St. George Cathedral of Stockholm
Sunday, September 14, 2025
Dearly Beloved Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
Beloved children,
Today, we celebrate the Universal Elevation of the Holy Cross. In our lives, we are all bearers of the Cross. “Come, therefore, let us also, with purified minds, walk with Him and be crucified with Him, and die to the pleasures of life for His sake, so that we may also live with Him…” (Sticheron Idiomelon hymn of the Great and Holy Monday)
In his First Epistle, Apostle Peter writes that Christ suffered for our sake and became an “example”, a perfect model, so that we might imitate Him and follow in His footsteps.
There is no person who does not carry their own cross. Even those whom we envy, thinking they have no problems, bear their own struggles. They may not carry our cross, but unfortunately, we believe ours is always the heaviest.
The mystery of the Cross in our lives is great. We often wonder: Why do the wealthy, who have everything, seem to live comfortably, while the poor suffer? Why does one young person die suddenly, while another lives to be one hundred?
St. Anthony the Great wrestled with the same questions and turned them into prayer. God answered him: “Anthony, take care of your own soul. These are My mysteries, which cannot fit into your human mind. They surpass you. You, who have a limited understanding, seek to comprehend the incomprehensible. The only thing you need to understand is this: God is love.”
At such moments, it is better to remain silent and to wait. Perhaps later, even years later, we may be given the answer.
God assigns to each person a cross according to their strength; not to crush them, but to raise them to perfection. In reality, the Cross is a ladder to Heaven.
Through His Divine Passion, Jesus the God-Man shares in the suffering and trials of humanity. The “burial of God incarnate” represents His participation in human suffering.
Christ suffers with the suffering and those who suffer hardships together with him. Now Risen, He walks alongside Luke and Cleopas on the road to Emmaus, affirming His promise to us: “Behold, I am with you always, till the end of the age.”
“Through Christ’s sufferings, as well as through His Incarnation and Resurrection, we learn the overwhelming measure of God’s love for us.”
The truth is that without trials, we run the risk of falling into the illusion of self-sufficiency,
thinking we are independent, and free, but this false freedom empties us and enslaves us.
Pain, even the pain of death itself, makes us more human, more compassionate, more tenderhearted. Through suffering, love springs forth from within us, our soul becomes gentler, and our life is deeply marked by grace.
Through the Divine Grace, the heart expands and becomes more spacious. Our complaints can transform into prayer, not only for ourselves but for the entire world, for all those unknown people who suffer like us, and even for those who suffer more than us.
This is the ethos we are called to carry into every aspect of our lives; in the Divine Liturgy,
after the Liturgy, and into all that we do.
When everything in our life becomes a liturgical act, then everything we do is done by the power and grace of the Holy Spirit, who sustains the life of the Church and strengthens the personal spiritual journey of every believer. Amen!
