There are still Orthodox-minded pastors…

 

There is still Orthodoxy on earth, and there are still Orthodox pastors who stand far removed from political labeling and speculation, who view East and West not through their spiritual shortsightedness, but according to the measure of Christ’s love.

One of them was Metropolitan Chrysostomos of Etna.

And as the momentous date of September 11 approaches, I would like to recall part of his address to his flock:

“Sometimes the ontological operating room of God’s Providence opens its doors, and we are allowed to see the interaction between history and the spiritual realm through which the Lord heals the sickness of the world. Its counterpart is the restoration of human perfection in the image of God in man, which is achieved through the ascetic spiritual life. This is what we witnessed in last week’s terrorist attacks. The blood and pain of the operating room are still palpable... The process was unimaginably painful. Many of us even harbored hostility toward the ontological Surgeon who removed this foreign body from our organism [complacency and self-assurance—editor’s note]. In seeking the good, we came to understand that we must not and cannot lose a clear understanding of evil, of what it can cause, and also of why the determined pursuit of good necessarily requires a battle against this evil, replacing our complacency with vigilance and imbuing our joy with a sense of sorrow that sobers us and guards us against inner complacency or frivolity...

A person who understands God with a sense of his own importance, regarding himself as saved and taking pride in being a great man among an elite few “chosen ones,” has made himself into a god—he worships an insignificant caricature of God.

A person who perceives God and the spiritual dimensions on a universal scale and out of love for all humanity is a follower of the true God, Who transcends human understanding and transforms the human soul.

A person who measures his love by what he has given his family has succeeded in selfish love. One who can extend this love beyond his family to society and all humanity has understood true love.

A person who loves his homeland and sacrifices his life for it has attained selfish altruism. One who can sacrifice his life for all humanity—a sacrifice that would make his homeland an ideal for others—is a true altruist.

A person who stands against his evil enemy and, at the cost of self-restraint and self-mortification, meets that evil with kindness and forgiveness acts not only on behalf of his family and homeland, and not only for the sake of his own faith; he participates on behalf of all humanity in the universal battle between good and evil.”

Archbishop Chrysostomos concludes his address with a few lines from the beautiful prayer of Saint Nikolai of Serbia, “Bless My Enemies, O Lord,” saying that in everything we do to oppose and punish evil, this banner must always be before our eyes.

“Bless mine enemies, O Lord.

I too bless them, and curse them not.

Mine enemies have driven me into Thine embrace more than my friends have.

My friends bound me to the earth, but mine enemies tore me away from the earth and destroyed all my hopes in earthly things. They made me a stranger in earthly kingdoms and a useless inhabitant of the earth.

And as a hunted beast findeth a surer refuge than one that is not hunted, so I too, pursued by mine enemies, have found the surest refuge by hiding beneath Thy tabernacle, where neither friends nor enemies can destroy my soul. Bless mine enemies, O Lord. I too bless them, and curse them not.”

Through the prayers of such spiritual pastors, who illumined our path to the Heavenly Jerusalem, may the Lord give us strength to walk this path without malice or vengeance, far from the liberalism and fanaticism of political Orthodoxy.

- Nataliy Borislavova, shared on Facebook (in Bulgarian), September 10, 2026.