Metropolitan Volodymyr (Sabodan)

Christ is Risen!

In His conversation with the Samaritan woman, the Lord Jesus Christ teaches us how we ought to worship and pray unto God. God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth (John 4:24).

When at home or in church we stand before the holy icons, make the sign of the Cross upon ourselves, bow our heads and knees, make prostrations, light candles and lamps, offer donations for the church and adorn it, then we perform an outward and visible honour, service, and worship unto God. Yet such worship is not in itself worship in spirit and truth, nor is it prayer itself, but only its outward expression. It has value only when it is the manifestation of the inward prayerful disposition of our soul.

True, spiritual, and saving prayer is the lifting up of the mind and heart unto God; and in its highest form it is such a state of the soul when it ascends unto God, enters into the closest communion with Him, converses with Him, becomes as though of one spirit with the Lord, and thereby experiences ineffable joy in Him.

But if we ourselves do not attend to what our lips utter in prayer, how dare we hope that God will attend unto our prayer? “How do you expect God to hear you,” says blessed Augustine, “when you yourself do not hear what you say before Him?” The Lord Himself condemns cold and distracted worshippers: “This people draweth nigh unto Me with their mouth, and honoureth Me with their lips; but their heart is far from Me. But in vain they do worship Me” (Matt. 15:8–9).

Our soul during prayer is often distracted by vanity, worldly cares, and sinful thoughts. This happens because we approach prayer without reverence and without preparing ourselves beforehand. Our prayer will be distracted if we begin it immediately after our occupations, idle conversations, and bodily pleasures, which fill all our imagination.

Before prayer it is important to remind oneself unto Whom thou art about to speak, before Whom thou desirest to pour forth thy supplications, thanksgiving, and praise. Entering the church for prayer, one must remember that the church is the place of God’s special gracious presence, where “the Heavenly Powers minister invisibly with us, where the King of kings and Lord of lords cometh to be sacrificed and given as food unto the faithful.”

The Lord commands us to worship God and pray unto Him not only in spirit, but also in truth — not according to our own imagination, but according to the example given by the Lord Himself, according to what the Apostles of Christ and the holy fathers established, and according to how the Holy Church of Christ teaches us to serve God.

“God is Spirit,” saith the Lord unto the Samaritan woman, and therefore we must worship and pray unto Him in spirit and truth. What does it mean to worship God in spirit? For the worship of God we gather chiefly in churches. But do we truly worship Him there in spirit? If we pray without zeal and attention, distractedly; if we bow our heads and knees and utter the words of prayer with our lips, while harbouring no reverence in our soul and thinking entirely of other things; if our body stands in church while our spirit wanders in the marketplaces of the world — then this is clearly not worship in spirit, because our spirit takes no part in such worship.

But when our spirit invisibly communes with God, Who is Spirit, and enters into fellowship with all the dwellers of Heaven; when it rises from earthly things unto things on high, from visible things unto invisible; when we “set our affection on things above”; when we become as though of one spirit with the Lord; when our spirit burns with love for God and soars into the spiritual world — then we worship God in spirit.

Yet worship in spirit alone is still incomplete if it is not accompanied by bodily worship. “Glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s” (1 Cor. 6:20), saith the Word of God. Such worship is true worship. He who worships God in this manner worships rightly and truly, according to the teaching which the Lord gives us today.

Therefore, brethren and sisters, let us ask the Lord to enlighten our minds and hearts, that we may offer unto His Throne pure prayer, glorify and magnify Him by our life, and worship Him in spirit and in truth. Amen.