On the beginning of the Dormition Fast, Bishop Visarion of Tulcea addressed a message to the believers offering spiritual advice about how the Theotokos can become our Mother during this fasting season.
In a video message posted on the Diocese’s Facebook page, the Bishop of Tulcea recalled that Orthodox Christians “prepare themselves as they know better and as the millennial church tradition teaches” to bring hymns to the Mother of God and to encounter properly the feast of the Dormition of the Theotokos, “a beloved solemnity to all Orthodox Christians, and particularly to Romanians.”
The hierarch used his message to urge physical and spiritual self-control, stressing the importance of the evening prayer to Virgin Mary.
“Let us praise the Mother of God with her beautiful Akathist hymn, with the Supplicatory Cannon to the Theotokos, which is always read in times of trouble, trial and distress, and we will truly feel how the Mother of God becomes our Mother to each of us, and that she carries us in her holy intercessions,” the bishop said.
“May this period be a blessed time for each of us, and may the Mother of God protect us with her holy and honourable intercessions.”
“May she help us to overcome the temptations of this life, to be together with her for always and to fulfil her Son’s commandments always, as the Mother of God told those at the Marriage at Cana of Galilee, ‘Do whatever he tells you’.”
“May the Compassionate God, for the intercessions of His Most Pure Mother, help us and bless us all, and may this fasting season be to us all unto joy, benefit and the acquisition of the eternal life,” Bishop Visarion said concluding his message.
Source: Basilica.ro
