During the Divine Liturgy at the Pokrovskaya Cathedral in Mineralnye Vody on December 21, 2014, the Archbishop of Pyatigorsk and Cherkessia, Feofilakt, spoke after reading the Gospel of Luke (17:12‑19) about gratitude. He reflected on how we often ask what gratitude really means, whether it is just saying "thank you" or something deeper. He explained that the Gospel teaches that gratitude is a response to God's grace, illustrated by the story of the ten lepers, only one of whom returned to thank Jesus. The archbishop emphasized that this one Samaritan’s gratitude is a model for all believers.
