God Does Not Allow Anyone

to Be Contaminated in the Temple

Sermon by Metropolitan Kosmas of Aitolia and Akarnania

10 September 2020

This is the time for us, as Orthodox Christians, not to lose our faith when we see so many things happening around us; when they tell us that, to enter the church, we need to wear masks so we do not become contaminated. To whom are we going to when we enter the Church? Are we going to a weak man? No; rather we go near the Almighty God. In the churches our forefathers would fall down on their knees; they prayed fervently; they expelled both infectious diseases and dangers and revolutions and wars and enemies and every difficult circumstance. It is to the churches that they would go, yet we contemporaries are scared to go to our churches because they say, “we are in danger!”

God does not allow, my fellow man, for you to become infected inside the church. God does not infect! Let us understand this…. It is a holy place. Saint Kosmas Aitolos says that “the church is heaven,” it is God’s altar.

What would our Theotokos do? Would she be fearful also? But the Theotokos is the one who intercedes for us inside the church, and now we are not going to go to venerate her icon? They tell us, “Do not venerate icons.” But the Theotokos gives her grace. She gives us God’s Grace and blessing. Is the Theotokos going to give us a sickness? We have seen so many miracles before the icon of the Theotokos! And now we are afraid to venerate the Prousiotissa or the Kateriniotissa here (various miraculous icons of the Theotokos in different regions of Greece), just in case a sickness is transmitted to us?

Where is the faith? We have been attacked by a weak faith and ingratitude, and unfortunately, we accept these attacks and are in danger of losing our faith. Countless are the enemies that rise up against Christ today. And they shout out and spread so much poison, because they do not want the Grace of God.

The day after tomorrow, Holy Water services will take place at the schools, my dear people. Only a small representative group of students will be present at the actual service of Holy Water and the rest will remain in the student halls. Holy Water, which performs miracles, will not be given to the children supposedly to protect their health. No, my brethren, whoever you are…. The children need the Grace of God!

My dear people we are losing our children, we are losing our faith, we are losing our God! The parents need, at some point, to shout out and all of us together, “it is enough!” You cannot have a pandemic expelling God from our hearts and moving us away from the Church. The Church does not have sickness. If those, whoever they may be, want to live differently, and do not have knowledge of the Grace of God, let them go and find the things that they love. We belong to Christ and believe in Christ. Let us strengthen our faith and let us not be ungrateful before God. Let us imitate the faith and obedience which our Theotokos had. Let us continuously hear the Gospel, the word of our God; let us come to Church; let us love the Mysteries and let us run to them so that we can become sanctified.

I repeat, let us be very attentive to our children! We should not leave them without the Grace of God. Previously we would ask the children, “What is Holy Water?” and they knew what to answer. Now they do not [even] know what Christ means. Why? Because with all the things that are taking place, we are distancing them from Christ and the Grace of God.

The Theotokos, my brethren, performs miracles. She embraces us and prays for us. Let us all pray fervently like our Theotokos, so that our faith is strengthened. At every moment of our lives, and more so now that Faith is being attacked, I earnestly entreat you, clergy and laity, all of us, let us not lose our courage. Always be close to Christ!

Translated by Father Cyprian Alexandrou

Holy Trinity Monastery, Jordanville, NY, USA