We strictly adhere to the law of morality but without heart
Once we were with some pilgrims at the old man Paisios and one of them asked him: “Elder is smoking a sin?” and the old man answered with kindness: “My dear boy, is it a virtue?” Neither to control him, nor to scold him. Simply and nicely with a good heart she gave him the message.
A few weeks ago I heard something comforting for our times. There are fortunately bishops even nowadays who sacrifice their prestige and reputation in the eyes of the pious keepers of the law of God for the salvation of the flock. Bishops with a heart that love and go beyond what we have to do.
A bishop in a priestly assembly, speaking to confessing priests, told them the following: ……..Fathers! To those who come to confession, do not deprive them of Holy Communion! We have to overcome the formulas of religious life. What is needed is to love each other, to have real relationships with each other, true relationship with God………
We often say to babies who are adorable “I’m going to eat you”. What does that mean? It is an expression of love par excellence. And God, who in the Eucharist is given to us to eat, we turn our backs on him because we don’t love him, because our hearts are not open to receive him.
Of course, Christians have extenuating circumstances, because that’s what we teach them. We close their hearts. We prevent them from having a meaningful relationship with Christ, the fellowship of His body and blood, putting obstacles in their way of living for Christ. I believe that, influenced by Westerners, who, wanting to place more value on their clergy, have stopped communicating body and blood but only body and consider the blessing of the priest a necessary condition for communion. We Orthodox have come to deny our tradition – as in many other things – but especially in our participation in the cup of life, because we are comfortable with the religiosity to which we have reduced our faith.
We confess our sins but, in reality, we do not repent of them. Saint Anthony says in Gerontikos: “Do not repent of a thing that is gone.” And Saint Porphyry said: “Do not dwell in your sins, but be fixed in the love of Christ.”
We do not go to confession because the great feast has come, where we are accustomed to the sacrament of penance has nothing to do with Holy Communion.
The Christian who has a heart is always alert. Vigilance keeps our heart open to Christ and we ask for forgiveness because by our sins we grieve him, our relationship with Christ is broken without of course ceasing to love us as before and life goes on
When we confess certain things, somewhat heavy things, no need for details, no need for psychoanalysis, we confess to God through the priest.
All Christians who are present at the Mass should receive communion. Those who are not allowed to take communion should sit in the narthex of the church weeping, as in the old days. Just as in the early apostolic times the Eucharist was celebrated after the meals ” the Love ” and everyone took communion, so we should take communion now. If we do not take communion at Mass, then why do we go to Church?
Reliance on the opinion of the spiritual director is often a necessity because our hearts are closed to the love of Christ and we want someone else to take over our responsibility. These are unhealthy situations.
Let me close this speech with a simpler, more accessible example. We were with our Bishop and some clergy at the Bishopric in Samothrace two years ago. With us was a priest of our diocese, with his wife. For a minute the Bishop went to the phone and the priest asked me, “Father Makarios, how can we be saved?” ….. and I answered him. ….Mother, if you continue to hold your wife’s hand with the same tenderness as yesterday when we went for a walk, you can be sure that God will save you.” Let us hope that our hearts work spiritually and not just to send blood to our bodies.
