Yesterday, 24 June 2010, the Orthodox Church celebrated the Birth of Saint John the Baptist. His Beatitude Patriarch Daniel celebrated the Divine Liturgy in the chapel dedicated to “Saint Gregory the Enlightener” of the Patriarchal Residence. To end with, the Primate of our Church delivered a sermon in which he explained the spiritual meaning of the feast.

The Patriarch of Romania explained that Saint John only prepares the way of the Lord, but the bridegroom of the Church is Christ, our Lord.

His Beatitude underlined the fact that Saint John the Baptist was given the name of John, as a predestined name, because it was not his parents that chose it, but it was given by God through Archangel Gabriel and it means “the one full of grace”, “the given one”, “the one pleasant to God”. This name shows that Saint John had a special vocation. Whenever God gives somebody a name directly, it means that the name is included in a spiritual programme, so that the programme of Saint John the Baptist is the announcement or preaching of Jesus Christ, our Saviour, as forerunner who prepares the way of the Lord”, said His Beatitude Patriarch Daniel.

We cannot receive God in our life without repentance

The spiritual preparation for the coming of the Lord and for His reception by the people means repentance! The sermon of Saint John in the desert of Jordan begins with the words “Turn away from your sins, because the Kingdom of heaven is near!” He is the preacher of repentance, of changing the life, of turning away from forgetting about God to the consistent remembrance of God through prayer and good deeds. “Saint John the Baptist has been a true prophet ever since his mother’s womb and he has been part of the plan of God for the salvation of the world. His preparatory work shows us that it is not possible to receive God in our life without repenting”, also said the Patriarch of Romania.

The Primate of our Church explained that Saint John the Baptist is, for us, a child born as a result of the prayers, of the holy wish to have children, while the celebration of his birth today reminds us of the fact that lots of parents who wanted to have children and did not have them, could get them through prayer and fasting, through the participation in various religious services, reading the Akatistos of Parents Ioachim and Anna, through prayers to Saint John the Baptist and to Saints Zechariah and Elisabeth. “The parents of Saint John the Baptist, Zechariah and Elisabeth, are an example of hope and prayer for all the parents who want to have children and they do not have them. The birth of Saint John the Baptist urges us to grow children in faith, to wish to have more and more faithful children in the Church. The birth of Saint John the Baptist is a reproof for the mothers who abort their children, but a blessing for the families who have many children and grow them up, although very often the times are hard and the material things are in badly needed. Faith gives us hope and help.”

To end with, the Patriarch of Romania congratulated all those of the name John or Joan, or of their derived, wishing them many blessed years of life, with growth in faith and good deeds, for the joy of the Church and the people’s salvation.