Bansko ( 21.02.2005 )
In the church dedicated to Venerable Parasceva and to the Holy Martyr Parasceva (the Roman) in the male monastery in Bansko, today Metropolitan Nahum of Strumica celebrated Divine Liturgy.
“They asked once how man could acquire humility. I answered, “With constant remembrance of his sins, with hope that is heading toward death, with poor clothes, with the thing that at any time he will take the last place and that on any occasion he will gladly accept the worst and most humiliating tasks, he will be obedient and will preserve unceasing silence, will not 
yearn to go to assemblies, will desire to remain unknown and will count himself of no worth, with the thing that he will not participate in any decision of his, will abhor talks with many people, and that he will not nourish self-interest ; and also with the thing that he will elevate his every thought above any fault-finding and accusation of any man, as well as above any competition (…), with the thing that alone and in solitude he will mind only his business and will not care about anything else in this world except for himself. In short: living as if in exile (distance from the world), poverty, and life in solitude – here is what engenders humility and purifies heart”. (Saint Isaac the Syrian)
