“In order not to miss the encounter with Jesus Christ, as Thomas once missed, it is necessary for us who are the disciples of the Lord to remain undetached, to remain united in the same mind and in the same confession,” Bishop Macarie said on the Sunday of Thomas.

His Grace Father Macarie visited on the first Sunday after the Resurrection of the Lord the Romanian community in the Jutland Peninsula, Denmark, occasion on which the hierarch celebrated the Liturgy in the Esbjerg Romanian parish church.

In his homily, Father Bishop made it clear that “it is sufficient to have Christ in spirit, not necessarily Christ as a historical presence.”

“As a historical presence, Christ stood very little on this earth. According to evangelical testimonies, He stayed for about three years. His presence in the spirit is continuous on this earth, and his full presence is here in the church doorway.”

“Because the porch of the Last Supper is everywhere on this earth in any church where on the holy table in the altar the Lord Jesus Christ is actually present in the Eucharist under the form of bread and wine,” said His Grace.

According to the Bishop of Northern Europe, “We see the Lord always when we receive the light of the glory in every liturgy.”

“What do we say after the Communion? „I saw the real light”. Nowhere else do we receive the light as we receive in the church,” Father Bishop pointed out.

The children attending the service, after having been given the Holy Eucharist, received many gifts from the hierarch, and the believers received icons with the image of St. Ephraim the New and the Saint’s Akathist.

At the end, the hierarch, clergy and believers brought honor to the Icon of the Virgin Mary-the healer who is kept in the parish church.

After the ministry, Bishop Macarie consecrated the new cross in the courtyard of the church.

The Romanian parish in Esbjerg is protected by St. Ephraim the New and by Holy Martyr Irina, the church having been consecrated earlier this year, in January.