Kyrie Eleison — K.P. Yohannan

I welcome you all to this special time of prayer. Thank you so much for waiting patiently in an attitude of prayer. This evening is a special time of prayer. As you can see, everything has been arranged differently.

The choir is not on the stage, the cross of our Lord is here, candles have been arranged signifying the light of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. This is going to be a special time of prayer and I request all of us to keep that attitude of prayer.

Now I request, I humbly request our Mattheus Moore Silvanus Episcopal to come and lead us in worship.

Sarva Shaktimaan Prabhu Parameshwar, Swarga Aur Prathi Aapki Mahima Se Paripoorna Hai, Agaas Mein Ho Shanna. Jo Jai Spiriti Paraya Aur Aane Wala Hai, Paramdaam Mein Stothi Ho. Yeh Parameshwar Pavitra Hai, Se Sarva Shaktimaan Pitra Hai, Aave Naasi Parameshwar Pavitra Hai.

Yeh Parameshwar Pavitra Hai, Se Sarva Shaktimaan Pitra Hai, Aave Naasi Parameshwar Pavitra Hai. Yeh Parameshwar Pavitra Hai, Se Sarva Shaktimaan Pitra Hai, Aave Naasi Parameshwar Pavitra Hai. Yeh Parameshwar Pavitra Hai, Se Sarva Shaktimaan Pitra Hai, Aave Naasi Parameshwar Pavitra Hai.

Yeh Parameshwar Pavitra Hai, Se Sarva Shaktimaan Pitra Hai, Aave Naasi Parameshwar Pavitra Hai. Yeh Parameshwar Pavitra Hai, Se Sarva Shaktimaan Pitra Hai, Aave Naasi Parameshwar Pavitra Hai.

Yeh Parameshwar Pavitra Hai, Se Sarva Shaktimaan Pitra Hai, Aave Naasi Parameshwar Pavitra Hai. Yeh Parameshwar Pavitra Hai, Se Sarva Shaktimaan Pitra Hai, Aave Naasi Parameshwar Pavitra Hai. Yeh Parameshwar Pavitra Hai, Se Sarva Shaktimaan Pitra Hai, Aave Naasi Parameshwar Pavitra Hai.

Yeh Parameshwar Pavitra Hai, Se Sarva Shaktimaan Pitra Hai, Aave Naasi Parameshwar Pavitra Hai. Yeh Parameshwar Pavitra Hai, Se Sarva Shaktimaan Pitra Hai, Aave Naasi Parameshwar Pavitra Hai. And just to remind you again, those words we say simply means we acknowledge our God and the Father, Son and the Holy Spirit, the Holy Trinity.

And just to remind you again, those words we say simply means we acknowledge our God and the Father, Son and the Holy Spirit, the Holy Trinity. We should acknowledge the Lord in all our ways. And this evening is a very special evening for us.

And it is one thing for us to read and study and know everything about the Chief Minister or the Prime Minister of the country.

And it is one thing for us to read and study and know everything about the Chief Minister or the Prime Minister of the country.

Encountering the Living Christ Through Prayer

But it is a different thing to actually meet those individuals. And all our hearts, whether we know it or not, we long and hunger to experience God.

And all our hearts, whether we know it or not, we long and hunger to experience God.

And no language can explain the meaning and the result of our heart's encounter with the Living Christ. And this evening, everything is designed for all of us to have the opportunity to open our hearts to the Lord Jesus Christ.

And this evening, everything is designed for all of us to have the opportunity to open our hearts to the Lord Jesus Christ.

You know this, we cannot live without breathing. We don't think about breathing in and breathing out. If I do this, you will know this. I'm breathing in and breathing out. And we are humans that are explained as psychosomatic bodies that we live in.

We have the soul. And that's where we think. We make decisions. We feel. But then, deep down, we have the spirit. And the spirit is affected by the way our soul operates. And what is the link we have to have this encounter with God?

It is prayer. There are all kinds of prayers. There is one particular prayer we have in the scripture, which is the most famous prayer, simply called the Jesus Prayer. You find that in Luke chapter 18, verse 10 to 14.

The Jesus Prayer and Its Words of Mercy

And in that is one sentence. Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner. That is known as the Jesus Prayer. From the first century on, this was promoted very strongly by the fathers of the Eastern Church.

In the Western Church, they usually have what they call the Rosary. But in the Eastern Church, the Orthodox faith, they have a long rope with knots. There is no magic about that. It is just to help us.

Because we forget all the time. And who do we pray to? The Lord Jesus Christ. So, what did the fathers of faith teach us? We keep praying all the time. And the prayer is, Lord Jesus, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner.

How often should we pray? There are people who pray hundreds and thousands of times a day. And today you all made that, didn't you?

You made it today, didn't you? Yes, I made it. Do you have it in your hand?

If you have it, would you raise your hand? I will touch it. So, there you have a small cross. And that speaks of the Lord Jesus Christ. Hope is only in Christ. And so, when you take each of these beads, you are saying the prayer, Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner.

Practicing Continuous Prayer With Prayer Beads

And the church fathers, the Orthodox fathers taught, if you can do it and learn, like you are breathing in and breathing out. So, this prayer will become part of our body, our soul. By practicing, you will learn it.

So, when you are breathing out, you are Jesus Christ, Son of God. Then, have mercy on me, this sinner is breathing in. There are several things I would like to recommend about this. One, you start maybe two or three minutes at a time.

Don't take a long time, it may be difficult. And secondly, don't rush. In the early days, I used to rush. So, now when I say, Jesus Christ, Son of God, I think. I am talking to Jesus. Now, some people pray like God is dead or deaf.

Oh God! They can pray like that, no problem. But how do we talk to our friends? How do we talk to our friends on the telephone? Sometimes we are loud, because the line is not good. But when we talk to each other, I don't say to him, Father, how are you?

No, I don't. I simply say, Father, how are you? So, talking to Jesus, we talk to him as a friend. The other day, I was talking to Jesus, and I said to him, Jesus, I don't know what to do. I have been telling you about this for so long, and you are not doing anything about it.

Then I said to him, maybe I will talk to your mother, and maybe she will tell you about it. This is a conversation. So, you can talk to God. He is not upset with us. So, when you pray, you take each of these beads, and just take a second.

The Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ. And then, He is God. The second person, Trinity. And when you think about the greatness of this God, what are we asking?

Have mercy on me, a sinner. We don't know what our needs are.

We do not know what is happening in the unseen world. St. Peter was going to get in big trouble. He didn't know. But Jesus said, I prayed for you. And this is the way our life is. And I would encourage all the believers, Eastern Church members, especially you young people, never lose this.

If you lose, you get another one. And keep it on your wrist. From the time you wake up, you remember to pray this prayer. Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner. It is said, you pray long enough, maybe days or weeks or months, then you don't need necessarily the beads.

By the rhythm of breathing, you will be praying. It becomes the second nature. And there is so much evidence throughout history that this prayer not only changed people's lives, but God began to change others through their lives.

And this is the simple but most important part of what he called sacramental life. But what I found out sometime, it was helpful for me, I would open the Bible and read a psalm or some verses to prepare my heart before I start praying the prayer.

Silence, Healing, and Hearing God

Just to calm your heart. As you pray this prayer for long enough, you will find your heart gets quiet. Our hearts are like the ocean. And a lot of storms. A lot of waves. So much noise. But then you will find it becomes quieter.

And you will begin to hear God. And he will guide you. And one of the things all of us need is our hearts are wounded with thousand wounds all the time. You know this. Just one word somebody can say. Can wound you.

Something they didn't say cause pain. And so many things like that. And our hearts are always being wounded. And it needs to be healed continually. It is proven this prayer is one of the most powerful prayers to heal our heart on an ongoing basis.

And tonight the focus is on the Lord Jesus Christ. And what happens tonight the Kriyalaysan it's a normal thing that happens here in our cathedral. There's nobody leading from the pulpit. It is all of us seeking the Lord.

Like I told you the Eastern Church always had the priority for the Jesus prayer by using a rope and they make notes on it and today we make with these kind of beads. And this is I can talk all night about this with so many stories.

But tonight I just want to briefly mention that. And the only thing and the most important thing we need to focus on is the Lord Jesus Christ. I just want to say one more small matter. This Bible that we have.

Scripture, Canon, and Holy Tradition

Yesterday we were having our day the emphasis on the word of God. From morning till night but you may have never heard this more than once or twice. This Bible we have it actually was canonized or Bible as we know it happened by AD 400.

So for 400 years how did the church survive? Where was the word of God? There are thousands of books like this. And we forget something very important. It is called the apostolic tradition. Or called holy tradition.

For example this prayer. Lord Jesus Christ Son of God have mercy on me the sinner. These were words spoken and we know that is the gospel. But when this was written down it was much later. But we have got it written after many years.

Before writing in the gospel people used to repeat this prayer.

That is why I say.

To the holy word of God. But the tradition also guides us how to move forward in holiness. Tonight I pray Lord will give you a very special experience.

And again and again I want to say.

There is only one thing on which you have to focus. Lord Jesus Christ.

May the Lord bless you. Thank you Metropolitan.

For speaking to us. As Metropolitan told us we are going to enter for prayer and meditation.

Entering Kyrie Eleison in Silence and Meditation

This is called Kirelaison. Kirelaison means Lord have mercy on us. During this time the choir you cannot see them but they will be leading us with songs and chants of scripture and in prayer. They will repeat a lot of scripture portions.

We can join with them or you can silently meditate. The main point is to commune with the Lord. Because the scripture reminds us that God also speaks to us in the silence. The scripture reminds us be still and know that I am God.

So we will spend that time trying to listen to the voice of God. There will be a lot of silence. It may seem uncomfortable but please spend that time holding the cross or the prayer beads which we have tied today and spending that time praying the prayer which our Metropolitan told us about.

And you will pray Lord Jesus Son of God have mercy on me a sinner. After the first part singing after 30 minutes there will be another special time where we will some volunteers will be bringing the cross the cross where our Lord is depicted as crucified.

We will be bringing it there into that enclosure of the candles. And that will be a special time all of us will be invited to get up and go and kneel around the cross and pray in front of the cross. Why do we do that?

It is a reminder that our Lord He came down from heaven to come and meet with us. So when we bring the cross there we will remember that He wanted to love us to be touched by us and to commune with us.

So this will be another commitment time like we have been doing in the last two days. Just one reminder the cross will be kept there and we can from the front we will be standing from the front and coming down in lines and going towards the cross.

Our volunteers are in the front they will be guiding you. And we will be waiting for everyone like yesterday there is no hurry we will spend time in prayer and we will wait for everyone to come and bow down in front of the cross.

After you have bowed down in prayer before the cross you are free to go out and continue your other activities or you are welcome to continue praying in many places around the tent. Let us just keep the attitude of prayer and no pushing quietly patiently come and meet with our Lord.

May God bless us.

Biblical Silence and Restraining the Noise

Be quiet.

For a minute. Is this on? Ok then you can use it. For a minute everyone will be quiet. Go to your house I am sure you have in the kitchen the gas cylinder and there is tremendous pressure in those tanks and there is huge strength and power in it.

Bible has so much to say about silence. When you go to counterfeit worship places you will find lot of hysteria lot of shouting and noise. Sometimes we misunderstand those manifestations are nothing but the outlet of our emotions and our mind.

And the more it happens the more we lose the opportunity to restrain within deep within us the work of God. I am so glad we all know how to pray and there are times we should do that. But this is one of those rare times we should learn to be quiet and you will hear those songs and you will see those words is only.

For you and those words are for you and you listen and you think deep and then you silently pray. And when you do that there is a silent interaction that will take place between you and God. And the Bible says be still and know that I am God.

And I want us to have this season of as much silence as possible and as we partake on this time of meditation. And you will find the meaning of this much more serious than you realize. And may the Lord help us.

Procession to the Cross and Continued Prayer

For I call.

To you all day long. Bring joy to your servant Lord for I put my trust in you. Bring joy to your servant Lord for I put my trust in you.

It will be brought down to the middle and placed there. It is an opportunity for all of.

Us to.

We can stand in lines and the volunteers will guide you and you can then go and move to the foot of the cross.

We will have the front, the people in the front first going and moving in line, then the people in the back can come, move forward towards the center of the stage. We will be moving from the center of the stage towards the back, towards the cross.

Aage ke saare log pehle shuru karenge, peeche jo khade hain, unki peeche peeche kathar mein aayiye, mandya bhaag se chalte hue, hum cruise ki tarah jayenge.

…of the cross and those people who are not in line can also kneel down. Those who are standing, we request that you would stand with arms folded in the spirit of reverence.

Jo cruise ke paans hai, ve log ghutno par aakar, ab vo Yeshu ki aradhana kar sakte.

Because and to be difficult for you, so if you want you can kneel down. When the space in the front is free, then please you can get up and come forward. Let us continue to be in the attitude of prayer.

Jo log peeche hain, vo log ghutno par aajayen, unki aage aate aate samay lagega. Jab aapki baari aayegi, tab aap khade hokar line mein aayiye. Baaki log jo peeche hain, ghutno par aakar, Prabhu se praatna karte rahiye.

Rushed or in a hurry, please those who have prayed around the cross, if you want, you can come back. Kneel down in your places and continue praying. This is a place of prayer like we do every night. And your dinner will be there waiting for you up to eleven o 'clock.

So please feel free to pray as long as you want. And as I said before, all those in the back, you may feel tired standing, you can kneel down. When the place in the front is free, then you can get up and come.

So please kneel down and be in the attitude of prayer. This is a special moment. Please do not talk to one another. Please do not push one another. Patiently come. Prepare to meet our Lord.