The Original*
"Hours of mystery and love. Hours of sincerity and reconciliation with God. Hours of enlightenment and cleansing, peace and freedom!...."
A True Event
Jails of men.....! Saturday morning.....! In
the Holy Church of Saint Eleftherios, the Divine Liturgy concluded. Such warm
prayer to the Saviour took place again today, for the jail irons to open, to
break the irons of the passions, for the greatly longed for, freedom to those
detained...! Do not tardy, Lord..... From the speakers of the reformatory it is
announced: "The Preachers have arrived. Who ever detainee wishes, let him come
down to the Church...."
Soon the preachers receive with great love,
like every other Saturday, all those who long to hear the Word of God. Those
who through the suffocation of their detention, wish to breathe, to relax, to
be enlightened, to once more hope again, to be taken by the love of God. For
they need it greatly. It is their only consoling exit...... for relief..... for
dreams, for a true life....!. One, two, three,...... twenty minutes! They worship
with piety the holy icons and return to their places.....
To day's lesson refers to the persons of
Golgotha. To the persons who surrounded the Crucified Godman in His most tragic
hours, with total silence and moving devout concentration they follow and
absorb..... At the end with great simplicity they express their impressions,
their queries, their puzzlements, they discuss.....!
It has made a great impression to me, said
sharply a sturdy man, a robber! "He suits me" I like it very much! He was
hopelessly happy.....!
You see, in life we also can be inspired
even by the negative types, even by robbers, who however found the true road,
the road of God......
-Please explain to us why you admired so
much the robber?
-Because with one of his expressions,
forgive me my God, "remember me, Lord" he was saved, all his sins were blotted
out, he won Paradise and was the first one who entered it. It is not comprehensible
for me how much He felt for him and how much Christ understood him!
I had loved this robber. I want to imitate
him, to have his luck.....!
-May it be so, may it be so, I wish it to
you with all my heart. Since you wish it so much, let it be done. With one
precondition: to resemble the robber not only in his deep repentance but in
something else he did:
What was it?
-To resemble him in his acknowledgment.
What did we say he acknowledged? That Christ is the King and that himself was a
sinner! "We are justly punished and we received justly for what we did.....!"
Acknowledgment leads to confession and then to Salvation. This acknowledgment
we call it differently, Confession. Christ taught His disciples how to be true
confessors. He, Himself did the same upon the Cross. The robber confessed and
Christ forgave him....!
-This I did not know it this way, I had not
understood it.
-Have you ever thought of confessing? Have
you ever felt the need? Do you wish to confess, to acknowledge to Him
everything with contrition, humility and sincerity? Do you wish to be saved?
-Yes! I wish it! I wish it and soon!
However you'll bring me an ORIGINAL priest. Not those of the jails. I do not
trust them. I am afraid that perhaps..... You understand.....
-They are excellent the Priest confessors of
the jails. However because I understand you I shall bring you an ORIGINAL, as
you asked.....
-I shall be waiting for him with interest
and longing
........................................................................................................
It was done
-Do you perhaps wish that someone else
confess? Perhaps someone wishes to take the place of Dionisios, who also asked
for an ORIGINAL confessor, but did not manage because he was suddenly
transferred to another jail?
I! I want to confess!
-You? Asked abruptly and incredulously the
Chief Warden, who was always on guard duty at the Church at this time. You
truly wish to confess?
Yes! I wish and in fact a great deal! I
have decided! And you know why? I had it in me, I thought of it continuously, I
felt the need to relieve my burden but I never got the chance. Every Saturday
in the morning I work in the kitchen. Today for the first time, strangely they
exempted me. Well, it was not by chance! It was not by chance! Do you
understand Chief Warden? I want to confess....!
-Congratulations to both of you, for taking
such a heroic decision. Good preparation.....
The gathering ended. The ORIGINAL Confessor
came at the appointed day, and was very eager. The confession of the two
detainees lasted for hours. Hours of the mystery and love. Hours of sincerity
and reconciliation with God. Hours of enlightenment and cleansing, peace and
freedom!
Exiting from the ORIGINAL confession one of
them full of tears, said: "From this day I can smile!' From this moment I feel
free.....! Happiness emanated from his face.
Glory to You, Lord!....
Bless those ORIGINAL who confessed and the ORIGINAL Confessors.....
Note :
The first of the two detainees, when he received permission, went to the Holy Mountain and met the Elder with whom he had talked in his pure youth. When he (the Elder) saw him, he recognized him, talked with him, took off his cap, stood up and told him before seeing him off. "I waited for you for 25 years. Now I can die peacefully!'
Source: "I Drasis Mas" (Our Action)
Journal
February 2009, Issue #466.
*ORIGINAL : Every man seeks the authentic, the real and this has special value when we talk about spiritual matters. Christians, even if sinners and distant from the Will of God, long for their spiritual fathers, the clerics, to be sincere, to be the first ones who do what they preach to others. They want them "original". This is not an unreasonable expectation but deep spiritual need which in essence demonstrates the recognition of the superiority of their apostolic high office.
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