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Christ is in our midst, my dear readers!
This Thursday, during the Lenten service, we heard the Lord’s solemn words: For the heart of this people is waxed gross... The cities be wasted without inhabitant... A great forsaking in the midst of the land (Is. 6:10–12).
Indifference to faith and spiritual life has always been linked to the decline of life itself—both for an individual and an entire nation. A nation is like a vineyard—as long as it produces ripe fruit, its existence is sustained and strengthened by God. But when a nation degenerates, it is close to being uprooted, just like an unfruitful vineyard.
Every person is a cell in the body of their nation. The moral values each of us upholds determine the state of the entire society. It is not only faith but also universal morality that holds great significance. One can boast all they want about having the right faith, but if they live an immoral life, their confession of true faith will bring no benefit to their soul.
To our shame, I must say that there are entire countries where crime is practically nonexistent, where prisons stand empty. There are villages where people do not lock their doors, where theft and even minor hooliganism are unheard of. These are places where people do not profess the Orthodox faith, yet their lives align with Gospel morality.
How did it happen that countries where Orthodoxy was not only a culture-shaping force but also a state-forming religion have failed to overcome the sinful chaos that destroys not only individual souls but entire nations? I do not have an answer to this question. But I do have hope—hope that there will be a sufficient number of righteous people among us who can turn God’s wrath into mercy and punishment into forgiveness.
Fasting is the best time to show God that we seek not the earthly, but the heavenly; not the temporary, but the eternal.
