On the ChurchIt’s only in the Church that the Word of God and His teaching are fully heard; only the Church is the house of the Lord on earth—there the bloodless sacrifice and prayers and hymns are offered.
“>On the Church
St. Gabriel, Bishop of ImeretiBishop Gabriel (Kikodze) was born November 15, 1825, in the village of Bachvi, in the western Georgian district of Ozurgeti in Guria. His father was the priest Maxime Kikodze.
“>St. Gabriel of Imereti was a nineteenth-century Holy Hierarch of the Georgian Orthodox Church. He generously distributed alms to widows, orphans, and all in need; he clothed the naked and buried beggars, having mercy upon the least of the brethren. St. Gabriel was born on November 15, 1825, and reposed in the Lord on January 25, 1896.
Photo: eparhia-saratov.ru
Honor this day as a sacred day. On Sunday, we should serve the Lord alone and do the works of God. Even monks laboring in a monastery, who go to church every day and constantly pray, should also spend Sundays with special reverence and purity. And you, laymen, living in a city or village, may have gone six days without remembering God and being able to fervently pray at all. Do you really want to spend Sunday in worldly hustle and bustle too? If you do this often, you’ll eventually grow completely cold towards God, lose hope in salvation and the Kingdom of God, and earthly cares and sinfulness will completely ensnare you. As a Christian, you should have such a firm desire and need to be at the Sunday services that your heart and conscience give you no rest until you go to church. If the commandments of God aren’t engraved in a man’s heart, and following them hasn’t become his natural inclination and heart’s desire, we can safely say that such a man is no Christian.
On Sunday morning, when you wake up, pray at home, then go to church. He who goes to bed on time in the evening and rises early in the morning will spend the day fully, joyfully, for the good of his soul. Try to read the passages from the Holy Scriptures appointed for this day, for preparing this way, your soul will most benefit from the divine services. After Liturgy, after having had some lunch, try to do some good and useful deed, even the smallest: Perhaps you know some poor and infirm personk—go help him however you can, but only so that your right hand doesn’t know what your left has done. Perhaps one of your neighbors is sick and grieving—go and comfort him. Perhaps you have some friend who loves to talk about spiritual things—go talk to him about it, make him glad, and thus spend your time in a soul-profiting way. On this day, avoid meeting and talking with those who love idle talk, gossiping, and tattling. In the evening, go to church for Vespers, and so rested physically and refreshed spiritually, give yourself to sleep, so you may begin your six days’ labor and daily cares in the morning. Know also that if you commit even a small sin on Sunday, it will be ten times more severe, for this day belongs to the Lord.
