6.3. The Mystical Kingdom of the Lord with His Chosen People; His Teachings, in the Spirit of Obedience
Oh, in each man I have suffered in My spirit and body and I cannot arise the spirit of faithfulness in man for Me, for the one who has pulled himself out of God and fallen on earth is not as then when he was surrounded with the heaven on earth. Oh, the man cannot dwell in Me, for the sin of man’s separation from God has been increasing on and on for seven thousand years from man to man, and once with him the need for happiness has been aroused in him, because man lost his happiness and has no longer found it, and if he still thinks that he has got hold of it from time to time, oh, it is not, for man’s happiness had to be God, just as My happiness was supposed to be man.
excerpt from The Word of God at the synod of the saint John, the Baptizer of January 20, 2009
The sin of the faith denial comes upon people and this people has to be strengthened in the Lord and it has to learn with every passing day more and more his poverty and his little of everything, for the man in the world will sell his soul for a slice of bread, which he will either have it or not, after that his testimony will be for God or against God. Oh, the Lord has sought to gather His people into His arms, for the time was about to come. Oh, the man is afraid for his body, but he is not afraid for his spirit. However, be wise and strengthen the spirit and faith of the sanctified people, for the Lord protects those who are sheltered from bad weather. Amen.
excerpt from The Word of God at the synod of the saint John, the Baptizer of January 20, 2009
Oh, My people, you should not die with the second death, for it is the unbelief and it is the lot of those who are not faithful. Stay with My word of today and do not look back, but take heed only at My voice, for I am He Who sees and knows to guide you through those that are to come to test the people. It is a turning time, and those who do not have Me as word upon them will not know the time, and they will wander away and will be smashed as sons of disobedience.
excerpt from The Word of God at the feast of the Lord’s Baptism of January 19, 2009
Oh, well sons, who are always taught by God, do you know how is the one who endeavors to the work of My grace in man with a great zeal and with great faith? That one has got great power of love and service with love for God’s work with man, as the prophet Daniel had. Even when he was a subject to the service of man’s kingdom upon man, he worked full of My grace too, and it was seen that he worked that way. However, if one like that, coming to the time of trial before the unbelievers, staggers and doubts of the godly truth of the working grace in man, or if he sticks by his hand to something on the earth, his human glory or his possessions, that one undergoes his falling away from grace, greater than the one from which he woke up to come and be the disciple of the life commandments, which keep Me as Master in man, and it happens to him as it happened to the disciple who, out of fear and cowardice, did not endure to the end and came out from under the crown prepared by Me, which was hovering then above his head, and which was the crown for the faith and for its working graces in man, the crown of man’s salvation and of the glory of the Lord’s grace on his head. Oh, this is happens with the one who stays with Me for a long time, nice weather, and then, losing his steadfastness, his cleanness of heart and the good and complete fulfillment of My life in man, he comes to doubt afterwards, he comes to unbelief and to his fall from grace, and the crown of the grace, worked out for Me, does not want to come down to sit on his head, and it is prepared for the one who fills the place left empty by the one who did not keep the firmness of his steps on the way in which he walked by that time.
excerpt from The Word of God at the feast of the saint prophet Daniel of December 30, 2008
18:6), as it is written. This is how I, the Lord, showed the fall of the world, the city opposing to Me, as I showed it to My beloved disciple, to John, the bearer of My word in his time on earth. Through him I prophesied the fall of the haughtiness of the proud people of the earth and the salvation of the faithful ones. And as for you, My people, you should read, son, the Scriptures; you should read them as Daniel did, and remind Me from them about My promises and seek in them after the fulfillments from Me, and also pray to Me as the prophet Daniel did, for he prayed with fire in his little heart for My fulfillments on the earth. Read about the old times, read the Scriptures, My people, and see that the prophets wrote in them about My time with you and the last Scriptures, and be worthy and ready for the work of a disciple, for the world goes with more zeal to its reward, but you should walk more longingly to meet Me, for I also walk to meet you and to meet those who are faithful, and I go to the end, and we will set the table for the prophets and for the saints and we will give them an inheritance, the inheritance which they have labored for and the crown of their labor, My people.
excerpt from The Word of God at the feast of the saint prophet Daniel of December 30, 2008
The man is of clay and the same is his love. Oh, only if he lets himself be made by My hand, only in this way he would have part of holy faith in God’s works, and behold, those who were once enlightened by the gift of faith in God’s works, only those are tested by unbelief; however there is not unbelief but rather something else. When man is inclined to the evil things after he walks with Me, then he tries to cover himself as though God is not on the way with him, and by this he covers his sliding, and besides this there is also the lack of God fear, for I, the Lord, take away My gifts from the one sliding on his way and I leave him with his money.
excerpt from The Word of God at the feast of the saint hierarch Spyridon of December 25, 2008
Oh, how beautifully my faith confessed God, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit! Oh, how beautiful the Lord is in the saints on earth, where His love is long enduring and full of goodness! It does not know about envy, vainglory, haughtiness, because it does not seek after its own benefits, and that is why it does not get angry or takes evil into consideration, but with great propriety it rejoices over the truth and not over injustice, and it is patient, it believes all things, hopes all things and endures all things, and that is why it does not fail. Amen. I lead you through my seed sowed upon you. Amen.
Oh, sons, make another little book and take out on it the work of love, well sons. Man is clay like any other things that he has worked, but if he works the book of the love, he becomes its palace; man becomes God’s palace on earth if he does not lose his love. Oh, let each other know the straining of your soul and work everything as for the Lord and then as for you, and you will be the fruit of love, and the Lord will shine on earth more and more powerfully with His kingdom in you and among you. Peace to you! The world celebrates as it knows the Christmas, that which is fallen from its place among feasts, but you should celebrate my feast of ascending to heaven from earth. Oh, set me as an intercessor between you and God, for the saints stay quietly and only if they are asked for help do they work the Lord’s things for those who rely on the Lord and His saints in everything they achieve in the Lord with love, sons. Amen.
excerpt from The Word of God at the feast of the saint hierarch Spyridon of December 25, 2008
The Lord comes down on earth as word, accompanied by heavenly hosts, those that are without body, because it is the feast of His angels. Amen. I, the Lord, announce Myself at the gates in heaven above and on the earth beneath. I open the heaven when I announce Myself with My descent, and I announce Myself in heaven to the angels when I descend, for I have the angels as My servants, and, again, I announce Myself on earth to those who stay for Me as the gates set by Me for My coming as word, for I have them as My servants. Amen. I have the seraphim near Me, those with six wings, loving of God, and they are in the image of fire, for it is written: «The garment of His glory is like fire». Oh, you who have come together at My spring of word for the feast of angels, pray to the seraphim to kindle you, to warm you and to give a godly nature to your love. Amen. Then I also have cherubim before Me, those with many eyes, out of which understanding and wisdom is poured out for the spiritual eyes, to give them the sight of God’s knowledge and of the mysteries from above. Oh, pray to the cherubim to illuminate your souls with the spirit of the knowledge from above. Amen. God’s carriers, that is the thrones, this is how they are called, because I rest in them as it is written: «You, God Who make justice, sit on Your throne». Oh, you who rule and reign upon people, pray to God’s carriers, to the thrones, which give rest to God, to give you the spirit of the right judgment. Amen. The dominions, the powers and the principalities come in a row in My heavenly glory, and these rule over the angels from below who give people the power of reign and of the wise stewardship over those entrusted to them, hosts of people, and then the powers which help the people in all their work, giving them greatness of soul in troubles and submissions, and the principalities have power over the devilish spirits, protecting the people and helping them for the kingdom of the heavens, which is earned by the victory against lusts and their hostile thoughts. Then there come in a row, the beginner spirits, the archangels and angels. The beginner spirits ordain the angels from below for services commanded by God over nations and lands, raising the worthy ones among people on positions of honor and exhorting them to praise God and not to look after their own benefits. The archangels are those who announce God’s mysteries, the prophecies and the Lord’s will, to increase in people their faith and understanding, and the angels, those who are close to the people, protect the people and protect them from falling and they raise them when the fall, and behold, this is the angels’ ministering, receiving service from one another. Amen.
excerpt from The Word of God at the Synod of the saint archangels Michael and Gabriel of November 21, 2008
The angels do not have a body and they surround Me and are My garment, and that is why the man cannot see Me, but I have a body and I go from place to place with the man, and the angels cover Me. I tell you, My people, about those that are not seen and are. Be faithful, therefore, for the unbelievers do not know to have the Lord as their Master, they do not know to keep away from their falling from God. I have called you to the spring, to refresh your understanding from above for those from above, then your faith and then the works of your life, son, for the ministering angels from Me up to you work from Me for you, and you should not be a pagan within your heart, but you should rather love the Lord with it, because the Lord is, son. I would like you to receive the mystery of the virginal heart and not to love other gods beside Me, for the common man cannot perceive how many gods the man is able to worship. However, you have been very much taught by God and I will ask an answer from you for everything I have given you to know, and I will give you a grade for everything that you have learned.
excerpt from The Word of God at the Synod of the saint archangels Michael and Gabriel of November 21, 2008
I, the Lord, fulfill mysteriously everything I declare, for I do not set the fulfillments on the sons of men, for only on those who are and become God’s sons among people, and My promises belong to them, only for them to know to perceive and carry them in them and over them, for My kingdom with them is not of this world, but it is from heaven and it is with the heaven in the midst of the faithful ones, and this heaven is My throne, whose bed is the earth, as it is written.
excerpt from The Word of God at the feast of the Cover of the Lord’s Mother of October 14, 2008
Make your soul light from light, My people, as John, My baptizer, became, for God is light and this is how He appeared. The burning bush seen by Moses on the Mount Sinai was the light from which God spoke to Moses. The pillar of fire, which had led Israel in the wilderness was the light not created by God, which became an angel of light before man. My glory on Tabor, the light from the beginning, which shined on Me when I was transfigured before My disciples, was a light like that on the Mount Sinai when God spoke to Moses. My resurrection and its light, which I showed to My disciples in an image of angel, and then the glory with which I came out before apostle Paul on the road to Damascus, this is how the light from the beginning has appeared to many people on earth, and behold, I am the light of the world as long as I am in the world, as long as the man keeps Me on earth to be light over the people, and as for you, help Me to be, My people, help Me, son, and learn from Me what God on earth with people means, learn like John, the Baptizer, who did not perform any miracle but who was the spirit of prophecy, the spirit of the testimony before Me and before the people and proclaimed Me so that his testifying proclamation may be fulfilled.
All My words spoken into your midst, My people, mean My light, God’s light. My word is prayer upon you, asking from Me to be the witness of My word and its life in you. Look at the men’s sons, for its teeth are weapons and arrows, and their tongue a sharp sword, as it is written, but you have to be My witness for My life in you on earth, for I have come from the Father to you, and I do not come from the world but I come to make you grow to be My light in the world as John, My forerunner, was, for he was the light which prepared My way to the people so that the people might know that the Son of God was coming and to receive Him.
excerpt from The Word of God at the feast of the beheading of the saint John, the Baptizer of September 11, 2008
– Oh, sons of the light which grows you to be Christ’s witnesses! Be wise for your faith in God’s word, which is growing you today, lest the deceiver may make you lose the gift of faith, lest the old devil may lead you to unbelief. Work to be worthy of this gift, which the man has to nourish in him when God gives it to him, because by this gift so many ancestors had overcome with God and for God. Take courage by your faith! God is the word among you more than in any of the times under the sky and you are nourished with the light of His word, which you have to fulfill like sons born of God’s word, a birth that has to be seen from heaven and from earth upon you. Be great in your faith and obedience, for the devil is restless to see you falling from faith, but let your fight be in Christ, Who makes you light from light on earth. If you want to learn the power of faith, learn it from me. If you want to know the power of the spirit of confession, learn it from me. If you want to be the forerunners of God’s glory, which will comprise the world in the last day, in the day of His appearance, learn it from me, for I testified about the light. Love the light and this work is not hard! Love the mystery of the light, for the sons of men love the darkness of this passing age! Love the repentance for all that you have gone wrong for and for those that you have not gone wrong as well, and be aware of everything spoken about you of the world hostile to me and to you! Love fasting and prayer and ask from God these gifts, which worked from me among people with their power, for they strengthened me in the spirit of the confession of Christ and were my power for Him. The saints condemned themselves before the Lord for everything they went wrong and did not go wrong, and this is how they taught the people to repent. Condemn yourselves for all those that you have done wrong and for those that you have not done wrong and love the spirit of repentance, for the Lord’s righteous ones are those who repent and who are alive by faith, they are those who are alive. Amen. Love Christ’s love in you, Who let Himself be condemned for the forgiveness of many, and in this way you have to be God’s sons on earth, for the fleshly tongue cannot speak of the greatness of God’s sons, but the spiritual tongue has in it God’s revelation forever, the spirit of testimony, the weapon of those who are faithful, who pass from glory to glory as God’s sons on earth, and who the world cannot prevail against, because Christ’s church is not overcome, for so it is written. Amen.
excerpt from The Word of God at the feast of the beheading of the saint John, the Baptizer of September 11, 2008
Oh, My people, learn the work of God’s sons, learn, son, from those who have overcome by faith, by love and by light! Your birth from above, this is what you have to seek all the time before Me. My word, which gives you birth, this is what you shall fulfill when I bring you to work. This means the work of the birth from above, and those who do not understand this, let them learn, for I have come into the world to be the light of the world, to give light to the man’s way and the man to see and know the work of life upon him; let every man know it, who believes by the gift of the holy faith, let him know what God with man on earth means. Amen.
excerpt from The Word of God at the feast of the beheading of the saint John, the Baptizer of September 11, 2008
Oh, My people, you should not judge your neighbor but only yourself, for there is no salvation otherwise, but it is judgment. He who knows this wonderful work, that one is free from the judgment of his evil deeds before God, and he who works otherwise, that one is already judged because he has trampled on God, Who does not want the death of the one who has gone wrong, but He wants his resurrection instead. Amen.
excerpt from The Word of God at the feast of the Lord’s Transfiguration of August 19, 2008
You, those who have come today to the spring to learn from it and from the mouth of those by whom I let My word of life giving flow, learn the work of love, for the power of love will have dominion over the whole earth soon, soon, and it will wash away and it will renew it, but you have to work with great mercy by then, with much love of God, much, much labor, but let it be pleased to Me and not to you. He who goes wrong out of love, that one does not go away from Me, for he has a great heart, great in grace, for there is no greater fall with man like that by the sin of judgment, sin that the man punishes with the same measure. Keep away from hatred, from revenge, from wickedness, from slandering, but also keep away from envy more than any sin, for this sin does not forgive man, but it crushes him and it crushes his eyes and mind and it strengthens to judgment. Oh, keep away from unbelief, but also keep away from despair in trials. Strengthen yourselves in the spirit of the firm faith and do not seek after the face of the nature of the tings, but look to those that have been worked by faith and come to be, for I do not stumble across man’s sins for his salvation, but I stumble against his unbelief,
excerpt from The Word of God at the feast of the saint prophet Elijah of August 2, 2008
Oh, My people, oh, people of My word of today, My entire word was born of everything that came to My face at that time and afterwards, of everything that was in the people and in My disciples at that time and afterwards. Moreover, I am working today in the same way, for I do not speak from Myself. However, the man is not like God in his speaking. The man speaks from himself and is not sure of what he says, for he does not know like God, but he is only like man, and the man is weak. The man who does not speak from God on the earth is a liar, because the man is weak for himself and for man even when he thinks that he can work.
excerpt from The Word of God on the fourth Sunday after Passover, of the sick man of May 18, 2008
Oh, My people, the time has come to speak to you, son, with a powerful word, and behold what I tell you: you, those who believed and believe and will believe in My work of word, following Me through it by her teaching voice for the life in man, love very much these children through whom I pass to feed you with My great word of love and resurrection, and your sins will be forgiven only for this, for My burden upon them is heavy, and they have to be loved with all the man’s heart, and you shall not blame them at all any time for the wandering of their heart of Christian, but they have to be welcomed by the Christian so that it may be healed of his wandering away and not to fall through it, so that I may speak again: no one and nothing can do any harm to man but the sin in him, for which no one and nothing has any guilt except him in everything.
excerpt from The Word of God on the fourth Sunday after Passover, of the sick man of May 18, 2008
Oh, I leave over the entire nature My beneficial order against everything that is the enemy of the nature and life, and the nature has a holy law set by Me and it submits to it, for if the tree is sick inside then I meant a healing doctor for it to search its life and I have among the birds of the sky a bird that heals the inner sickness of the tree. It comes and searches the tree over and where it sees that the bark is sick it pecks at it with its beak and gets under the bark where the worm is and, getting in, it finds the worm and takes it out from the tree and this is how the Lord takes care of the trees, and some other doctors from the birds of the sky come and pick the cutworms that damage the fruit and this is how the Lord cleans the trees from their enemies, and in the same manner He also cleanses and takes care of the people who want or do not want to be taken care of. Oh, if the people did not put to the trees and grass so much chemicals made by people and which spoil their nature, then I, the Lord, would sent My doctors, just as I was sending them to the saints who were overrun by enemy plagues, by lice and evil flies, and I was sending some other living beings to cleanse the evil from upon man, and I was saving the saints from afflictions, and the saints humbled themselves by prayers and were not proud in their mind, but they rather glorified My care for their lives.
excerpt from The Word of God on the third Sunday after Passover, of the prudes of May 11, 2008
Behold, if the man has come into this people of Mine and was led by himself and by the habit of his mind, who says that he sees and that he knows and that he can, such a man have not known how one should come or how one is supposed to live with God and by God either, and he has also not known how one is supposed to work for God, for you cannot do any work for God by your hand, man; no, no, but by your faith and by the work of the faith, for those that I made My disciples, I took them out of the world and I took them out from among their relatives and I gave them spiritual power, the work of eternal life, and not that of temporariness, as those who work by their hand on the earth and for the earth do, for all people are dust, and the earth is very heavy over man.
excerpt from The Word of God at the feast of the Spring of the healing of May 2, 2008
Oh, there is no man not to have a demon in him, and the demon frowns when you want to make it upset in man. Oh, the earth is full of demons and the people are the same, and the people do not know what it is, and what the demon does in man, and the people do not know what that is and what the Lord does in man there where He is able to reign in man. The demon keeps the man near him and near his, and the Lord keeps the man near Him and near His, for the darkness is great between demon and God, between man and God.
excerpt from The Word of God at the feast of the Lord’s Resurrection of April 27, 2008
Sons, sons, I tell you once and once again: get up at dawn and go to your beds after sunset, for it is sin for the day to arise on the earth when you lie in you beds, and it is good for you to arise in the way of the day like some flowers which stretch out their body into the light waiting for it while it comes out. And if you get up at dawn, wash your face, worship God with your body and spirit and join Him at your prayer, and then work all that are to be worked in My courtyards and houses with you. Be perfect in obedience to God, be sweet in your word and behavior, for the angels want to stay with you working, and if the man does not work, the angels do not work either. Learn well to work and rest, for without rest you cannot work and, again, without work you cannot rest, and this obedience brings health into your body, your spirit and your soul in you, to you and to Me. Every evening get together in the ear and organize your work for the second working day, to know at dawn what you are to work. Then all will be then with fruit: both your spirit, soul, body and the love and brotherhood, your peace and resurrection and the renewal of the world, for every new beginning springs up with you. That is why I have made you My people. Take on you the little and white garment at My wedding table and do not forget what you have to fulfill, for soon I will speak again a new word to be fulfilled and we will fulfill My entire word that has been spoken to you to be fulfilled. Amen.
excerpt from The Word of God on the sixth Sunday of the Lent, the Palm Sunday of April 20, 2008
However, what is unbelief? It is the spirit of the world; the limited eye of the spirit of the man who is foreign from God’s way on earth. It is the prison where the sons of this age rot, who eat the sin and its fruit, for the sin is the food of their soul, the food which does not let the man look at himself to see his fruitless life and by which the man deceives his soul, closing the entrance to Me so that I may not come in and wake up the man to see, to believe and then to wake up after that. Behold, the man deceives his soul, and the soul in him is the door, by which I can enter in man, and the man does not know what his soul is and the man closes the door to Me.
Oh, My people, there is no man on earth who does not believe in God, or not feel God. Do not marvel at this news coming out of My mouth, but rather marvel at the man and at his evil power, by which he deceives himself so that he may not deny his unbelief, the spirit of the world, by which he is fed even when he sleeps.
excerpt from The Word of God at the feast of the three holy hierarchs: Basil, Gregory and John of February 12, 2008
Oh, My people, I teach the grace of faith which keeps you in Me and which keeps Me in you. Take care with faith, you, the one who believe this coming of Mine now on earth as mysterious word and body, take care so that the word spoken by you, spoken at random, may not condemn you, son. I advise you to be a doll for the faith and its work, for the doll does everything the puppeteer does with it, and it is more faithful than a living man, for it does, if it is handled by the puppeteer. However, more and more you should take care so that the word spoken by Me upon you may not condemn you, son, for that is God’s word.
excerpt from The Word of God at the feast of the Lord’s Baptism of January 19, 2008
Oh, My people of today, work the victory as I did, for I overcame the world, and I teach the one who comes to see you because you are Mine and I tell him how to overcome the world too, for the world is not overcome by other kind of power than by that of the humble spirit in man, and this spirit teaches you to live in God, not in this world, and it teaches you to humble yourself like Him too, and then the world does no longer love the man who works like that, and this is how the man gets out of the world and not otherwise. The man without God in him cannot bear this opposition, he cannot stay freely under defeat, and this spirit opposing to humility is called world in man, a man who had not given up the world for God’s kingdom in him, but the one who overcomes himself for My kingdom in him, that one has got those in his household as enemies, those who are close to him, those who are used to him, and they hate him if he becomes My dwelling place among those in his household. Behold, everything that is considered old upsets the man and he seeks after everything that is new on him, even if it is about those in his family who rise against each other when it is about God in man, and thus how am I, the Lord, not supposed to speak the word to make all things new that bring eternal joys, not human, as the man seeks after those who are fresh by which he throws away those, which he thinks that are old even when it is about his family, about his neighbors?
excerpt from The Word of God at the feast of the Lord’s Baptism of January 19, 2008
Oh, son, pray with tears, for the evil spirits do not sleep, either during the day or during the night, and if you pray to Me so that I may put away the evil spirits from your way, which try to guide you, then you are not supposed to draw them back. You should watch day and night not to draw the evil spirits back to you, but to let them go away instead, and to rebuke them in My name then, hating their work, for they hardly get out of the man with their work after the man does their will in his spirit and body, and then the man needs to seek a man who is free from the evil spirit, to pray for his deliverance from this death, for the one who does bad work and prays to Me to put this evil away from him, then his prayer does not have any power, for devil serves the devil, and the devil does not pull out devil, but a doctor is needed for this miracle instead, for God teaches you to pray, and the devil makes you do his work and it takes your fear away and then it takes away your watching, and behold, I am gentle and humble in heart and I teach you the work of life, son. The one who teaches you and exhorts you to the work of the life, that one is your teacher, it is your doctor, and he is gentle and humble in his heart, and I have taught you to take from Me an example of life and I have told you that I am gentle and humble in My heart and that is why I am the Teacher.
excerpt from The Word of God at the feast of the saint hierarch Basil the Great of January 14, 2008
– Now, My people, open your ear and eat My wisdom from Me, for I am gentle and humble in My heart, and I am the Teacher if I am like that.
excerpt from The Word of God at the feast of the saint hierarch Basil the Great of January 14, 2008
Learn the power of the holy prayer, learn the prayer, which has been fulfilled. Learn your prayer to know how to pray it so that you may receive through it. Be careful at your prayer, if it is fulfilled, if you fulfill it after your heart brings it to Me. Oh, you shall not pray with your eyes but with your heart, for if your heart is good, then your eye is good too, and your eye becomes a way of your prayer to the heart, your way to Me and not to you, son. It is time for prayer, the power for victory.
excerpt from The Word of God at the feast of the saint hierarch Basil the Great of January 14, 2008
Oh, people chosen by the Lord from thistles and thorns! Sit down in the garment of holiness, in a white robe of holy man, from which the devils flee and melt away! Let it be on earth as in heaven! Amen. Do the holy ministry dressed in white robes. Be the little brothers of the saints on the earth, for this is written in the Scriptures that the saints are dressed. Let the way of the heavenly mysteries for ministering on earth as in heaven be open above you! Do not conform to the face of this age, which does not have a whole church in it, a true church by all its members! The Lord wants to establish everywhere, in all the cities where He has got people, the Lord wants to establish the kingdom of the heavens from place to place and its white robe, from which the devils flee away. Be blessed being nourished with the Lamb of God, Who makes you holy! Establish priests in the cities by the working grace in the church! Establish male and female deacons, and let them all have members of Christ’s church everywhere, and the spirit of prophecy over it! Amen. Oh, the Lord is in hardships among you and He told me to testify to you about the work of the church of His saints. Come together around the slaughtered Lamb! Get together more and more often for the spirit of testimony, for the spirit of the holy growth, for this is the work of the church. Do not be afraid of the people! Each bird perishes on its own tongue, and let your tongue and spirit confess the Lord in the work of church. Amen.
excerpt from The Word of God at the feast of the saint martyr and archdeacon Stephen of January 9, 2008