On this 28th day of the twelfth month in the season of Holy Advent in the year of our Lord 2017; commemorating the holy hieromartyr Eleutherius bishop of Illyria (Albania) – as we fashion the manger of our hearts with the hay of good works in order that the Christ child may lay his head in the intimacy of our very persona, may our households be the very place “the grotto” that hosted THE FAMILY of Nazareth where the Lord of Hosts became the Lord of souls and shepherd them via His Divine Incarnation!
Dear Brothers in the Lord, when we gather for prayer within the sacred space of our hearts in order to listen to what OUR God wants to convey to us, we are called to “Lay aside all earthly cares – for the king of Glory comes to us escorted by angelic hosts” The Paraclete is truly present in all places and fills all things; our prayer is the refuge from the constant worldly bombardments and recourse to the temple – the place where Emmanuel dwells within the mysteries of His Church and Mystical Body on earth!
Our Father in the Faith Abraham who became the father of nations via humility, hospitality, and obedience to God in all things – built an altar at each place he set up camp along the road towards the land God showed him in order to offer the elder sacrifice of praise (Gen 13:4)
In the formative years of our story, the Apostles gathered in the homes of the faithful and offered the Eucharist onto the Lord who is the offeror and the offered (Act 2:46) – this tradition still remains within the context of our Church of the elder tradition (old calendar-orthodox calendar) where the faithful devote not only a corner of prayer, but an entire room (chapel) for the divine services ( liturgy of the hours –cycle of daily services/prayers) for God is and should be the centre of our lives if we are to be Apostolic Christians and live in Christ who is Lord of the vineyard (Jn 15: 1-7)
Furthermore, it is imperative that each cleric has a chapel in order to fulfil his obligation and to the best of his capacity – rendering testimony within his very life at the service of others via vesting himself in the Service of God! For the present and with very good reason, we have no temple due to various factors however providential, but our very homes must serve as the domestic church/parish nurturing the faithful we have caught in our net via divine decree of He who IS the Fisher of Men!
With every blessing in Christ who is the bestower of all good, through the intercessions of our Mother Mariam all holy, and via the prayers of our father among the saints Eleutherius bishop of Albania.
+Raffaele
Archbishop and Exarch of Australia
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