Page 7 - True Life in God Anniversary Magazine

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Archbishop Jeremiah Ferens, Deputy Head of the Ukrainian
Autocephalous Orthodox Church in South America.
May the Grace of Our Lord Jesus Christ, the Love of God
Our Father and the communion of the Holy Spirit, be
with us forever! In this third Millenium of the Christian era,
the world experiences the Apocalypse reality predicted
by God in the Holy Writ. The transformation of Nature, the
violence, terrorism, wars, conflicts, hatred, misery and the
loss of the human dignity created in the image and likeness
of God, day by day worries and terrifies the human being.
(…) Thousands of people from different places in the world
are honoured ... graced with the Grace of God, after reading the messages
transmited by Vassula, and the biggest blessing to the human being is the grace
of conversion. Constantly God is calling us to repentance and conversion, so that
the enemy of our souls does not destroy us, we, that are created in the image and
likeness of God. In “True Life in God” there are many people that, like the prodigal
son, come back to the home of the Father.
The Ecumenical Pilgrimage of “True Life in God” that took place last May, 2005, in
Lebanon, Jordan and Syria was an explicit testimony of the Christian Unity, where
the purpose was our unity with Jesus Christ. We have experienced unforgettable
moments feeling the touch and lead by the Grace of God. I pray God and beg Our
Father to Bless and Protect Mrs Vassula, so that always she has strength, courage,
discernment and Divine Illumination to perform this noble and difficult mission
with integrity.
Fr. Vladimir Zielinski,
Russian Orthodox Theologian
As a RussianOrthodox priest, I belong to the tradition of
my church and all its rich heritage, spiritual, mystical,
historical. I believe this heritage was borne of the limited
co-operation of men and the power and grace of the Holy
Spirit.
Within my human limitations and with my trust in the Holy Spirit, I would like
to try to explain the experience of Vassula, this most unusual and unique event
within the framework of my own tradition. The icon of Christ which emerges
fromVassula’s writings is not of human provenance because Christ, in his journey
amongst men, wished to immerse His image into her soul. This “submersion” of
God into the human soul (in this case, Vassula’s soul) took the form of a direct
dialogue, of messages, of prophesies, of prayers.
When God reveals Himself, he chooses the manner, the content and the time.
Like Veronica, we only have to offer him “the cloth”, the fabric of our soul which,
with the first touch of His holy face, reflects His image. From the point of view of
dogma, every person should be an image of God. We say that light-heartedly
when we refer to men but we are not always ready to acknowledge it when it
is about a person who is flesh and bone and who is our neighbour and who
becomes a “cloth”with a new face.
Of course, no image of Christ, except that from the Gospels, can be “mandatory”
and universal for the Christian faith and our salvation, but in every era there are
new images invisibly connected to the old. To the orthodox reader who remains
faithful to his faith with all its severe and traditional identity, I would like to
propose that he look at the experience of Vassula as an image of Veronica or
perhaps as a “soul-cloth” on which falls the light of the face unique in the world,
the face that speaks, the face that looks upon us, the face that lives. To become
his“cloth”which is capable of accepting and reflecting His face with His words on
our lips, is that not the call for all of us?
Fr Ion Bria,
Professor of Orthodox
Theology, a former
Director of the Unit
One, Unity and
Renewal section of
theWorld Council of
Churches, Geneva.
Within the fellowship of God’s
people, commitment to Christ
constitutes the foundation and core
of the life and ministry of all believers,
priests, teachers and bishops.
Some are called to a discipleship in
which their personal identity and
faithfulness to Christ is of paramount
significance. (…)
The symbol of “three iron bars” (in
TLIG) is true and corresponds with the
“rigidity” of Churches petrified in the
sleep and lethargy of division. This is
also here a matter of commitment to
Christ. In His Message, Christ asks for
some urgent “reparations”, at least to
celebrate Easter on a common date.
Only the fire of the Spirit can melt and
bend the immobile bars. (…)
In an age when so many sectarian
and fundamentalist groups retain
all our attention and leave no time
for remembrance of God, Christians
cannot be completely deaf to the
persuasion and advice of Vassula in
regard to new signs of unity, here and
now. There is something universal
in this message, recalling that “all of
you are one in Christ Jesus” (Gal 3:28).
Tradition specifies no limits to the
material and medium to be used in
communicating the Gospel message,
requiring only that it be appropriate.
Does it provide sufficient ground for
taking as comprehensive a view as
possible of those who are bearers of
a vision of Christ, communicating
through written words, received
from above? The Church then has to
recognize the gifts of the faithful, to
develop and integrate them into the
life of the whole Body. Discerning
them, restraining some and
encouraging others.
(Vassula) possesses a visible testimony
of her experience through her hands.
The task of the voice and hand of the
Reminder is not a mechanical one.
She has to cope with her humanity,
strengths, failures and weakness....