Russia 2017: Honouring Russian Orthodoxy
Theme: How to Bridge our Divisions
“you are all My People, no matter what creed or race, remember I am LOVE and I have created you all;” (TLIG Messages, May 1, 1989)
“Russia will be the symbol of God’s Glory of God’s Mercy and Love her hymns and chants that are so sweet in Our ears, with her graceful movements, will rise up to heaven like incense;” (TLIG Messages, February 1, 1988)
Historic and Unique, that’s how we can describe the 11th pilgrimage of True Life in God in Russia, September 2-10, 2017. It was a pilgrimage like no other, “the highlight of all other pilgrimages” as one of the bishops in attendance expressed. The theme was: “How to Bridge our Divisions.” The Lord has moved all of us with power, with a big step forward breaking down barriers and opening the way to new experiences according to His Divine purpose. For a few, in the beginning, our pilgrimage appeared as though the Lord was putting them to the test, testing whether their heart was open and whether their dialogues of so many years on love, peace, brotherhood and reconciliation, were sincere or not when faced now with the reality in this pilgrimage, giving them a unique opportunity to prove themselves. It was clear that God’s intention in this pilgrimage was not only for Christian Unity but it was beyond that, it was a Call for everyone from all sorts of creeds and backgrounds to come together, to share and find ways and remedies of how to bridge our divisions. It was to remind us that our Father in Heaven loves us all in the same way. Our Lady who appears in Medjugorje said at the question asked of her about non-Christians the following: “Tell everyone, that it is you who are divided on earth. The Muslims and the Orthodox, for the same reason as Catholics, are equal before my Son and me. You are all my children. Certainly all religions are not equal, but all men are equal before God, as St. Paul says. It does not suffice to belong to the Catholic Church to be saved, but is necessary to respect the commandments of God in following ones [sic] conscience. Those who are not Catholics are no less creatures made in the image of God, and destined to rejoin someday the House of the Father. Salvation is available to everyone, without exception.” (The Medjugorje Web – Apparitions of the Virgin Mary in Medjugorje, 1984, #2602)
And last, but not least, has not the Lord prophesied to Vassula:
“I welcomed you, and swore an oath: ‘through this flower I will gather you together from different nations and different creeds and reveal to all of you My Fatherly Love and Mercy; …’ ” (TLIG Messages, February 12, 2000)
This is a prophecy that has been accomplished like many others.
Day 1 – Saturday, September 2, 2017
The pilgrims from 63 different countries and 16 different Christian denominations started to arrive in Moscow on that day. Those who had not seen one another for a long time or who only knew each other from email or social media had the opportunity to meet, chat, and get ready for the program the next day. Some of our guests were not able to attend our pilgrimage because they did not get their visas, or had to undergo last minute health issues, but they nevertheless sent us their speeches.
In the evening, the Moscow TLIG prayer group met with Vassula. It was a memorable meeting. On the photographs taken during this meeting some people from the Russian prayer group saw Jesus’ Face on Vassula’s face, a sign showing that Vassula was transmitting Jesus’ Message. [To read the Moscow Prayer Group report, see page 30 of the TLIG Magazine, Issue #39.]
Day 2 – Sunday, September 3, 2017
After breakfast, we all moved to the conference hall for the opening of the pilgrimage. The ceremony started with the Russian National Hymn. Then, as it is the best way possible, we started our pilgrimage with the Lord’s Prayer in Aramaic. Right after the prayer, we had the procession of the clergymen from four different religions (Christianity, Islam, Judaism and Buddhism), totaling 21 different Christian and non-Christian denominations.
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At the end of the procession, Vassula welcomed everyone with words that outlined the core message behind the pilgrimage: Peace, El Salaam aleikoum, Shalom.
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She spoke of the value of interreligious dialogue and insisted that we must be the leaven to go and promote this culture of dialogue in our own countries reminding us that: “Anyone who claims to be in the light but hates his brother is still in the dark.” (1 Jn 9) Also, Telesphore P. Cardinal Toppo said a spontaneous word of welcome calling everyone pilgrims of peace.
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Then we had the Greek Orthodox Liturgy. The Liturgy was concelebrated by Orthodox clergymen from the United States, Greece, Romania and Lebanon. Archimandrite Nicolas said: “When in Russia do as the Russians do,” so he asked everyone to cross themselves in the Orthodox way using the three fingers and to cross themselves from right to left. We could see many Catholics trying to cross themselves in that way as a gesture of love to their Orthodox brothers and sisters.
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In the afternoon the pilgrims could visit the Izmailovo market, situated at a walking distance from the hotel. It is a colorful market, a very typical decor of the Russian culture. Many pilgrims had the chance to shop there. Inside the market there is a church, and we discovered that many marriages are performed there due to the fact that the place itself is very beautiful.
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Later in the day we started our rotational trips to four different monasteries. Our bus took us the first day, with Vassula, to the Donskoy Monastery. This beautiful Monastery was founded in order to defend the Moscow Kremlin from southern invasions. The beautiful Icon of our Lady of the Don depicts Jesus with both legs on Mary’s arm. A reputable part of this monastery is a cemetery, where many elite people, including the famous writer Aleksandr Slozhenitsyn, are buried. During our visit we had the chance to pray for a while with the monks at Vespers. Some of the sculptures in the garden are the valuable remains from the originals found in the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour after it was demolished by the Soviets.
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Day 3 – Monday, September 4, 2017
The third day marked five speeches presented in the morning from leaders of various religions. First, we saw a video from Dr. Rabbi Alon Goshen-Gottstein Founder and Director of the Elijah Interfaith Institute.
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In the video the heads of various religions and denominations spoke about the importance of friendships between people of different creeds. Rabbi Alon then spoke about this question of friendships across religions. He told a story about a noted rabbi who once was asked to teach the entire Torah to someone who was standing on one leg. He summed it up as follows: “Do not do to others what you would not want done to yourself. That’s the whole Torah, the rest is explication.” That Golden Rule is present in all world religions. In addition he called for leaders to focus more on the highest teachings of religion, touching on the importance of compassion and hospitality as a foundation for extending friendship to others.
After Rabbi Alon, Vassula delivered her first speech saying that bridging our divisions is something beyond human capacity and that it requires an intervention from God, a miracle. However, she continued, Jesus says: “Do your best
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and I shall do the rest.” So to allow this miracle to happen, we need to first die to ourselves, repent and work with sincerity. She highlighted how in the TLIG pilgrimages Christians coming from various denominations start to feel One again. So everything is possible for God, but first He needs to hear our cry of repentance. She read a verse from the Holy Koran on prayer and charity and ended by saying that the bridge that unites us is there, right in front of us, but in our darkness we fail to see it.
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Then, Sheikh Muhammad Ben Mustafa Valsan, Director of the magazine “Sacred Science” from France witnessed about the beautiful relationship between his Sufi community and the Cistercian monks who live nearby. He said the monks have protected his community from the locals who were afraid of them. Friendship between them has resulted in common silent prayer, “the prayer of the heart” and a common invocation chosen from a prayer by Gregory of Nazianz addressed to the One and Supreme God: O Thou Who art beyond all, what else may we rightly call Thee?… All things, both the speaking and the speechless, proclaim Thee… To Thee is the prayer of all… O Most-Named, how then shall I add