Fr. Luke briefs the Pilgrimage participants before leaving for Russia! Christ is Risen!
This is Fr. Luke Melackrinos I am one of the group leaders on the Youth and Young Adult Ministries Pilgrimage to Russia. I am getting ready to go to the airport, but just wanted to share a couple of thoughts.
I am excited to begin the pilgrimage to the country with the highest Orthodox Christian population in the world. I started the day with Liturgy commemorating the Consecration of the Church of the Life Giving Spring (as is the custom every Friday of Bright Week). The Gospel was powerful and told of how Jesus got angry and flipped over tables and drove money changers and merchants out of the Temple. Simply put, Jesus got mad at the idea that people were using the Temple to make money. The animals people would bring were not "Temple Approved" so they had to buy them there. The money from the outside the Temple also was not valid, one had to change it at an exorbitant exchange rate in order to buy animals for sacrifice....kind of easy to see why Jesus got so mad.
Anyway, the best part of the Gospel is Christ foretellling His Resurrection by saying, "Destroy this temple and I will raise it three days later." He of course referred to His Body, and everyone including the Disciples thought he was talking about THE Temple.
After Liturgy, I made a pilgrimage with some parishioners for good ol' American Hamburgers before we leave the USA, finished packing and am ready to go.
Check back in as I will keep you updated, and tell you about the Russian Saint of the day we are reflectiong on, as well as details of our adventure.
God bless!
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