Moscow, January 23, 2017
Photo: http://www.pravoslavie.ru/ Agionoros.ru has published extracts from a topical article from Abbot Archimandrite Gregory (Zumis) of Mt. Athos’ Dochariou Monastery in which he recounts Greece’s glorious past, contrasting it with its lamentable present, and calls them to return to their former glory.
The elder begins:
“Glorious and illustrious Greece!
Coastal rock against which many centuries of waves have broken, but without moving it from its place… High mountain, showing mankind how to think and live; Hearth around which people gathered to enjoy the warmth; At your table all the nations drinking wine.”
He notes that Greek culture has long been an object of plunder, museums and houses throughout Europe being filled with the fruits of the Greek genius. “The antique period of the Orthodox Christian civilization of the Romans continued with the same mastery and efficiency. When civilized Europeans were still eating with their hands, our ancestors were carving iconostases and painting holy icons.”
“This ship of our fathers has undergone abuse and today is tilting. The hatred, envy, and ill-will of the demons has descended upon this beautiful vessel and today we already hear clearly the words of the captain from the bridge: ‘The ship is about to die. All those who can swim, jump into the water and swim away so as not to drown together with it.’”
But who, in Fr. Gregory’s view, is to blame for this current situation? “Let me tell you that we ourselves are to blame in this catastrophe, as we invited atheists and anti-Christian captains to guide our vessel. Our ancestors survived with a cross in their hands, and we bear it. When our children burn the Greek flag with impunity, under what flag will the ship ‘Greece’ move forward?”
The answer, the Athonite proclaims, is of course a strict adherence to Christ and His Orthodox Church: “We need Christ and Greece! Greeks should start a holy war and banish everyone who does the devil’s work in our bleeding country. It can no longer continue this way.”
If the nation should not turn back in force to the fullness of the Orthodox faith, Archimandrite Gregory sees destruction ahead: “Be watchful, do not sleep, because the end is near and it is not the end of the world, but the end of our Greece.”
