St. Nikodemos the Hagiorite: Do not be silent…

I am not amazed so much by the Spiritual Fathers, but by the good hierarchs and shepherds who did not immediately sound the horn with the God-inspired trumpets of truth, in order to castigate the evil sower of that weed and uproot from the Church that dead plant. For they have the authority by the grace of the Holy Spirit to sustain that which is good and to correct whatever is in need of correction.

Perhaps the hierarchs make the excuse that, since they are under the yoke of the Ottomans and caught up in many concerns, they entrust these things to the teachers and preachers. These blessed hierarchs, one not wanting to lose his quietude, and another making other excuses - all of them together abdicate their responsibility and throw the burden one upon the other. So they bury the word of God and the truth as if in a tomb. And by their silence they show that they acquiesce to all the things which are happening, as the divine Meletios the Confessor says:

He who possesses knowledge of the truth,
And, in whatever way, deliberately hides it,
Not openly preaching it or speaking it with boldness,
And does not uphold the divine and august Canons,
Or the laws presided over by the Fathers,
Is justly punished no less than the transgressors of these.
He who is silent about the truth hides Christ in a tomb,
As one Father has said, and another, again, says.
He who is silent about the faith is in grave danger
Of eternal punishment and of the pit of perdition.
It is not just, lawful, or right for the faithful to be silent
When the laws of of God are being violated,
And the evil seek to support their deception.
When someone is in danger of being separated from God,
Said one of the great Fathers,
And when evils are attributed to God,
What faithful Christian can be silent? Who can be at peace?
For silence means consent and betrayal,
As was clearly shown by the Lord's Forerunner
And the brave Maccabees together with him,
Who, on account of the smallest commandment, were in danger unto death,
And did not even betray the smallest part of the Law.
War is many times known to be praiseworthy,
And battle appears better than soul-destroying peace.
For it is better to stand against those who do not believe correctly,
Than it is to follow them and be of one mind with them,
Thus being united with them and separated from God. [176]

And the divine Chrysostom says, "If it is not good for a man to be silent when he is wronged, how will one who remains silent and indifferent when the divine laws are insulted not be worthy of punishment?" [177]

 

176. Alphabetalphabetos, Hypothesis 10 (Thessaloniki: 1923).

177. De Sancta Babyla, Contra Julianum et Gentiles 9, PG 50, 547.

 

- Concerning Frequent Communion, translated by Fr. George Dokos, Uncut Mountain Press, 2006, pp. 171-173.