What does it mean to go to church?


One day two young married couples knocked on the door of my cell. They brought me a prayer book and asked me to say a prayer for them. I started talking to them and, as I had established a rule, I asked them if they went to church. And then they answered me: “We are not old enough to go to church”. And then I said: “Lord, multiply the old people!”

I do not sit in confession with someone who does not go to church. I have nothing to talk about. What should I say to him? There are some who say that they have not been to church for years, or that they were at Easter last year. To those who say that they were at Easter I say: “Do you know why there are so many people at church at Easter? Because there are also those like you who only go to mass once a year”. After that there are some who say – when I ask them if they go to church – “Yes”. And I realized that some people don't go to church for the service, but they go into the church and light a candle. And now I ask them: "But at the service, do you stay at the service, how long do you stay at the service?" And they say: "Father, I'll go and light a candle." And I say: "And you put it in your place and it actually stays in its place."

To those who don't go to church, I tell them what it means not to go to church and what it means to go to church. Namely, what does it mean to go to church?

It means going to Heaven on earth, it means imagining the Cherubim, bringing a thrice holy song to God, singing together with the angels “Holy, Holy, Holy Lord of hosts”, bringing praise to God, honoring the Mother of God, honoring the saints, it means listening to the word of God, the word of our Lord Jesus Christ who is more eternal than heaven and earth, it means receiving blessings from the holy services through priestly intercession from the Lord Christ Himself.

And finally I say: Look, you do not receive all this, you do not have it, because you do not go to church, you avoid all this. Man has no awareness that, in fact, all these things are happening, but says that he did not go to church and that is all.

He no longer thinks about what it means to go and what it means not to go to church. And I tell them: two hours for God, for someone who believes in God, is not too much. Two hours for God, in a week, to stand before God, to have the awareness that now you are before God.

Archimandrite Teofil Părăian

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