“Spread the joy of Christ to everyone around you.”
On Tuesday afternoon, Feb. 20, His Eminence Metropolitan Saba began his series of archpastoral visits to Central and Southern California, starting with the Typica Service at our parish. He was warmly greeted by the pastor, Priest John Valadez, the clergy and the faithful.
In his homily, His Eminence spoke about the need for America to see genuine spirituality and the great responsibility we have as Orthodox Christians to give that spirituality. This, he said, cannot be conveyed by ideology or a theoretical approach, but must be lived out in our approach and witness to the world. Sayidna Saba encouraged the faithful to do this by living the liturgy after the liturgy. “In the Eucharist, we become one with Christ. His blood is in us physically, not just spiritually. The Church and the family are one.”
His Eminence then answered questions from the faithful. His answers dealt with the need for monastic life in America, his experience with Islam in Syria, discerning vocations within the church, and his vision for America, and others. He was asked about his own personal life and coming to dedicate his life to Christ and the Church. Sayidna had a younger brother with severe ailments and in growing up seeing this suffering he continually asked the question “Why does suffering exist?” This lead him on a spiritual search that took him through various books and conversations with different types of religious leaders to find answers. His answer eventually came from a work by the Russian author Dostoyevsky who explained the beauty of Christ and how he healed the suffering. Dosteyvsky’s words made his heart burn for Christ and this is when he decided to dedicate his life to the Church.
The parish gifted His Eminence a piece of the cassock of St. John Maximovitch. In turn, Sayidna Saba presented the community with icon cards of his patron saint, Saba the Sanctified.
More photos of his visits can be seen here.
