On Sunday, January 25, the day our church honors the memory of our Holy Father Gregory the Theologian, Metropolitan Arsenios of Austria and Exarch of Hungary visited the city of Linz. There, he presided over the Hierarchical Divine Liturgy with Bishop Maximos of Aristi and priest Goran Ostojic at the Greek-speaking parish of the Presentation of the Lord.
Many faithful from the city’s Greek- and Ukrainian-speaking communities participated. After the liturgy, the customary parish gathering took place, attended by Roman Catholic Bishop Manfred Scheuer. The Metropolitan blessed the Vasilopita, the New Year’s cake, and wished the faithful a happy new year, invoking the abundant grace of the Triune God. On this occasion, the faithful of both parishes had the opportunity to converse with the hierarchs and hear a spiritual address.
In his sermon, the Metropolitan referred to the Gospel passage about Zacchaeus, noting that Zacchaeus “seems to have it all, yet he is essentially empty.” He emphasized that Zacchaeus’s social and material fullness conceals a profound ontological deficit since he has become alienated from his own being. In patristic language, this condition is called “the alienation of the person” because the individual ceases to live “as a person in relation” and becomes “a self-possessed individual.” According to the Metropolitan, his being is no longer grounded in community but in possession, which “represents the deepest form of fall.” It is not merely the breaking of rules, but “the shifting of the mode of existence from relation to possession.”
When explaining the encounter between Christ and Zacchaeus, the Metropolitan emphasized that it “does not constitute moral correction, but an ontological revelation,” in which God enters the person existentially and transforms their way of being. He noted that Zacchaeus reveals a person who has lived “in possession and alienation,” yet the desire for God is preserved within him, which becomes the beginning of repentance. He clarified that this repentance “is not psychological, but ontological,” meaning it is a transformation of one’s way of life and existence. Salvation, he explained, “is not a future reward for virtue, but a present reality of relationship.” When a person ceases to live as an isolated individual and begins to exist “as a person in communion with God and others,” a space of grace opens within them. Then, as he concluded, “the person truly changes.” The Metropolitan also referred to Saint Gregory the Theologian as a pillar of Orthodox theology and a luminary of word and life. With humility and truth, he bore witness to the mystery of Christ by combining correct faith and holy conduct and contributing significantly to theological writings.
After the Divine Liturgy concluded, everyone gathered for the traditional Vasilopita cutting. The faithful had the opportunity to converse with the hierarchs and one another, exchanging wishes and ideas. The Roman Catholic Bishop of Linz, Dr. Manfred Scheuer, also attended the gathering, offering his greetings to all. The Metropolitan thanked him for this, acknowledging the Roman Catholic Church’s assistance to the Linz parish by providing the church for use.
Translated by Ioanna Georgakopoulou
