Tbilisi, Georgia, May 23, 2025
Met. Shio of Senaki. Photo: sazu.ge
His Eminence Metropolitan Shio of Senaki and Chkhorotsqu delivered a sermon at Tbilisi’s St. Nicholas Church yesterday, emphasizing the importance of humility and spiritual warfare in Christian life during the celebration of the feast of the Translation of the Relics of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker from Myra to Bari, Italy.
The Metropolitan, whom His Holiness Catholicos-Patriarch Ilia chose in 2017 to serve as Locum Tenens of the Patriarchal throne should the need arise, addressed the congregation about the distinctive characteristics of sainthood and the path to spiritual development.
“When we study the lives of such great saints, their struggles, we marvel at the peculiarities of their holiness and receive inspiration for our spiritual life, because each of them is unique, unrepeatable,” Met. Shio stated during his homily.
He focused particularly on St. Nicholas’ defining spiritual quality of humility, as referenced in his hymnody. “What do we sing in his troparion?” the Metropolitan asked, before quoting: “Christ made you a rule of faith and an image of meekness, and a teacher of abstinence, thou didst attain the height through humility and riches through poverty.”
His Eminence emphasized that spiritual laws govern the path to holiness. “Among these laws, the foremost is the spiritual law about humility, which consists in the fact that the grace of the Holy Spirit goes only with humility and, of course, this is followed by meekness,” he explained.
The Metropolitan acknowledged the difficulty of acquiring these virtues, describing it as “carrying the cross,” while referencing Christ’s words: And he that taketh not his cross, and followeth after Me, is not worthy of Me (Mt. 10:38).
He stressed that spiritual struggle requires active combat against passions and sins. “St. Nicholas is our protector, quick helper, he is always with us, but he is only where there is this real struggle with passions, real struggle with sins,” the Metropolitan declared.
He concluded his homily invoking St. Nicholas’s intercession for strength in spiritual warfare and referencing Christ’s commandment: Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father Which is in Heaven is perfect (Mt. 5:48).
The celebration marked not only St. Nicholas’ day but also commemorated St. Shio of Mgvime and the Holy Prophet Isaiah according to the Georgian Orthodox calendar.
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