On Sunday of Tax-Collector and Pharisee, His Grace Bishop Ioan Casian was present at the Divine Liturgy in the Descent of the Holy Spirit Parish in Șerbănești - Bacău, together with His Eminence Ioachim, the Archbishop of Roman and Bacãu. The numerous priests and deacons present with the two hierarchs was coordinated by Father Costică Busuioc - dean. The believers present were able to attend a special Divine Liturgy in which an ordination and a baptism were performed.

At the end of the service, HG Bishop Ioan Casian gave the sermon in which he explained the significance of the evangelical text, urging the development of moral qualities to build an authentic life in God.

Today's Sunday has many meanings. It marks first the beginning of the liturgical period of the Triodion, the period whose final purpose is the preparation of the encountering the Risen Christ on Easter night. Each Sunday is a night or Easter morning in which we can address each other the greeting 'Christ is risen!'. This is the case of today's text, which shows us two examples - a Pharisee and a Tax-Collector; two people who go to pray to God but return home with different fruits. The Pharisee is a knowledgeable man of the Law that he sought to fulfill in its letter by external deeds. The Tax-Collector, having the conscience of sin, did not dare to look up to God, but begged Him to be gracious to his inability and sin. The text concludes with the words that underline the importance of humility that elevates man to God while he who exalts himself will be humbled.

The humility of which the text talks reflects the infinite humility of God, Who from His unspeakable eternity descends in time through His Son to give man again the possibility of salvation through grace and faith.

Secondly, the baptismal Divine Liturgy we were all present in gave us the opportunity to see in the new born infant through Baptism in Christ the image of each of us who are present as persons born into the new life in the Church and whose purpose is our resurrection. The reborn infant through Baptism on the first day of the Triodion reminds us of the humility necessary to the path each began in the Church through Baptism to achieve this goal.

Thirdly, the ordination to the rank of deacon performed today reminds us of our vocation to serve as angels. These hierarchical steps of ministry - bishop, priest, deacon - are given by God in the Church for our spiritual guidance and sacramental fulfillment of the work of grace entrusted by Him. Understood as gifts of God, hierarchical steps become a means of raising awareness of the need for dialogue with God for salvation.

In concluding, the hierarch of Canada thanked H.Em. Archbishop Ioachim for the joy of serving together.

Then Archbishop Ioachim spoke to those present about the meaning of every man who can communicate with God through prayer.

In the Sunday of Tax-Collector and Pharisee, only one man enters the church to pray and that is me, it is each one of us. I, the one who goes to pray, carry two people in me. I am not entirely untrue, as I am not a repentant wrongdoer. There are a little of each. One day I am a Pharisee, the other a Tax-Collector. I take both from one and the other. I must do good deeds, like the Pharisee, without shouting them loudly, and adopt the humility of the Tax-Collector, without doing his wrong deeds. We learn this Sunday that when you are full of yourself, you have no room for God.

In the end, the parish priest Adrian Ghinea, thanked Archbishop Ioachim for the care shown to this parish.

Photo credit: Archdiocese of Roman and Bacău