“To attain God's grace, we must learn humility,” His Holiness and Beatitude, Shio III, Catholicos-Patriarch of All Georgia, Archbishop of Mtskheta-Tbilisi, and Metropolitan of Bichvinta and Tskhum-Abkhazia, said in his sermon on the Second Sunday after Pentecost.

“May the Lord help us always to hear the voice of Christ and respond to it by striving for holiness and perfection, and by understanding the highest purpose of life - to seek first the Kingdom of God,” the Patriarch said.

Addressing the faithful, Shio III congratulated them on the Second Sunday after Pentecost and noted that the Church commemorates the Venerable Fathers of Mount Athos on this day, as well as saints who labored in Russia.

He explained that the Sundays following Pentecost testify to the fruits of the descent of the Holy Spirit, as the Church continues to produce great people and saints whose lives serve as examples for believers.

Referring to the Gospel reading about Jesus Christ calling His first disciples, Peter, Andrew, James, and John, the Patriarch reflected on why they immediately abandoned their occupations and families to follow Christ.

According to the teachings of the Holy Fathers, he said, the disciples recognized in Jesus Christ a great grace and something better than anything they had ever seen or heard before. Human nature, he explained, naturally abandons what is inferior when it encounters something greater and more valuable.

The Patriarch compared this to Christ’s parables of the hidden treasure and the pearl of great price, in which a man joyfully sells everything he owns to obtain a treasure hidden in a field, and a merchant sells all he possesses to acquire a precious pearl.

“What are this treasure and this pearl, dear brothers and sisters?” he asked. “They are faith in the Lord and communion with God through that faith - a relationship with God that is granted to us from the moment of baptism.”

Shio III said that many people fail to appreciate this spiritual treasure because they are not introduced to it during childhood and therefore never experience the grace and elevated spiritual state that comes from a life of faith.

Instead, he noted, people become familiar only with lesser and worldly experiences and build their understanding of life upon them. As a result, some answer God’s call while others turn away from it.

The Patriarch emphasized the importance of introducing children to Christian values from an early age so that they may walk in the light rather than in darkness.

“Many of us have experienced the pain of seeing a child lose their way,” he said. “There is perhaps no greater sorrow for a parent.”

He urged believers to reflect on this responsibility and to respond to Christ’s call to perfection, citing the Gospel verse: “Be perfect, therefore, as your Heavenly Father is perfect.”

Concluding his sermon, Shio III once again congratulated the faithful on the feast day and prayed that, through the intercessions of the Venerable Fathers of Mount Athos, believers would always hear Christ’s voice and strive for holiness and perfection.

“But in order to attain this grace, we must learn humility,” he said. “As Holy Scripture teaches, God grants grace only to the humble, and He saves those who are humble in spirit.”

“May God bless and strengthen you. God is with us,” the Patriarch concluded.