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Important issues Δελτία Τύπου Sermon Against Religious Fanaticism by Metropolitan Ignatios of Demetrias
Important issues Δελτία Τύπου Sermon Against Religious Fanaticism by Metropolitan Ignatios of Demetrias | Sermon Against Religious Fanaticism by Metropolitan Ignatios of Demetrias |
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 Volos, 27/7/2011
The phenomenon of religious fanaticism, which is making a menacing appearance in our times, was denounced by His Eminence Metropolitan Ignatios of Demetrias in his sermon on July 25th at Vespers in the Church of St. Paraskevi, which was celebrating the memory of the saint, who was led to martyrdom in the Roman period by persecutors of Christianity who themselves were blinded by religious fanaticism.
Moved by the recent tragedy in Norway, in which dozens of young children died at the hands of a crazed killer, who used his religious beliefs as an excuse for the heinous acts, His Eminence noted: "We live in an age in which it seems that fanaticism is once again spilling out in our society at all levels; woe to us when it becomes religious, because there is nothing worse than that. How much blood has been spilled in religious wars, and how many lives have been lost, and societies destroyed, due to religious fanaticism?"
He then noted the “rationale” of religiously fundamentalist groups and individuals, whom he described as “psychologically disturbed persons,” and emphasized: "The slightest little thing annoys them, they always find an enemy, because these people cannot survive without an enemy ... they become psychologically disturbed persons who are unable to control their anger, and they believe they can intimidate society with violence. Their souls are thus transformed from people of God, who should be known for their love, tolerance, and kindness, into people with obsessions and vindictive tendencies, who prefer to belong to a minority than to live in the truth...." Against the religious fanatic, Metropolitan Ignatios contrasted the authentic and true Christian: "This is the authentic Christian. He is a Christian of peace, a Christian of meekness, a disciple of Christ, a disciple of goodness and love who never returns evil for evil, who forgives even the most implacable enemies, who always knows to respond calmly to things and to endure. This, then, my brothers and sisters, is what we need today in our day and age. It is a time when we will once again face an outbreak of violence, and I fear that even our country will not be able to avoid such events. May God help us….” Finally His Eminence called Christians to unity and entreated them to mobilize for prayer in order to confront this morbid phenomenon: “All together, we must acquire within ourselves true meekness and humility in our lives…and may God enlighten those who are disturbed in their souls, who cannot see the truth, who cannot see what the Church of Christ is and how it operates, who cannot cope, unfortunately, with the anger inside of them…. We must ourselves pray fervently for them, but primarily we must not get carried away by these divisive events. Only united can we face the difficulties that arise. Our faith is our weapon. Our Orthodox faith is a unifying force, our Church remains our mother, we belong to it and together we can meet the most challenging conditions, just as we have always done when needed, sacrificing everything, but keeping our souls alive and free...." From the Press Office |
