SOKAD Youth European Gathering 2024, Final Part
Sunday, March 31, 2024
Part I can be found here.
Part II here.
While the rest of Western Christendom celebrated Easter, participants at the SOKAD Youth European Gathering 2024 also celebrated, in our case, with a beautiful Holy Qurobo (Liturgy) in the monastery church. I had been to the church before on visits to the monastery, but I had never experienced a liturgy being celebrated there. How exciting!
I’ll admit that my first excitement was slightly dampened because it was F-R-E-E-Z-I-N-G in the nave. It is a huge church, to begin with, but, as I learned quickly, the heating system was broken. I ran back to my room to grab my winter jacket! Even with it on, I had bare legs under my skirt (DOH! So much for wanting to dress well for the Lord!), and the cold kept rising from the marble floors. I could see my breath. Maybe that suffices for the physical distraction of the morning! Graciously, Gisela Kaya slid into our row, covering me with a part of her coat. So, if you love our church, donate some money to the monastery to get that fixed. I understand that because of recent changes in German laws, a brand-new heating system has to be installed. That won’t be cheap.
Back to the liturgy. The beauty of the European youth at the monastery was that our choirs were full! Imagine the sound of male (and, during the morning prayers, also female) voices resounding throughout this old church! It was absolutely stunning. I could have been easily transported back to many centuries before if I closed my eyes. Celebrating the Holy Qurobo in such a setting is like a quick ticket to heaven! Such beauty in sight, sound, and smell with the incense wafting through the air.
The Scripture was proclaimed in multiple languages. I wish I spoke each one of them…alas! Here it is in German (I may have a strong preference here in choosing this video). 😆
The best part of participating in the Holy Qurobo is taking part in the Eucharist. It is quite honestly shocking to me when I see how very few people in Syriac Orthodox churches in Germany take communion. Here in the US, we all do. Yes, be prepared - by all means! Have your sins confessed and approach the body and blood of our Lord with a clean conscience as far as you know. But take the holy gifts! It is a strong nourishment for your path, as my spiritual father likes to remind me. Christ Himself gives us His strength for the Christian journey. I was so glad to see virtually everyone take part at the monastery. Praise His holy name!
After the liturgy, it was time for lunch. Sadly, the first goodbyes started right after we ate. A group of the Swiss attendees was heading home. Among them my new 17-year-old friend from the introduction round. It was sad to see them go. His older brother made a beautiful short speech thanking His Eminence Mor Philoxenus Mattias Nayis for his hospitality at the monastery. In return, they were farewelled with song.
I was chatting away with folks at my table, when I suddenly noticed Hasyo Mattias approaching. I greeted him with the usual “Barekhmor Sayedna.” He asked me whether I could give a talk to the youth at 1:30 pm. I quickly said yes, of course. While I hadn’t specifically prepared, I had given two talks in Germany on my path to the Syriac Orthodox Church in October, so I pulled up my presentation material on my phone to remind myself of the key points. It turned out to be a wonderful time as I received a number of good questions from Elisabeth Aydin as the moderator as well as some of the attendees.
The weather was wonderful and sunny on Sunday afternoon, so we all took at walk through Warburg to stretch our legs and see some of the town. While His Eminence Mor Polycarpus Augin Aydin had left for his monastery in the Netherlands already, Their Eminences Mor Philoxenus Mattias Nayis and Mor George Kourie came along. It was a lovely Sunday afternoon stroll.
Hasyo Mattias was showing off his beautiful town proudly.
Back at the monastery, I noticed Caroline quickly heading toward the chapel. When I asked, she just said: “Evening prayer.” I grabbed my headscarf from my room and followed her up. It was probably the most intimate prayer time of my stay at the monastery but blessed me immensely. I knew it was my last chance for this visit, and I breathed in the beauty of our Syriac Orthodox worship.
Upon the completion of the prayers, I realized I had missed the monastery tour. I walked outside in the hope of being able to venerate the relic of Mor Jacob of Sarug (also spelled Serugh), whom the monastery is named after. He lived ca. A.D. 451-521 and was a poet, known as ‘the Flute of the Holy Spirit and the Harp of the Church.’ After finding Ibrahim, who lovingly takes care of the monastery, he opened up the church so I could go visit Mor Jacob’s relics and venerate them. I asked Mor Jacob to pray to the Lord for my family, all my other loved ones, and all those who were at the monastery. I also asked him to lift up to Christ all those I know who are battling severe health issues in their lives.
Behind the monastery, I found the group touring the monastery and got to enjoy the rest of the tour with them. Elisabeth did a great job showing us the monastery and sharing stories from its past. We also visited His Eminence Mor Philoxenus Mattias Nayis’ office. I had been there before when I had meetings with him, but it is nice to see it in this relaxed manner.
Dinner soon was served, and so we all headed back into the dining room. After dinner, a discussion plus Q&A was planned about the overall impressions of the meeting and any questions we might have. Our bishops wanted to know our thoughts. While again, language was a bit of an issue (I really need to learn Turoyo…), we all got a lot out of the comments that were made. The SOKAD European Youth Gathering was a win-win for all involved, and I can’t thank the organizers enough who put this together. Well done! It is so encouraging to see how on fire our young people are for Jesus, and how much they want to move for the Syriac Orthodox Church to bring it safely into the next generations. Our bishops are behind these young people all the way, and Hasyo Mattias shared that he would send a letter to all the other archbishops to encourage them to support youth work strongly.
After we closed the discussion, I asked Abouna Raphael, our newest and youngest priest to bless me for the drive home. It was fairly late by then, and I had a 1 1/2 hour drive ahead of me still. He prayed over me, and I said my goodbyes. It was so hard to leave. What an amazingly impactful weekend. I can only thank God (and in extension, His Eminence Mor Philoxenus Mattias Nayis and Elisabeth Aydin) for having been given the opportunity to participate. Taudi sagi! 🙏🏻
