Archimandrite Zacharias Zacharou
We thank Thee, O Christ our God, for that Thou hast given the place of this Monastery to Thy servant, our holy Elder Sophrony, as a refuge, as a comfort, unto sanctification, as an indestructible link with the communion of all Thy Saints and a wondrous antechamber of Thy heavenly Kingdom.
We thank Thee in like manner, O holy Father Sophrony, for that, by way of the perpetual refrain of suffering throughout thy whole life and the inconsolable cry of thy repentance, Thou hast possessed for our inheritance the knowledge of the mystery of the ways of salvation.
Being drawn toward God without return through self-hatred, Thou didst detach Thyself from every created thing and renounce every passionate attachment to earth. Thou didst know Christ as God Who truly Is and Saviour of the world, and didst apprehend the content of His Person, which is His love to the end for every man.
Perfecting holiness in the fear of God, Thy Person acquired the likeness of the Person of Christ the Word, and Thou didst receive as Thy possession all the fulness of the grace of God. With an enlarged heart, Thou didst bring unceasingly before God every mortal soul from the beginning to the end of the world. Thou didst pray with strong crying and big tears for all people, with compassion and mercy even for Thine enemies by the presence of the Holy Spirit within Thee.
Thou hast left as a sacred and eternal legacy, Thine unshakeable witness to the greatest miracle in all creation, which is the union of the heart of man with the Spirit of Christ, enlightening all and informing them of the indescribable destiny, which thou hast defined as the purpose of our earthly life.
We thank Thee, for that the fulness of Thy self-emptying in this world brought unto Thee the fulness of perfection of the spotless love of Christ, which is known by all those who follow the way of descent even unto the nether regions, and the fulness of the gift of God that succeeds it, that is, the ascent together with Christ above the Heavens and the abiding in the rich and saving Presence of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, of the most Holy and Great God of the Trinity, Who is glorified in the midst of a great Congregation and reigns in the unsearchable and wondrous communion of all the Saints unto all ages.
Source: pemptousia.com
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