On the feast of the feast of St. John the Scary, the one who through harsh hardships has endured his body, and through prayer and reading the Holy Scriptures has elevated his soul, acquiring purity of heart and understanding the mysteries of God, His Eminence Calinic, Archbishop of Suceava and Rădăuților, has extracted in a Decalog inspired by the work Scara some exhortations for those who, choosing the spiritual ascent of virtues, want to rejoice with the Savior Christ and all the saints in the heavenly Sinai.
The fourth Sunday of Lent, March 22, 2026, was an occasion of communion in prayer at the Archiepiscopal Cathedral of Suceava, a monastery that enjoys the blessing of St. John the New through the presence of his relics in the City of Muscatines. His Eminence Calinic, Archbishop of Suceava and Rădăuților, blessed the congregation and the worshippers who had come to the monastic settlement, and then shared a profound word anchored in the teaching St. John the Scary, who through his work has brought to attention the thirty steps by which man acquires the soul virtues.
The Primate of the diocese celebrated the Holy and Divine Liturgy together with a group of priests and deacons at the external altar of the monastic complex dedicated to St. Great Martyr George, the bearer of the Victory, and St. Great Martyr John the New.
The liturgical responses that adorned the Mass were offered by the mixed choir of the Archiepiscopal Cathedral of Suceava, conducted by Fr. Ionuț Lucian Tablan Popescu.
During the communion of the clerics, Fr. Ștefan Mihalcea, Sector Councilor Media and Communication of the Suceava Eparchial Center and parish priest of the Church „Saints Apostles Pentru and Paul” Boureni in Gura Humorului, explained the spiritual meaning of the Holy Gospel ordained for this day. Entitled „Between Faith and Doubt: Man's Ascent to God”, the sermon emphasized that the approach to God begins with the recognition of one's own powerlessness, reflected in the deep prayer: „I believe, Lord! Help my unbelief!”
Referring to the writings of Saints Gregory Palamas and Isaac Sirul, St. Paul the Apostle, as well as St. Cleopas of Sihăstria and St. John the Scary, the counselor emphasized the essential role of prayer and fasting as a means by which man is cleansed from sins and prepares himself for the encounter with Christ.
„The father in the Gospel was not a theologian, nor a tried and tested devout man, nor the bearer of perfect faith. He was just a man wounded by suffering. But it is precisely this wound that becomes the place of his encounter with Christ, for it is at that moment that he utters one of the most poignant of prayers: I believe, Lord! Help my unbelief! It is the prayer of a humble and pure heart that God receives. For God does not seek people without fault, but open and humble hearts. St. John the Martyr teaches us that the ascent to God begins when man truly sees his condition and begins to rise, step by step: with falls and rises, with tears and hope. This is Scara. And perhaps the most important step is not the one at the end, but the first: the moment when man confesses: Lord, I need you. If we have the courage of this honesty, then God will work in our lives. For today's Gospel reveals a truth too easily overlooked: to believe in God's power requires the personal strength to entrust yourself totally into his hands. He who believes in me will also do the works that I do, and greater works than these will he do... (John 14, 12). It is the grain of faith that will bear fruit. Perfect faith grows in a heart that not only wants to believe, but maybe to believe and, believing, it shrinks and makes room for God's grace. And it comes and begins to heal: in silence, patiently, but with real power.”
At the end, His Eminence Archbishop Calinic thanked the guest for his helpful words and recalled that the exegesis of this day can be read on the diocesan website, then recalling the importance of reading the writings of St. John the Scary, summarized by His Eminence in the volume entitled „The Triod - Golgotha of repentance”, published by the Crimca Publishing House of the Archdiocese of Suceava and Rădăuților. Thus, the classification of the steps was presented Stairs of St. John, also known as John the Sinaite or John the Scholastic, as well as The Decalogue of St. John the Scary, „good thoughts to take home, a synthesis of the philocalic syntheses”.
The local priest pronounced prayers of deliverance and prayers for bodily and spiritual health and blessed those present by sprinkling holy water.
„The Ladder of Heaven” is read especially during Lent, when Christians seek to enrich themselves spiritually so that at the end of Lent they can taste with the Savior Christ from the tree of life and thus enter into the light of the Resurrection.
