Română
An emotional testimony of Archbishop Justinian (✝2016) of Maramures and Satu Mare (Romania) in which he shows why the Paraklesis to the Most Holy Theotokos is a source of great comfort in bad and good times.
Let us pray! Most Holy Mother of God, save us!
Subtitles: English, Romanian
Video source: Documentary “This is my life” (2007)
Archbishop Justinian Chira:
I was alone with my father, and he called me to go next to him, I kneeled beside him and he pulled me with his hand and said the first words: “take good care of your mother!”
This word “take good care of your mother” – is a commandment and a mission for all children when their father dies, this is the word a man leaves to his children: “take care of your mother!”
This was the first word he said to me… Then he pulled me on his chest and with both hands, like a patriarch, he blessed me on the top of my head and then he said to me: “read me the Paraklesis of the Mother of God!”
He just said, “read me the Paraklesis!”
And I started reading from an old book in Cyrillic letters and I was reading it very hard…
I started with the book placed on his chest and while I was reading I felt that my father fell asleep.
He didn’t die! My dad fell asleep! No tremor, no moaning, nothing… he fell asleep!
This is why for me the Paraklesis to the Most Holy Theotokos, in good and bad times and especially in BAD and good times, is a source of great comfort.
Because through this Paraklesis that I was reading, my father fell asleep… Because he called the Mother of God and she assisted him on his deathbed.
