Thus, no matter how many stars fall, our Christ, my dear, is He who holds history in His hands.
That’s why I say the Orthodox [faithful] has no excuse for being afraid, if he is indeed Orthodox in faith, as Orthodoxy has been tested many times.
We have other problems too. It is not just the Ukrainian one.
[All these problems] will be solved with a great Ecumenical Council, which has been prophesized by ] great Saints of our church such as St. Porphyrios and which will take place with the end of the Third World War.
The Bishops that will then be alive, [having survived] the vaccines, the gases, the radio energy, the war events, we will go there, invited by the then Patriarch, and they will solve the Ukrainian [problem] and all the problems. Until then, patience and prayer.
Ukrainians are blessed to be tested now because in this way it will become clear who are the faithful and who are the people of little faith.
Cyprus has gone through many trials and still does with the Turks and other things as you see. The faith of all is tested right now.
Ukraine is particularly blessed, do you know why?
Because amidst all this exacerbating evil of a Khazar President, and Khazar for me means satanist, [are the] interests of 50 countries, because the war taking place there is not between Russia and Ukraine.
It is with Russia, and Russia has behind it other powers, other countries that are hidden. But, behind Zelensky, 50 countries are hidden. Not one, but 50!
What is the great blessing of Ukraine? That it has a praying ascetic, the Metropolitan of Kiev, Onoufrios.
I remind you what happened in 1999 and 2000 in Serbia; in Orthodox Serbia.
The NATO, American, British, French airplanes were bombarding Serbia for months. Even more so , [they were bombarding] with nuclear charge [denatured uranium] whose energy has stayed in the ground up to date and children with disabilities] have been born.
We were watching [the war events] with pain and tears. We remembered our own [suffering] by the Turks in 1974, again, in collaboration with NATO and the Americans.
Who was the Patriarch of the Serbs [back then]? Patriarch Pavlos. Here he is, with a halo; St. Pavlos.
What does this mean for Ukraine? Today cross, tomorrow resurrection, right? Today temptation, tomorrow holiness, for whoever endures, for whoever holds the Orthodox faith, whoever is martyred for Orthodoxy, either with his blood or with his word.
The example of St. Pavlos, Patriarch of Serbia, must be imitated today, with lots of patience, lots of prayer, our prayer as well, [and through the prayer of the Metropolitan of ] Kiev, Onoufrios.
The Orthodox must stop being afraid of the martyrdom and the Orthodox witness. Let us not be deceived by the earthly life with its pleasures and its joys. The Orthodox [man] lives to enjoy the eternal life of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.
Our times, our era provides a great opportunity. We live apocalyptic times. Let us be careful of divisions, judgements, criticisms. And let us not be deceived by the game of the devil and the Antichrist and the New World Order. He who is able to understand, let him do so.
Evgenii: I am worried by the next question, which is related with the modern doubts of Orthodoxy, on which, Bishop, you have already talked. The issues of transgenderism, h0m0sexuality, ab0rti0ns, the digital currency; whatever relates to the laws of the Antichrist.
And this is because we, modern Orthodox Christians, face difficulties, special difficulties. How can the Orthodox Christians fight?
As I see, it’s not that they don’t hear, they just don’t want to hear anyone, as some bishops speak although there are few of them. There is a prophecy which says that the stars will fall from the sky, and the decoding of [this prophecy] is that the stars are the bishops who will no longer exist.
How would you then estimate this state of apostasy that is taking place today? How should modern Christians face it?
Morphou: During a night without stars, look for stars. Even one is enough.
One star led the Magi of the East to the newborn Christ. One!
As a matter of fact, St. John Chrysostom, the great interpreter of the Gospel, says that the star of Bethlehem was not an astrophysical, celestial star, in the sense of matter, but it was the Archangel of the Panagia, Archangel Gabriel. Over there. Star-like angel.
Thus, no matter how many stars fall, our Christ, my dear, is He who holds history in His hands. That’s why I say the Orthodox [faithful] has no excuse for being afraid, if he is indeed Orthodox in faith, as Orthodoxy has been tested many times.
But since it is the truth of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, this truth cannot be lost.
Even with one bishop, and there will always be bishops who will “rightly divide the word of Thy truth” [from the Divine Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom]. Always!
When I became a deacon, I was 25-26 years old. I went to visit my elder, St. Iakovos Tsalikis, in Greece. I told him, “Elder, I became a deacon, but maybe I should not have become a deacon. I should have remained a simple monk.”
St. Iakovos said, “Why do you say that?” He did not like what I said.
I tell him, ”I have a bodily problem. My hand is shaking a bit. My mother’s family had this problem and I inherited it too. How am I to give the Holy Communion to people? I am afraid.” My hand will shake when commune the people.
He laughed. He told me, "You will be a priest only for a few years. They will make you a bishop at a very young age. You have to be a bishop. And you will have deacons. During your whole life, you will have deacons and they will give the Holy Communion to the people. God expects other things from you.”
Morphou: Am I to become a bishop? St. Iakovos: Yes, you will, at the place of your birth.
Indeed, close to here is the village where I was born. St. Iakovos: You have to speak. Always speak and fear no one.
Morphou: What shall I say to the world? I don’t have anything of mine to tell them.
St. Iakovos: Do not talk about your own. Talk about what you saw and heard by your holy mother, by your good father, Nicolas, your holy grandmother Myrofora. Whatever St. Porphyrios told you, the Great Hagiorite St. Paisios, and whatever you heard by me, the sinner. Whatever you saw [among] the lepers.
This is where St. Eumenios, the disciple of St. Nikephoros the Leper, lived.
St. Iakovos: This is what the people would want to hear. Not academic theologies, [but] experiences of God. But I ask of you one thing. Since you will become bishop at a young age, at first talk only a little. Talk a lot, after your fifties.
So I waited to become fifty [years old]. I turned fifty years old in 2012. If you look into it, the homilies I make, started after 2015. Afterwards, I went to St. Porphyrios. He told me the same things. He only added this.
St. Porphyrios: Your voice will be heard from Canada to Australia, from Russia to South Africa.
Morphou: How will this be possible? St. Porphyrios: Your technology will help
I am saying this personal example, for you, [for] your generation of young people that will make your families or that now have made your families, with your little children, who live among all the evils you described and others that will come, maybe [even] bigger [ones].
Take care to find the voices that hold the truth of the Holy Fathers and the Holy Mothers.
The technology today can help very, very, very much, [including] what you do with the internet and we, with our homilies, our sermons.
Russia especially has a lot of potential, a lot of potential for technology. Her power is Orthodoxy. It’s not just the weapons of Putin. They too [hold power]. They too are needed as a defense. Let us not nullify them.
But our goal is for the Orthodoxy of the Holy Fathers and Mothers to be heard in all nations. The world today needs catechesis, needs teaching, needs therapeutic treatment of its soul and its body.
The world does not know what to eat nowadays. The Church even tells us what to eat. She [the Church] talks about fasting, talks about silence [“hesychia”].
For example, the nutritionists, the dieticians come and say that the best diet in the world is the Mediterranean diet. “But the Mediterranean sea extends from Gibraltar to Syria. Which exact diet?”, you ask.
And they reply, “The diet the Orthodox monks follow.”
The teachers who work on musical harmony and do the so-called “musical therapy” come and they say, “The most therapeutic music in the world which captures even the smallest intervals of sounds is the Byzantine music.”
Why do I say these things?
We have the experience of the best physical life, of the best spiritual life; of the health of body and soul.
Can we find people who make Orthodox schools? Which teach the things we discussed? Orthodox diet, exercise, informatics, [foreign] languages and especially... And I am not saying this because I am Greek. Let us all, and first of all the Greeks, learn Ancient Greek.
Ancient Greek has the ability to be a language of philosophy, science, theology and hymnology. The only language in the world [for] technology, science and hymnology, meaning music. The only language in the world.
We, Orthodox, must stop grumbling. Dostoyevsky realized it 200 years ago. He says, “I went to an endless graveyard where they killed God.”
Some years ago, ten years ago, they called me and I went to Moscow. There was a festival of Orthodox culture organized by Fr. Cyprianos. He is a hieromonk, an archimandrite who is responsible of the cultural programs in the Patriarchate of Russia.
He called me and I went there. It was a festival organized by Mrs. Medvedev [then first lady of Russia], Svetlana Medvedev.
I remember what this lady said. She said that all Orthodox must collaborate and make movies, documentaries, [and radio] stations–the internet was only starting back then– so that we can give our children “orthodox quality” because right now our children and grandchildren consume the European and American garbage.
She says that only people who know and experience Orthodoxy can do this thing.
Evgenii: Dear bishop, please give us a spiritual counsel on how the Orthodox Christian must face difficulties. I am thinking it is a spiritual question.
Morphou: First of all, to thank God that He makes us worthy to experience what we experience. Secondly, to ask for God’s will in our life and not our will, and say, “My Christ, reveal Your will in my life.”
To our people that I speak here in our area and on the web; that they upload our homilies. From 2016 until today, how many years is it, Dimitris? Seven years now.
I remember where I said this [prayer] for the first time. It was in the church where Dimitris, our translator, is a deacon [«διακονεί»]. It was the Vespers of St. Cyprianos and St. Justine in front of their miraculous icon and their relics. I felt at that time that I should prepare our people.
I addressed both our people and our priests and I told them, “Over the next few years, pray and say, ‘My Christ grant me the patience and the faith of the Saints’."
Our patience as well as our Orthodox faith will be tested a lot. There was no coronavirus at the time, neither vaccines, nor did people understand that a World War is coming.
Let us keep three things. Our Orthodox faith, let us allow no one distort her, neither with ecumenisms, nor with zealotisms and fanaticisms. That’s one thing.
Second, let us learn about our personal sins, about our desires and our thoughts with an attentive nous; a quick nous to cleanse our hearts. This is what repentance [truly] means.
And as soon as we fall into some sin, quick repentance. Let us repent quickly. Do not let our guilt, eat us up. To the contrary, as soon as possible go repent and talk to our Christ and if the sin persists, visit our spiritual father.
The third, with the blessing of the spiritual father and with a forgiving spirit—to learn how to forgive our fellow man and pray for him, even if he wrongs and accuses us, so that we can receive the Holy Communion, Body and Blood of Christ, as often as possible and as permitted.
The Orthodox should stop being afraid. We only have to repent. We only have to confess. We only have to receive the Holy Communion. He whom we receive is not just someone. It’s the perfect God and the perfect Man, Jesus Christ.
St. Justin Popovic, the Serbian, says [this]. I recommend that all of you read him. He is the most relevant of all Saints.
The best dogmatic I have read is this, it says, “Christ is the Victor. The Victor of death, the Victor of devil, the Victor of sin.”
The problem is, do we Orthodox want really to live with the Victor? Do we want the eternal life? Or do we [simply] want an ideology of Orthodoxy? And let life pass by like that?
I end with this. An 80 year old woman told me, "Ah, my bishop, ah! How stupid have I been all these years? I was religious. Now that I am listening to your homilies, I understand what the meaning of the Christian life is."
Woman: The Russian Saint, St. Seraphim of Sarov, said it, "The meaning of the Christian life is to acquire the Holy Spirit."
We feel the energy of the Holy Spirit slowly, slowly, slowly cleansing our hearts.
Woman: "Why cleanse our hearts
? I now understand that the Holy Spirit cleanses the heart so that it becomes a clean throne for our Christ to sit there, to become the love of our life. And I wrote a prayer and I want you to tell me if it’s right." I say, “Tell me about it.” Woman: "My God, make me worthy to love You before I die." This woman understood the meaning.
Amen for us [as well]!
Evgenii: Lord save [us]. Morphou: Exactly. Glory to God!