“We will celebrate the real Easter in Heaven” - the Russian Orthodox Church called on us to follow the example of the monks
In connection with the quarantine, the Russian Orthodox Church is urging older parishioners to pray at home and go into a kind of seclusion, as monks do.
Church speaker, Archpriest of the Russian Orthodox Church Mikhail Dudko spoke about this in an interview with Rossiyskaya Gazeta.
On Friday after the service (it was a very touching and pitiful picture) I blessed our dear grandparents, as ancient ascetics, to go into seclusion. And after the patriarch’s sermon last Sunday, other parishioners followed them. The retreat, of course, is very consistent in spirit with Lent. God grant that it lasts only until the end of Lent, and we, like the ancient ascetics who went into the desert during Lent, could return to the temple and all meet on Easter. We are accustomed to perceive Easter as a holiday of meeting and hugs,” the priest noted.
In turn, the publication asked what a modern shutter is and what it can be filled with.
“The retreat, the feat of solitude, of course, is a predominantly monastic feat. We, who live in the world, usually do not have the opportunity to retire and concentrate. And then suddenly life is completely unplanned and leaves behind all everyday concerns. And everyone has full opportunity for concentration, concentration, full-blooded prayer, reading everything we have put aside. All believers have the opportunity to do everything as it should be,” says the publication’s interlocutor.
In addition, the priest made it clear that there will be no traditional Easter celebration
“We will meet the real Easter in Heaven, and there we will truly triumph in the “Non-Evening Day” of the Kingdom of God. Here we see, perhaps, only a glimpse of that real Easter, the real Resurrection, the real celebration, but there everything will be for real. Now it’s difficult to guess how we will celebrate Easter on earth; no one yet knows whether the holiday will turn out to be as full-fledged as we are already accustomed to. I think most likely not, but that shouldn't bother us. When Christ resurrected, there was no one with him at all except angels,” said the archpriest.
English version :: Read in English "We will celebrate the real Easter in Heaven" – the Russian Orthodox Church called on people to follow the example of monks