According to church ordinances, starting August 1, a two-week period of spiritual preparation is ordained through a fast to honor the Mother of God and the pure Virgin Mary. During this period, with the blessing of His Eminence Calinic, Archbishop of Suceva and Rădăuților, in every parish of the diocese, the evening prayer is read Paraklesis to the Mother of God followed by a teaching, a catechesis.
Thursday, August 05, 2021, at the church dedicated to „St. Emperors Constantine and Helen”, Straja II parish, Rădăuți Deanery, after the Mass of the Blessed Mother, celebrated by the parish priest Constantin Oprea, diocesan counselor - Cultural Sector, Fr. Adrian Florea - Director of the Economic Sector of the Archdiocese of Suceava and Rădăuți, and Archdeacon. Vasile M. Demciuc - Eparchial Counselor - Monuments, Patrimony and Church Architecture Sector, followed a catechesis entitled Lent of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary - Lent of joy.
During this catechesis, Arch. Vasile M. Demciuc explained why the Mother of God is the source and icon of joy and gladness of the Church, emphasizing that joy is the fruit of the Holy Spirit for the faithful. In his speech, the Archdeacon emphasized the spiritual significance of fixing the feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary in the last month of the Church year, in August, stressing that the great feasts of this month - Transfiguration, Assumption and Cutting off the Head of St. John the Baptist are icons of the mystery of the Church, of the movement of the believing man from the transitory earthly life to the imperishable, heavenly life.
The reading of the Paraclete is for the faithful a foretaste of the grace of heavenly power given by God through the prayers of the Mother of God which changes our life into light and gives us the strength to overcome sin and passions, to seek holiness and to desire the resurrection of our souls and bodies from the bondage of death.
At the end of the catechesis, Fr. Vasile M. Demciuc presented the new publication, signed by His Eminence Calinic, The Paraclete of Our Lady - a letter of repentance of the soul.
This work, published by the Crimca Publishing House of the Archdiocese of Suceava and Rădăuților, is a work that calls all who read it to meditate the meaning of the prayer of repentance as a means of the work of salvation and especially to reflect on the intercessory or intercessory power of the prayers that the Mother of God makes for us, as emphasized in Preface of the book P.C. Pr. Matei Corugă.
