How often do ordinary parishioners have the opportunity to communicate with the ruling bishop? Unfortunately, this is possible only on rare occasions - at a personal reception or during Vladyka's visit to the parish. It was decided to change the current state of affairs in the Tver Metropolitanate. In early December, the project “Visiting the Bishop” was launched here, within the framework of which anyone can come to a meeting with Metropolitan Savva of Tver and Kashin, ask an important question for themselves and get an answer to it.
“The goal of our project is communication,” said Andrey Vasenev, chairman of the Bogolyubsky Small Brotherhood, one of those who are implementing a new project, who came to the first meeting. - We would like to talk here about important and interesting things, about the Gospel and the Christian life. And we are grateful to Metropolitan Sava for this initiative of his, new for our church and at the same time so traditional.
The theme of the first meeting was formulated as 'Where two or three are gathered in my name, there I am in the midst of them: is it possible to be with Christ without the Church?' Those who came to it were interested in the possibility of divine services in Russian, contemporary relations between Moscow and Constantinople, why churched people sometimes depart from the Church - and even what, in the opinion of Vladyka Sava, an ideal husband should be. The Metropolitan answered the last question as follows:
- The Epistle to the Ephesians says: as Christ loved the Church, so a husband should love his wife. The dominance of a husband over his wife is not to subjugate his wife and force her to wash and cook. The dominance of the husband lies in the example of love. If you want to be a good husband, set the example for your wife that you want to get. And Christ as the Head of the Church is given to husbands and wives as an example. So it is said: “Wives, obey your husbands as to the Lord, because the husband is the head of the wife, just as Christ is the head of the Church, and He is the Savior of the body. But as the Church obeys Christ, so also wives to their husbands in everything. Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved his Church. ' Well, the wife, in turn, should be an example of meekness and humility - after all, these are also qualities of Christ himself.
It should be noted that the new format of communication is different from what happens, for example, during press conferences. Here you can always ask a clarifying question, comment on what Vladyka said yourself - and be heard at the same time.
The next meeting from the series 'Visiting the Bishop' will be held in Tver on December 25.
Photo from the site of the Preobrazhensky brotherhood psmb.ru
