Writer: The Orthodox Ethos Team
The Orthodox Ethos Team
My beloved, I must admit a bitter truth: those who are struggling to keep the Orthodox faith, are few. The immense trend is for people to slowly distance themselves from the
Orthodox faith.
I’ll say something that I’ve never said before. You’ll say it’s egotistical, but I’ll give you a set of scales so you can weigh the priests, the bishops and all the clergy and theologians. What is that set of scales? What is the hallmark of a priest? To gather prosphora? To perform nice services? To preach sweetly and «usefully» from the ambo and make a few young ladies tear up emotionally from his contemplative thoughts? What is the hallmark of a priest and bishop in these difficult years?
The hallmark of a bishop and a priest is their fighting spirit, their outspokenness. It’s what the Apostle Paul said, that all who desire to lead a godly life in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution. (2 Tim. 3:12). If you see a priest, if you see a theologian, if you see a metropolitan or archbishop who is not being persecuted, but is enjoying the love and honour of all, then the following word of God is being applied: Woe to you when all men speak well of you (Lk. 6:26). You should know very well, that that person is not heading in the right direction. The same thing applies if he is called Orthodox but doesn’t want to go against the trend, the avalanche which is coming to demolish the world. An Orthodox priest goes against the trend. St. Athanasius the Great was one man, but like the mythological Atlas he carried all of Orthodoxy on his shoulders. St. Mark of Ephesus was one man, but he alone carried all of Orthodoxy. St. Photios was the same. There was only a few of them, but Orthodoxy is not won, it does not survive with numbers, but with faith. Because the worth of a faithful priest, the worth of a faithful bishop, the worth of a faithful archbishop, the worth of a faithful layman or woman, cannot be compared with the whole world. So we must not despair that this betrayal of faith is happening all around us.
I recommend one thing to you. Don’t tell me «He is good, he is an important theologian, he gives speeches, he opened an academy on Plato and if you hear him, he’s fantastic!…» Weigh him to see if he has a little of the spark of St. Mark of Ephesus, if he has a little of the spark of St. Photios, if he has a little of the spark of [the Patriarch of Constantinople Michael I] Cerularius, if he has a little of the spark of Papoulakos – that uneducated man stood up to the whole world.
I say these things knowing well my position as a Greek and a bishop – I have enormous responsibilities. I am always ready to be sacrificed. I dare to say, perhaps for the last time from this holy stand: Whoever loves God, whoever loves the Church, we have Panaghia with us. We have all those saints who fought and fight for our Orthodox faith. Whoever is with the devil, let them sit down and keep their mouth shut, because their cowardice is diabolical, their charm is diabolical, their reasonings and arguments are diabolical: those people who seek to alienate a handful of people who are tortured and terrorized and persecuted for the faith of Christ.
We always have the oath of the fearless youth of Athens as a motto. These brave young men of Ancient Greece, up at the Acropolis vowed: «Either on my own or with others, I will defend all things holy and sacred.» And I, a small soldier, state with courage: «Either on my own or with others, I will defend the holy and sacred things of our faith until the last drop of my blood is spilled.» And all of you, instead of clapping in vain, instead of praising me, I want you to pray hard. Because there are only a few Orthodox remaining, and the battle is prolonged, and we will see new things happening. Not only in our little Greece, but in all the breadth of the world, Satan has taken up arms and is raging to uproot the Orthodox faith from inside peoples’ hearts. I don’t know what will happen. I don’t know what persecutions those of us bishops who stopped the commemoration of Patriarch Athenagoras, and all the clergy supporting us, will face. I don’t know to what Mt. Athos we will seek refuge. One thing I know: that no matter what happens, even if the stars fall and the rivers dry up and the world is turned upside down, one thing I know—and I completely believe it—that in the end, Orthodoxy will be victorious.
Satan’s Last Weapon
My best friend, Fr. Christopher Kalyvas, who is an important person, a historical figure, said to me years ago when we were talking: «Hey Augoustinos, don’t you understand what will happen? The devil is using all the means he can to demolish the Church. In the end days he will use one last weapon: he will dress the priests and bishops, who will really be his own people. He’ll give them pectoral crosses and staffs, with the purpose of demolishing the Church through the bishops.
by (†) Metropolitan Augustinos Kantiotes of Florina
From «The Christian in the End Times», 2nd Edition, pp.39-41.
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