On the fourth Sunday of Lent, of St. John of the Ladder, the parishioners of the Metropolitan Cathedral prayed together with their Archpastor, His Eminence Metropolitan Vladimir, at the Divine Liturgy of St. Basil the Great.
The Metropolitan was joined by His Eminence Anatoly, Archbishop of Cahul and Comrat, His Eminence Irineu, Bishop of Orsk and Gai, His Eminence Ioan, Bishop of Soroca, His Eminence Nicolae, Bishop of Ceadir-Lunga, Protopriest Vadim Cheibaș, Metropolitan Secretary, and the choir of priests and deacons of the Metropolitan Cathedral.
The liturgical responses were offered by the mixed archdiocesan choir of the cathedral, conducted by Angela Angheni.
After the Divine Liturgy, with the blessing of His Eminence Metropolitan Vladimir, prot. Vadim Cheibaș delivered a message of spiritual guidance, in which he highlighted the meanings of today’s Gospel reading which tells about the healing of the lunatic child. The dean of the Metropolitan Cathedral also stressed the significance of the context in which the Saviour Christ performs this miracle.
The liturgical feast of St. John of the Ladder on the 4th Sunday of Lent appeared in the 13th century and spread in the entire Church by the 15th century. With the beginning of Lent, both in monasteries and parish churches, Reverend John’s fundamental work entitled ‘The Ladder of Heaven’ or ‘The Ladder of Divine Ascent’, was often read. In this book, St John describes the principles of Christian life, showing us how we should free ourselves from the passions and acquire the virtues. From the perspective of this work, the spiritual life is presented in the form of a ladder with thirty steps. The metaphor of the Ladder, similar to the one in the vision of the patriarch Jacob (Acts 28:12-13), is used to describe how one can ascend to the Kingdom of Heaven, beginning with the renunciation of worldly, ephemeral things, and culminating with experiencing the full presence of Christ in the eschatological Kingdom. Therefore, this feast at the beginning of the second half of Lent brings to our attention both the icon of holiness to which every human being must attain and the way to acquire eternal life.
Next Sunday, the Orthodox Church will be on the Fifth Sunday of Lent (of the Virgin Mary of Egypt).