Page 131 - Prayer Book

Ι Heard You…
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the Ethiopians?” “Elder,” I replied, “the bishop does not like
the idea.” “Alright,” said the elder, “the problem will be
solved differently!”
My residence in Rome was in a building that housed
the Russian Orthodox Church on Via Palestro. The ground
floor had an exceptionally high ceiling because it was the
church. On the first floor, above the church, was the resi-
dence of the Russian priest in charge, and on the second
floor were four rented apartments, one in which my fam-
ily and I lived. At that time, there was no permanent Rus-
sian priest. A priest from Paris would come once a month.
One day, when the Russian priest was there, he invited me
to his apartment and asked if I could celebrate the Divine
Liturgy every Saturday in the Russian church. I agreed! I
even had the opportunity to celebrate the Divine Liturgy
in Russian, using a pocket-sized book from the Russian
Church in Athens that had the Russian Liturgy printed in
Greek letters!
To my surprise, on the first Saturday that I went to
serve, when I opened the door of the church, I saw it filled
with Ethiopians!
My Spiritual Father
The second source of inspiration for the prayers I’ve
written is my spiritual father. The events that influenced
me in writing these prayers began somewhat like this: As I
mentioned earlier, in September 1986, I was preparing to
leave for Rome for my postgraduate studies. A few days
before the trip, I visited my spiritual father for one last con-
fession before my two-year stay away from him. After con-
fessing my sins, my spiritual father, without any introduc-