“No one denies God except only those who have an interest that He not exist.”

A subject that concerns us all: unbelief and its causes

A Homily by Archimandrite Athanasios Mitilinaios (+2006)

Delivered on the 10th Sunday of Matthew, September 4, 1983, at the Holy Monastery of Komnenion, Larissa.

 

When, my beloved, the Lord returned from Mount Tabor with His three disciples, James, John, and Peter, He arrived where the other disciples were, the nine, whom a great crowd of people, Pharisees, and also one unfortunate father had surrounded. This father had brought his child to the disciples of the Lord to heal it, since he was possessed, and they were not able. And now he comes to the Lord and says to Him: “Lord, I beg you, make my child well, for I brought him to your disciples and they were not able to make him well for me.”

And then the Lord sighed and said: “O faithless and perverse generation! How long shall I be with you? How long shall I bear with you?” “O faithless and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you, how long shall I endure you, you who have seen so many miracles and still remain in your unbelief?” And then He asked that they bring the child before Him, from which He cast out the demon and delivered him.

When He was left with His disciples, alone they remained, the nine disciples asked: “Why were we not able to cast out the demon?” And the Lord answered them: “Because of your unbelief.” “On account of your unbelief you were not able to cast out the demon.”

And the question arises: Can we be baptized Christians, just as the disciples followed the Lord, live close to Christ, receive His blessings, and at the same time be unbelieving? Those who were sent to preach the gospel of the Kingdom, to perform miracles, and to cast out demons—the disciples—could they at one moment be unbelieving? Is it possible that at the core of faith unbelief might exist? So it seems, my beloved. From the facts, so it appears. And we can say that unbelief is something that can hide beneath a covering of faith, and indeed sometimes even of fervent faith.

What is it that can give birth to unbelief? And concerning that faith of ours, we cannot be certain. We cannot. What made the Apostle Peter, on the one hand confess the Lord as the Son of the living God, and on the other hand deny Him? If you, holy Peter of God, holy Apostle of God, the One whom you confessed to be the Son of the living God—why now do you fear to confess Him before two or three insignificant people? For what reason? Could it be then indeed that within the very core, I will say it once more, within the core of faith, unbelief nests? So it seems, I repeat again. What is it that can produce, allow to nest, or preserve this unbelief? I think it concerns us all, because we would all like to be faithful.

My beloved, the first thing is our rationalism. What is rationalism? It is what the Lord says in another instance: “If you believe, without doubting.” To “doubt” means “I have an unbelief which is based on my reasoning.” This, in modern terms, we would call “rationalism.” What exactly is rationalism? Rationalism is to take things and try to interpret them with my own logic. The Lord said further on in the same passage: “If you have faith as a grain of mustard seed,” that is, a little faith, but fervent, “you can say to this mountain to move from its place and go fall into the sea, and it be done for you.” Now what is rationalism? Rationalism is this: “How is it possible for a mountain to move from its place and go fall into the sea? Is that ever possible?”

Do you want something else still? Do we have a historical precedent? If we had a historical precedent, we might attempt to do it. But if there is no historical precedent, then why? Well, this is what rationalism means. That is, not to put your trust in the word of God first, but to place your own reasoning, your own scheme of logic, in order to interpret the phenomena. This is called rationalism. In other words, it is a sickness of reason itself. For reason is a creation of God. But reason itself, as a creation of God, must say to itself: “I have my limits.” Reason itself must dictate to man and say to him: since I have my limits, beyond these limits you must have trust in the love and the power and the wisdom of God. But reason does not do this, because it has become sick. And since this reason has become sick, it produces sickly things. Therefore, rationalism is a diseased condition. It is this diseased condition of fallen man, of degraded man. That is, this rationalism upon which man in general bases himself, is nourished, lives, grows, and especially Western man, the man of the West. He is nourished by this rationalism. Although the West is Christian, yet within the heart of the Western man this rationalism nests, which gives birth to unbelief, and we have so many phenomena of unbelief in Western man.

But there is also another reason that can create unbelief. It is the corrupt life. That is, when someone believes in God, but at the same time lives a corrupt life, a sinful life. A sinful life which, however, he loves. He does not confess. For who is not sinful? Should we then say, since we are all sinners, then we all limp in the faith? Undoubtedly not. It is not the sinfulness that I confess. It is not the sinfulness for which I repent and acknowledge. But it is the sinfulness which I do not acknowledge; I want to keep it as my own, to have it in my life, and I would even wish to justify it—if you will, a tragic thing for man—with the very Gospel. For the Gospel to justify my corrupt life. It is dreadful! Dreadful!

In these cases, my beloved, we could say it is what, again, the word of God says—John says it: “The light has come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the light.” It says here: “For their works were evil. For everyone who practices evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed.” Here is the psychology of the matter, here is the interpretation of the matter. “Everyone who does evil, who practices the wicked, hates the light.” Why? He hates it because, since he insists and wants to insist on doing wicked things, it follows that if he comes near to the light, which is Christ, his life will be reproved, will be exposed. And then, if on the one hand he insists on living, and on the other he will be near to the light, then what happens? He is offended, he is put to shame, and in order not to be put to shame, what does he do? He does not go to the light. And not only does he not go to the light, but he also hates the light. He attacks the light, to crucify the light, to remove it from the midst, so that there may not exist an element of reproof of his conscience.

The psychology of the man who wishes to remain in sin without repenting is dreadful. This gives him the dimension of unbelief. He ends up remaining in unbelief. When you say to someone: “Do not fall into immorality,” which he loves, he will say to you: “And where is this written?” “But Christ said it.” “I doubt it.” “Do you believe in Christ?” “Most certainly!” “Well, how do you believe in Christ when you doubt His words?” To believe in Christ means “I believe in His words.” Here there is an inconsistency. How then is it possible to say “I believe” and at the same time doubt the word of Christ? Do you see the man who wishes to remain in sin? Whereas the sinful man who has repentance will say: “I did not know it. Since Christ says it, I will change my life.” This is a natural, normal condition.

Remember what the Psalmist says: “The fool has said in his heart: There is no God.” Who is this fool? He is the sinful man who says: “There is no God.” So today, if we suppose that we say—and we do say—that there is no God, then what does it mean? It means two things. The word fool means two things. First of all, literally it means the one who has no prudence, the witless man, that is, the man who has no mind. He says that there is no God. So is atheism the result of mindlessness? Well, it needs no philosophy for one to understand this. And the other, fool will also mean here sinful. So, “the fool has said in his heart…” Where did he say it? “In his heart.” Why in his heart? Because the heart, according to the Lord, is the seat of thoughts, of desires, and of all those things which afterward the heart will externalize through deeds. He says: “From the heart proceed adulteries, fornications, thefts,” said the Lord.

Very beautifully Saint Augustine says the following: “No one denies God except only those who have an interest that He not exist.” But that testimony which is very noteworthy is from Saint Theophilus of Antioch, from the 2nd century, who says in his first epistle to Autolycus—whether he was his friend or a fictitious person, we do not know exactly—the following. This friend of his, the idolater, questions the existence of God, as Theophilus presents the matter. And he says: “If you say, ‘Show me your God,’ I also would say to you: ‘Show me your man and I will show you my God.’” This saying is classic—classic. Hear it. And very important. I think it summarizes what we have said. “If you say to me, show me your God of whom you speak so much and say ‘my God and my God’; show Him to me. I will show Him to you, he says. I will show Him to you, if you also show me who you are.” “Show me your man.” Show me who you are, what your life is. “For God is seen by those who are able to see Him.” For indeed, you can see God. God is seen, God is beheld. By those who are able to see Him. “Show then yourself also, that you are not an adulterer, a plunderer, quick-tempered, envious, arrogant, a striker, a lover of money.” If you are not all these, then you have no reason to say that God does not exist. If you are all these, and you want to remain as you are, then you have reason to say: “Where is God?”

And something else which is very important, and it is not an example—take heed of this point—not an example, but it is a reality; I am sorry, I will not be able to analyze it further for you. It is the following. He says: “The human soul is like a mirror. If now the surface of the mirror has rust, then it cannot reflect the light.” All, you know, all the gifts, all the divine energies come to man from God. Love is nothing other than an energy of God, which comes to man. Man cannot love if God does not send His energy, this uncreated energy. And faith is the same. There are many passages in Holy Scripture that show this. Remember concerning faith, which we are speaking about, remember what Christ says: “If the Father does not draw you to Me, you cannot come to Me.” What does “If He does not draw you” mean? It means that He must send His divine uncreated energy which refers to the matter of drawing to faith. Otherwise, it cannot happen. “But then,” someone will say, “but then I was not drawn, that is why I do not believe.”

Things are not like that. But since I speak about drawing, allow me to use the magnetic property. My brother, if you are iron, you will be drawn. If you are bronze, you will not be drawn. If you are aluminum, you will not be drawn. The magnet does not cease to exercise its attractive power. You are not drawn. Because you are something else. So it is here as well. When the divine rays, the divine uncreated energies, come upon the soul to be reflected and to return—whatever is reflected, comes back again… what does “is reflected” mean here? “Is reflected” means, my beloved, that when God sends you the energy to believe, you must reflect this energy. That is, you must respond. He sends you His energy and you must say: “I believe, Lord.” But when will this reflection of the divine rays take place? When the mirror of your soul is smooth, is clean, and can reflect. When does it become rusted? From sins, the deliberate sins. For the sinner is saved—he repents. But the deliberate ones, where there is egoism, rooted in the center of the soul, which does not allow room for the reflection of this divine energy. For this reason, the Lord said: “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.” “Blessed are those who have a pure heart, for they shall see God.” How? It is exactly what I have been telling you all this time.

But there is also something else, my beloved, that gives birth to unbelief. That is, in the very center of faith the germ of unbelief is formed. What is this? It is…—here I want you to pay attention to this—it is… I will use a modern word, which I do not like as a word, but I will say it because it is well known—it is snobbery. That is, to say it in Greek, imitation. But imitation of pitiful things. Not of great things. To imitate what is good, to imitate what is beautiful—that is not called snobbery. This word—as I told you, it is foreign—and it became established in our language to signify imitation of foolish things, where one has neither judgment nor reason to discern if it is good or not good. Simply because many do it, I also do it. Another dresses like a clown, I too will dress like a clown, not because somehow my reason would not tell me that this is… I go out in my pajamas—today women go out in their pajamas. They wear some trousers… like pajamas they are; once upon a time they would have been ashamed to come out into their own sitting room from their bedroom, and now they go out onto the streets… One could say: “Madam, are you not ashamed to go out in such a way?” She would answer you, if she were honest: “I understand.” “Why do you do it?” “But all go out like this.” Therefore, what is snobbery? Snobbery is imitation of things where reason and judgment have been emasculated, have been set aside. It is a misfortune when man acts in this manner. The rational man.

Well then, my beloved, today the phenomenon of both unbelief and atheism appears widely in our Greek land—to not go further, I remain in our Greek land. If you ask someone: “Well, do you not believe? You were a believer until now.” If he has honesty, he will tell you that he believes. But then why does he speak in a way that seems to show that he is an atheist? He will tell you—if he has honesty, I repeat, he will tell you: “Because everyone speaks like this.” But have you no personality, man? Have you no judgment of your own? Are you so servile that you follow what the majority, the masses, say? Have you no judgment of your own? This is the dreadful thing. Therefore, in our time, in our Greek land, my beloved, this phenomenon, this mystery of lawlessness, is at work. And we compete to appear one more unbelieving than the other, one more atheistic than the other. But this is, at last, a degradation of this country, which has always been Christian. And, if you will, faith existed even in our forefathers, who were idolaters. For if this faith had not existed, even though they were idolaters, they would not have built Parthenons and great temples with works of art that the whole world admires.

What does it mean? It means that we have withered, we have faded. And you see atheism being preached everywhere in the way I told you—through snobbery. Inside the family? Oh, inside the family! Faith begins in the family to weaken and unbelief to be created. People no longer pray. Parents do not make their children, from infancy, learn to pray, to make the sign of the Cross at the table, to receive Communion, to confess, to go to Church. In society outside? What can one say? What can one say? In our schools? Where precisely the upbringing of the new generation is reflected? We take down the icons of Christ, teachers and professors speak against Christ; some will speak with utter contempt about Christ, and others, somewhat more refined, though no less poisonous, will speak only about the human nature of Christ. Thus you see, continually, within these spaces—within the family, the school, and society—the phenomenon of atheism and unbelief flourishing. Is it not a pity? Is it not a pity?

We Greeks are not many. We are nine million. But, my beloved, if some people escape from this circle—for it is indeed a circle—called “snobbery,” and stand upright and say: “Wait a minute, brother, if you are unbelieving, I am not. You say you are traditional? And what is tradition? The bouzoukia? The cultural events? And the santouria? For these we keep putting on the radio and on television and we say… ‘tradition’ and ‘tradition.’ In the villages the festivals last from one to seven days, with santouria and with dances. Is this Tradition? Is this Tradition? Poor people! Tradition is to preserve the soul of your people. And the soul of your people is faith. Faith in Christ and love for your fatherland. If you do not preserve these, you have lost your soul.”

Remember what Saint Kosmas the Aitolian used to say. What did he say? “Whatever they may do to you—to flay you, to fry you, whatever they may do—soul and Christ do not lose.” This is Tradition. This is what Paul says to Timothy: “Guard the deposit.” This is what deposit means. It means tradition. That is, that which I receive and hand over to you. This is what deposit means. I receive and I give to you. And I tell you: “Hold it well.” And what does Christ say there in the Apocalypse? “Hold fast what you have, so that no one may take your crown by making you cast away what you hold. Hold fast what you have.” What is it that you have? It is what I have told you all this time. This is Tradition. Whoever has understood this well, which is the soul of our soul, then he is not carried away by these currents of the age, by this snobbery that is at once foolish, most senseless, and utterly demonic. But he stands upright. He stands upright and says: “I hold the tradition of my forefathers. I hold that which I received from my mother and my father, and they from their parents, and they from the Apostles, and the Apostles from Christ. This is the truth. This is the one faith, this is the one Tradition, before which it is worth for one to die.”

If then we Greeks are 9 million, and some do not yield to these modern temptations for a mess of pottage, in order to have some comforts and some ease of life, then perhaps God will have mercy on us and we shall survive. But if all Greeks reach this degradation of renouncing everything, then… Greece has ended her life in history; she has ended it. I would never wish to be a prophet of evils, but let us at least imitate Abraham who asked: “If there are some [righteous] people in Sodom, let these cities be saved.” So, if there are—if there are some faithful Greeks, who will remain faithful despite the current of the times, then Greece will live. Do you understand, my beloved, what rises and what falls upon our shoulders? Do you understand what we are taking upon ourselves? Both we the clergy and you the laity. We the faithful, that is. Do you understand? We have great responsibility. I must lift upon my shoulders that which another does not lift. And the one further, and the one further. The burden? Most heavy. But I must lift it. And Christ will help me to lift it, for us to lift it. And when we lift it, my beloved, the burden, then we too shall be saved, and we shall have expressed to our compatriots, Greeks and Christians, the purest, the cleanest, the most important love. A love founded upon deep faith.

 

Greek source: https://eugenikos.blogspot.com/2025/08/blog-post_80.html