Message from the Head of the Don Metropolis on the occasion of the 10th anniversary of the church-wide glorification of the holy righteous Paul of Taganrogtranslated

Your Eminence Archpastors! All-honorable fathers! Dear brothers and sisters!

“Wonderful is God of His saints” (Ps. 67:36), proclaims the Holy Scriptures. These words are remembered with special feeling now, when it is 10 years since the church-wide glorification of the holy righteous Paul of Taganrog - one of those amazing saints of God, through whom the Lord reveals to us a simple and at the same time great truth: holiness does not belong only to the past, it is not limited to the walls of monasteries and is not the lot of the chosen few. It is possible in any place and in any era if a person completely opens his heart to God.

Ten years ago, the Consecrated Council of Bishops of the Russian Orthodox Church determined to perform church-wide veneration of the righteous Paul of Taganrog. But the church glorification of a saint never means that from a certain day a person becomes a saint. Holiness is not born from a human decision and is not established by a conciliar determination. It is the action of God’s grace in a person who has responded with his whole life to the call of Christ. The Church recognizes this holiness, testifies to it and offers the image of the saint of God to her children as an example to follow and...