy Liturgy at all costs, because outside the Holy Liturgy there is no knowledge of God, outside the Holy Liturgy there is no Church, outside the Holy Liturgy there is no spiritual life, outside the Holy Liturgy there is no holiness, outside the Holy Liturgy we cannot be good people, outside the Holy Liturgy there is no Resurrection, outside the Holy Liturgy there is no Easter, outside the Holy Liturgy there is no life, outside the Holy Liturgy, no matter how much someone lies to you, there is no safe zone from the sicknesses and death.
I wrote to you just before Easter night so that your heart would not be afraid – we are of Christ and Christ is ours.
Our future is the light of the Resurrection and the Kingdom of Heaven, but along the way we must stand on our personal Golgotha, crucify ourselves, die, and bury ourselves with the One who warned us that we will have many sorrows in the world.
Only on the cross do we learn the last perfection, the love towards our enemies. That is why I wrote to you that I will pray that only the light of the Resurrection and love remain in your hearts, by this, the world will know that we are of Christ and that Christ overcame death and that there is no death.
Do not worry and let them say that we are foolish and primitive. This is not a new characterisation of Christians. This is because we simply are not afraid of death, because we know that our God is alive and we will be alive. The world cannot, that is, does not want to receive that truth, and will never receive it, until the end of the ages. But we are obliged with the strength of our faith and the hope of the Resurrection to love this world and to pray for it in every Holy Liturgy, because God created it, and to proclaim our joy to the world until He comes again.
Episcope Jakov Stobiski
30 / 10 / 2020
