Word on the day of monk John (Kopeikin) tonsure, Metropolitan Illarion (Alfeyev)

Beloved in the Lord son, monk John!
Today your monastic tonsure has taken place. Merciful God, like a child-loving Father, has accepted you into His arms to give you a second birth and a new life. You came to Him with an open soul and an open heart, and He stretched out His fatherly hands to enclose you in them and not let go of Him.
Today during the service the words of the Lord sounded: “If a woman forgets her sucking child, then I will not forget you” (Isa. 49:15). All people are sons and daughters of God. But in a special way, those who have chosen a solitary life, who have given up earthly acquisitions for the sake of "one need" are adopted by God.
All Christians are sons and daughters of Christ. But in a special way those who leave the world for the sake of love for Him unite with Christ. “Whoever loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me,” says the Lord. - And whoever loves a son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me; and he who does not take up his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. He who has saved his soul will lose it; but he who has lost his life for my sake will save it ”(Matthew 10: 37–39). For centuries, these words inspired monks who, out of love for Christ, left their loved ones, wealth and glory, consolation and joy of worldly life. They were likened to the one who, “having found one precious pearl, went and sold everything that he had and bought it” (Matthew 13:46).
You voluntarily and consciously chose the monastic path. Nobody forced you to become a monk: you yourself made a decision to take this path a few years ago, and more than a year ago you turned to me with a request for tonsure. I have warned you many times about the dangers of monastic life and asked you if you doubted the correctness of your choice. But every time you assured me that your decision is final and irrevocable. Today, your ardent and long-standing desire to become a monk has come true.
In monasticism, you received the name of the beloved disciple of Christ - the apostle and evangelist John the Theologian. That John, who, together with Peter and James, witnessed the Transfiguration of the Lord. The one who reclined on the breast of Jesus at the Last Supper and told the world about the Savior's last conversation with the disciples. The one who, together with the Mother of God, stood at the cross of the Lord. The one to whom the great truth was revealed that "God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God in him." That John who wrote that "love is from God, and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God."
Monasticism is the path of the highest and most perfect love. A monk rejects earthly love in order to completely surrender to love for his Heavenly Father, love for Christ and for the Church of Christ. All his life and all his thoughts should be directed towards Christ. Every day, every hour and every minute of his life, he must strive to bring to life that divine ideal of love, which was inscribed by Christ himself.
Be diligent in prayer, for prayer is a life-giving source that will unite you with God. Today you have been given a prayer rope to be diligent in the Jesus Prayer. Try as often as possible within your heart to say this prayer, for the sacred name of the Savior will itself teach you love, drive out all sorts of evil thoughts from your heart, help you in the exploit of monastic life.
Partake of the Holy Mysteries of Christ as often as possible, remembering that through the sacrament of the Body and Blood of Christ, we are united with our Savior spiritually and bodily.
Love for God is inextricably linked with obedience. Be like Christ in this, who “humbled Himself, being obedient” to His Father “even to death, and the death of the cross” (Phil. 2: 8). If you will firmly maintain obedience to God, your father in Christ and the entire Holy Orthodox Church, honoring her laws and statutes, the Lord will give you many spiritual gifts. Through obedience, you will acquire that inner peace, which is known only to monks, and that special spiritual joy that flows from devotion to the will of God.
Your monastic tonsure was completed during Passion Week, when the feat of Christ's love for the human race is revealed to us in all its greatness. Let the example of the Savior Himself inspire you to the exploit of love and a fasting life.
In days of passion, the Church will remind us of other examples of love. About the woman who broke the vessel with precious ointment and anointed the feet of the Savior with it. About other women who followed Jesus to the place of execution and stood silently at His cross. About the beloved disciple to whom the Lord entrusted His Most Pure Mother before death. And, of course, about the Mother of God Herself, whose silent love for her Son was deeper and wider than the ocean, and whose loving heart contained all human suffering, all sorrow and sorrow.
Your monastic tonsure was performed in the church in honor of the icon of the Mother of God "Joy of All Who Sorrow". Life connected you with this temple long before the present event. As a young man, you came here, prayed before this miraculous icon, and now I present you to the Most Holy Theotokos. May She be your Mother, may she lead you on the path to salvation, may she comfort all your sorrow, fill your life with joy and love in Christ Jesus. Amen.
Word on the day of monk John (Kopeikin) tonsure, Metropolitan Illarion (Alfeyev)