WEBVTT

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last evening. And you know that this is my best

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voice. I have nothing else to give you. So if

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you can't hear me, oh God. Now I know I'm in

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America. Well, you have no idea how much I wish

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I was there and someone else were here doing

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what I'm doing. But... God, in his strange sense

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of humor and wisdom, decided that I should travel

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the world trying to found a monastery, so I have

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to talk. There is a good thing about doing it

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in the West, though, in America or in the United

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Kingdom. I was thinking now, listening to the

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Gospel, that a sermon in my monastery or a sermon

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delivered by my father confessor on this Sunday

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In the best case, about an hour. The best case,

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if he's not in a good mood. If he were in a good

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mood, it would be much longer. Here I've got

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ten minutes. So what do you say in ten minutes?

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I remembered one thing that happened to me in

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my monastery, and I will tell you that. And then

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if I don't forget, I won't... To go to an idea

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about what it actually means to be human. Because

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that's what the apostles were asking at the beginning.

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What sort of man, what manner of man is this?

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That the sea and the winds and the rain listen

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to him. So I'll just tell you these two things

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because that's what God put in my heart now.

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When you look at Lazarus and the rich man. What

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I like about this particular gospel is that it

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is so obvious. There's no smart, witty interpretation

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about it. It is a gospel about sacrifice. It

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is a gospel about helping each other and helping

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the poor. And the usual questions, how, how much,

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up to what point? And the answer seems very clear.

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it must hurt you. If it doesn't affect you, if

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it doesn't hurt you, it's not a sacrifice. I

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think it was somewhere at St. John Chrysostom

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that I read that Lazarus got into heaven not

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because he was poor, but because he was so generous.

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And St. John says that His generosity is seen

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in the fact that all he had were his wounds.

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And he allowed the dogs to feed on his wounds.

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That's how St. John interprets that bit. A sort

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of generosity where if you don't have anything

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to give, you just give yourself in a very physical

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way. And because you are... a parish dedicated

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to Saint Seraphim. And because my name is Seraphim,

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remember Saint Seraphim in the forests when the

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nuns would come to visit him and they found him

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all covered up with mosquitoes and flies. And

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they said, Batushka, what are you doing? And

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he said, well, they are the creation of God.

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They have to feed. There's no difference. There's

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no difference between that and what we've heard

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today. If it doesn't hurt you, then it's not

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a sacrifice. Somehow, I don't know why, the idea

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of giving, of helping, for us today, is very

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much about the other one. You're giving to him,

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or you're helping her. But the gospel seems to...

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say that sacrifice and giving is much more about

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you, about what it does to you, the one who gives,

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the one who helps. And if it doesn't hurt you,

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it hasn't changed you on the inside. It hasn't

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made you into something else, something better

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than you were, you know, just before you gave

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something. The story that came back to me in

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the altar is about the villages in Moldavia,

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very close to where my monastery was. I was tonsured

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as a monk in Moldavia. And a bad summer in Moldavia

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with no rain and horrid sun is very close to

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being purely hungry and, you know, hunger. And

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it happened one year that in such a horrible

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summer, the villagers nearby came to our monastery

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and they asked us to go to their villages with

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the icon of the Mother of God in the monastery

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to read the prayers for the rain to come. So

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our abbot blessed that we should take our icon

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of the Mother of God, just as you would take

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your icon out of the iconostasis. Something that

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changes you. When you come to pray, you see it's

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missing because you've given it to someone else

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who needed more. And he sent me with the icon.

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And we went through countless villages seeing

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animals dying of hunger, animals being sacrificed

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just because otherwise they would have died in

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a day or two. And you must understand that in

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a village in Romania, at least in northern Moldavia,

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each household will have one cow. one pig for

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the winter and a few chickens. If those die,

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you're in deep trouble. And we went from one

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village to another and I prayed and nothing happened.

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Nothing happened. And I was sinking more and

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more in my own feeling of being completely useless

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and unable to help. And then we got to this village

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where the villagers did something that I found

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My first instinct was, this is so dumb of you.

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They came out of their houses with half their

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buckets half full with water, or glasses of water,

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or bottles of water, or whatever water they had

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left. The very last remaining source of water

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they had. They came out before the mother of

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God, before the icon. And they just threw it

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all out. They just poured it in front of the

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icon. And I thought, this is not normal. This

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is not normal. You're supposed to hold on to

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everything. You're supposed to make the most

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of it. I was honestly in pain because I knew

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what it means for them. And he got to the church

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and I still remember that they had made this

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outside altar and we were praying on this outside

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altar. And I was feeling so helpless and so useless

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and so... And we didn't get through the Trisagion.

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We did not get to the end of our father when

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rain started pouring. Just pouring, drenching

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us. And I knew... I just knew the way you kind

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of, sometimes you just know that this has nothing

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to do with me. It has to do with those people

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who had abandoned everything. Who had sacrificed

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their last remaining hope to the mother of God.

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And she had not deserted them. While the other

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villagers in the other villages, they hadn't

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done so. They functioned the way I functioned

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with their brains. They held on to what made

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them safe. And their sacrifice was not painful

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for them. Did not change them. And I know these

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stories seem to come out of a different world

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somehow. The way... The way the story about Christ

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coming out on that ship, on that boat, and just

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reprimanding the sea and the wind. And they are

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in some way out of this world. Because the reality

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is that we are out of this world. Remember what

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St. John said today. The world hates you. Because

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you are not of this world. If you were of this

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world, then the world would love its own. And

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this is something we forget very often. And I

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assume monastics find it slightly easier to remember

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it. Because once you've given up on everything,

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you can no longer put your hope in this world.

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You can no longer understand yourself and define

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yourself through things of this world. As Saint

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Silouan said, it's completely irrelevant if you

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are a doctor or an emperor or a beggar. It's

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completely irrelevant. Because that's not what

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defines you. What you do, what you make, who

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you are here is completely irrelevant. What defines

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us, what makes us who we are, is Christ and the

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values He put forward for us. We are not of this

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world and this is not a metaphor. It's the reality

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of it. We are flesh, yes, and bones, yes. And

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these flesh and bones function in time and space

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like everything else, like any other object.

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But our deeper meaning, our deeper selves are

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not of this world. You are so blessed. Just look

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around you to have these beautiful icons. And

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by the way, these are some of the most beautiful

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icons I've seen. At least in America, I don't

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remember another place. And the ones you worship

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are scandalously beautiful. You are so fortunate

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to come into the church and to see these images

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around you, to be reminded that these are human

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beings like you and myself. And when the priest

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comes out and he senses them, he senses human

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beings that have defined themselves through things

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not of this world. But of Christ. And then when

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the priest comes and senses you. He's not mad

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to do it. He's doing it because in you. There

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is the same image. The same divine image. Not

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of this world. That you see in these icons. Don't

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forget that. That's why you have them. To learn

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from these icons. And then if you were to come

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to my first monastery in Moldavia, you would

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see that we also paint the outside with icons

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as well. And this is not something recent. Our

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monastery was painted in 1561 -64. And it's completely

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covered with icons on the outside as well. Because

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Christ's image is not restricted to here, to

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these walls. Christ's image is reflected outside

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as well. And when you look at people, when you

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shake hands with people, when you embrace them,

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when you meet your co -workers in your office

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or your neighbours or people in the street, hold

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on to this understanding that you are facing

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the image of Christ, no matter how sinful those

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people are. If God made them, God wants them.

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And if you are in front of them, then you have

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a mission for those people. Nothing is by accident.

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If you are facing that human being, you'd better

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be praying for that human being. Because the

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time will come when Christ will say what we've

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heard today. I came to you and I told you. You

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cannot say you didn't know. What have you done

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for that human being whom I created out of love?

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I think I'm past my ten minutes. I really think

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I am. But I am supposed to tell you something

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about my monastery, but I'll do that at the end.

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I'll do that at the end, just after we finish

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the divine liturgy. And I promise not to bore

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you more than three, maybe five minutes. Forgive

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me for anything wrong I might have said. And

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glory be to God for anything right.