The Church of Saint Nicholas in the Old Town of Kotor celebrated the Syropus Sunday liturgically today.

The Holy Gospel, which is read the day before the beginning of Lent, in anticipation of Easter, a significant feat for the salvation of our souls, was spoken by the hierarchal vicar of Kotor-Tivat, parish priest of Kotor, archpriest-stavrophor Nemanja Krivokapić.

“We are on the threshold of Lent, a significant feat for the salvation of our souls, when we think about what we should do, as every normal person thinks when entering into some important work. What he should do, where and what he should concentrate on. The Church helps us in this through church songs at services, but also through this Holy Gospel that we heard. The central theme of the songs this week is the expulsion of Adam from Paradise. In one of them it says - “Adam sits opposite Paradise and cries for what he has lost”; “you clothed me in paradise clothes, and I have soiled them with my sin”. He was expelled from Paradise and lost what was intended for him, what was, in fact, the natural habitat for man. Now he is looking at what he will do, thinking about how to regain it”, says Fr. Nemanja.

He reminds us that our entire life is, in fact, a reflection on how to return to the natural state that God gave us.

“God created man and intended for him the Kingdom of God. He made it for him and wants man to be in that Kingdom. But he also wants man to make an effort to gain the Kingdom. That is why he gave Adam both obligations that he should perform and fasting (through not eating the fruit from a certain tree) to exercise his free will, to perfect himself in what he had yet to achieve. Unfortunately, Adam misused his free will and lost what was intended for him,” reminded Fr. Nemanja.

He also emphasizes that Adam was not perfect, but his mind was pure and sober - chaste, until he defiled it with bad thoughts and passions.

When did he make a mistake? When the Devil gave him the idea that that tree was more beautiful than the other trees, that the fruit of that tree would give him something that no other tree would give him, that is, to be like God. The true God offered him the same thing, to be God. He offered him to be God by grace, through the fulfillment of the commandments. And the Devil gives him, offers him, falsely, to “become God” in a shorter and easier way. However, it is up to us to think, to reason, to reject thoughts that are harmful to us,” says Father Nemanja.

Adam made a mistake, he continued on, by not rejecting the wrong thought immediately. He reasoned incorrectly, made the wrong decision to eat the apple that he was not allowed to and broke the commandment of God.

“Exactly that. That state of mind, that chaste, pure state of mind, which Adam had in the beginning, which God created him, we strive for, through this fasting, through this asceticism, by renouncing passions. That is what the Holy Fathers who brought us the dogmas of the Church achieved. Why were they capable of such a thing, and not someone else? Because they, in addition to being smart and educated, were also people of the Church, pious, they were ascetics, those who, above all, cleansed their minds of unnecessary and harmful thoughts and passions, and thus prepared the mind to receive the truths that God gives us.

They approached the state of mind and consciousness that was Adam's when God created him. They cleansed themselves of passions,” continued Father Nemanja.

Passions, he points out, are what misdirects our thoughts and leads us to the wrong conclusion.

“And their thoughts were pure and that is why they are the ones who left us dogmas, because they were with God and with God. And fasting serves precisely so that we can think correctly. That is why we enter this fast to cleanse ourselves, our souls, our thoughts of everything that prevents us from thinking correctly and chastely. Through this Holy Gospel, which most directly teaches us how to fast, God first tells us to forgive each other. To forgive. So, that is the first and most basic thing. Of course, to pray to God and to forgive our sins. Who will if not God. But how can He forgive us if we do not do the same? And we can. So, the first and most important thing is to forgive one another and not to judge. In the apostle that we just heard, it says, “Who are you to judge another?” That is why it also says, “Judge not, lest you be judged,” says Father Nemanja.

“So, it is not ours to worry, to think about what others are doing because we certainly have something to think about when it comes to ourselves. We need to think about ourselves, about what we do and how much we deserve what we have. Also, through this Holy Gospel, God directly tells us what our fasting should look like. To fast for ourselves, not for others. Not to act in front of others, but to fast sincerely before God who sees everything, and what we think and what we do. He says - “and when you fast, wash your head and face”. This means, first of all, to cleanse our thoughts, our inner being, and then the exterior, i.e. our deeds. And that is how we acquire the true treasure, “not that which moths can destroy but where it does not decay”. And that is acquired by good deeds, by getting rid of bad thoughts, bad deeds, by doing good deeds… That is where the treasure in heaven is acquired. On earth it is chastity, the power of judgment, to make the right decisions. That is why we need fasting, that is why we fast and that is why we pray to God to give us wisdom to make the right decisions, and that is a treasure that does not perish. May the Lord God grant us to truly purify ourselves through this Holy Fast and thus make the right decisions and gain the Kingdom of God, amen”, said Fr. Nemanja.