Pastoral Letters

BCP: Sabbatical year and prayer (Part 2)

Watch this video on: https://rumble.com/v1hkaq4-sabbatical-year-2.html     https://cos.tv/videos/play/38582931570856960 https://www.bitchute.com/video/M6kDynRoXQMD/   

Dear priests, bear in mind your calling by God and the importance of your inner relationship to God in a time of catastrophic apostasy from Christ.

We live in a time of mass killing of unborn children, in a time of loss of conscience and often reason, in a time of strong manipulation by the mainstream media. We know about the plan of depopulation, or annihilation of mankind, to achieve a so-called golden billion. Purposeful steps are being taken to achieve this. Many people become totally addicted to manipulative smartphones. Some give them several hours of their time every day. As a result, this whole pseudo culture destroys true faith and true Christian life, and diverts the masses, including lukewarm Christians, onto the broad path that leads to destruction.

Repentance must begin with devout Christians in the first place. So, you start today! And today you will also receive the light and strength of the Holy Spirit. Repentance means a change of thinking and a change of life. We must give the first place to God and the salvation of our soul. On the Day of Pentecost, the Apostle Peter’s words of admonition were addressed to devout men rather than criminals: “You killed Jesus! Repent, and you will receive the Holy Spirit just as we did.”

What hinders the Holy Spirit? The spirit of lies and death. So I ask: What specific spirits – demons – paralyze the soul of modern man? To answer our question, we need to trace back to the roots, that is, to perceive the spiritual atmosphere of the 19th and 20th centuries. The period was marked by a strong spirit of atheism under the guise of pseudo science called Darwin’s theory. This was followed by the political ideology of Marx, which spread massively in the first half of the 20th century. The spirit of fascism came through Nietzsche as early as the 19th century. The same spirit works today, albeit under a different label. The occult penetrates covertly, especially through so-called alternative medicine. Alternative medicine includes so-called homeopathy, which has its roots in magic and divination. Its founder was Doctor Hahnemann, a member of two Masonic lodges. The turn of the century saw the rise of the Viennese doctor Freud, an ideologist of perverse immorality. He disguised his so-called psychoanalysis with science, while it was a pseudo science coupled with occult hypnosis.

In 1917, the Mother of God appears in Fatima and calls for repentance. At that time, a strong heretical spirit called Modernism is sweeping through the Catholic Church under a cloak of science, which was stopped for a time by Pope St Pius X. The Second Vatican Council, however, opened the door again to this Modernist heresy denying the essence of Christianity. In addition, with its heretical Nostra Aetate declaration the Council unleashed a spirit of neopaganism.

On the spiritual battlefield, there is the power of the spirit of lies and evil with a whole legion of demons on the one side and on the other side is the almighty power of God working through the Holy Spirit. If we remain passive, the spirit of lies will rule over us and lead us to slaughter through the system of ungodliness, evil and immorality!

The image of contemporary Catholicism is a valley of dry bones. That is why the prophetic prayer is needed urgently, as God speaks about it in the Book of the Prophet Ezekiel: “Prophesy, son of man, and say to these bones, ‘O dry bones, hear the word of the Lord!’”

This prayer opens a person to the living biblical faith which allows God to work. The prayer lasts less than one and a half hours. According to the instructions in the Bible, a person turns to the four directions and prophesies. The power of prayer is in the knowledge that the Lord Jesus – the Son of Man – is in us and we prophesy in union with Him. Being God, He is also man, the son of the Immaculate Virgin Mary. She is our spiritual Mother as well. The Immaculate Virgin crushes the head of the hellish serpent – the devil – and protects us in this prophetic prayer. The prayer is connected with gestures that dispose us to composure of heart and help us express an inner attitude of faith. (see http://vkpatriarhat.org/en/?p=18244)

Another powerful prayer relevant to these times is based on the promise given by Jesus: “If anyone says to this mountain, ‘Be lifted up and thrown into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, it will be done for him.” (Mk 11:23) Demonic forces are spiritual mountains. Dynamite and atomic or other energy are powerless against them. They can only be destroyed by the almighty power of God. This power works through the name of Jesus and our inner union with Him. The prayer lasts less than half an hour. We repeatedly call on the name of God, Yehoshua in Hebrew, attentively and with faith. We do so in a certain rhythm, neither too fast nor too slowly – Ye-ho-shu-aa-aa-aa. At the time of prayer, the Spirit of God will work through you by His almighty power. Even today, salvation will only come through God’s power – dynamis. Jesus said: “You will receive power – Greek dynamis – when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be My witnesses,” or many even martyrs.

Spiritual reform must start from you, through your prayer and the time you dedicate to God and your soul. Spiritual mission begins with your prayer, because God’s almighty power, the Holy Spirit, works through it. You are to be a witness. God counts on you where you are.

For those who have decided to take a sabbatical year, the most important thing is to establish a prayer schedule. You need to launch out into the deep and let God’s X-ray shine through your heart. Your soul needs to undergo a healing process. This experience will then be useful to many.

Jesus says to each of you today: “Launch out into the deep!” Jesus is deep inside you. John the Baptist cries out: “There stands One among you whom you do not know.” (Jn 1) We do know Jesus, but only superficially, and that is why we need to launch out into the deep.

Schedule for the priests taking a sabbatical year:

  • 6-7am Interior prayer
  • Holy Mass
  • Breakfast
  • 9-10am Interior prayer
  • (15-30 minutes of sharing after prayer)
  • 11-12am Interior prayer
  • (15-30 minutes of sharing after prayer)
  • Lunch and rest until 3pm
  • Option 1:

3-4pm   Interior prayer

4-4:15(or 4:30pm)   Sharing after prayer, spiritual talks

5-6pm   Interior prayer

  • Option 2:

3-3:35pm   Prayer of union with Christ’s death through the words “It is finished” and “Father, into Your hands I commit My spirit” (Seven Words from the Cross)

3:35-5pm   Prophetic prayer acc. Ezekiel 37

5-5:30pm   Sharing after prayer, spiritual talks

Important note:

  • Everyone has the Bible and a notepad with them during the prayer. After 15 minutes of interior prayer, there is a 5 minutes break when you can read the Bible or briefly write down what touched you personally.
  • It is possible to pray the Rosary or part of the Breviary privately. Every three hours all make short prayer stops together: at 6am, then at 9, 12, 3, 6 and 9pm, and before bedtime.
  • The sabbatical year begins with a five days spiritual retreat. There is also a five days retreat at the end of the fourth and eighth months.
  • Fast on Wednesdays and Fridays

Option 1: only breakfast and supper

Option 2: only supper

Option 3: there is a possibility of a full-day fast on Fridays, i.e. from Thursday evening until Saturday breakfast

The full schedule is available on the Patriarchate’s website in the ‘Sabbatical Year’ section.
(https://bcp-video.org/category/prayer/sabbatical-year/)

Conclusion:

In the history of the Church, revival has always started from a certain spiritual center. The common denominator was that an individual or a group withdrew into solitude for a period of time. When they returned from there, they brought spiritual fire to the Church that God had given them. It was so with Moses, St Basil, St Benedict, St Bernard, St Francis of Assisi and others.

So you also can do nothing more useful for yourselves, for the souls entrusted to you, as well as for the whole Mystical Body of Christ, the Church, than use the opportunity of the sabbatical year desert.

+ Elijah

Patriarch of the Byzantine Catholic Patriarchate

+ Methodius OSBMr                         + Timothy OSBMr

Secretary Bishops

July 16, 2022

 

Download: Sabbatical year and prayer (Part 2) (16/7/2022)

 

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