The flow of time is inexorable. Time is like a river. You stand on a bridge and look upstream and see the water passing under you. There, above, the future is unknown and mysterious. Below you is a moment of the present; a moment that immediately becomes the past. You look downstream — and there is only the past, carried away by the waters into memories, and by the angels to the Judgment of God. The past cannot be changed without God and repentance. Repentance is a unique gift to all of us, through which we change the past, erasing the stones of sins and mistakes in stormy waters, thereby changing the flow of the future. This is our unique gift from God — the ability, through repentance, to change the past and thereby alter the future.

Father Daniel left the stream of time. For us living people, it was 14 years ago. For him, this was the beginning of eternal life; for him, the record of time ceased.

If he had remained with us, he would have been fifty years old. A round date on the banks of our temporary river. We celebrate birthdays as a way of thanking God for life. Father Daniel always spoke about his desire to get out of the stream of time, that we need this river only as a springboard from which we leave for eternity.

We continue to remember his birthdays: how we celebrated them, how guests gathered at our house, at a set table. There, Father Daniel always spoke to us about God. Eternal memory to dear Father Daniel, the Kingdom of Heaven to him. And for us, who live on the rivers of time — quiet, good, godly navigation. Father Daniel, pray to God for us.