The Significance of Communing

Fr George Calciu

 

When you commune and leave church, the angel bows before you! You stand before the angels, because you are bearers of Christ!

If you do not understand this, I am not saying that you come to church in vain, but that you are not truly penetrated by the significance of coming to church, of the fact that you have to be saved, of the fact that you did not come into the world to perish like any other animal. You did not come to live a life which terminates in death, but you came into the world with a mission.

This mission possesses a social aspect, but at the same time it is a sacred mission: to spread the word of God, to be an example to all, to exhort others through that which you do, to do good, because this saves you too.

Father George Calciu (+Nov 21, 2006 ns), “The Great Supper,” Adrian and Mihaela Ulmer (trs), Father George Calciu: Interviews, Homilies, and Talks, Saint Herman of Alaska Brotherhood (ed), p. 334. (19 bucks, and worth it)

From the Mailing list of St George the Great Martyr Orthodoxx Church, Pharr, Texas.
StGeorgesOrthodoxTX-subscribe@yahoogroups.com

Here is a description of the book quoted from.

Father George Calciu (1925–2006) was one of the great confessors of Christianity in the twentieth century. Having survived the diabolic prison experiments of Communist Romania, Fr. George went on to become an apostle to spiritual seekers in Romania and, eventually, throughout the world. He was able to speak authoritatively of God’s love and forgiveness because of his own experience of God’s mercy. As a priest in America, Fr. George maintained a strict ascetic life of fasting and prayer, while at the same time pastoring his flock as a joyful and loving father.

Here we present a collection of his interviews, homilies, and talks. In them he shares his thoughts on his imprisonment, how to pray, his own experience of God’s Uncreated Light, and the Orthodox Christian’s battle against temptations in America. Included in this volume are the “Seven Homilies to the Youth” that he gave in Bucharest in 1978. These homilies, in which he fearlessly called Romanian youth to turn from atheism and materialism to Christ, led to his second imprisonment by the Communist regime. Here, as in his other writings and talks, the common thread of God’s mercy and forgiveness is woven into the fabric of man’s need for repentance and union with his Creator.

 

An incredible sermon by Fr George is "Christ Has Risen within Your Heart! – by Father George Calciu"

Remembering Fr. George Calciu (Some good spiritual "pointers" in here)

Fr. George Calciu – In Memory (3 years from his repose in Christ)

 

St Nicholas Russian Orthodox Church, McKinney, Texas

 

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