During his sermon on Sunday, Bishop Ignatie of Huși said that Arianism has not disappeared but is hidden in secular atheist humanism.

Speaking at the diocesan cathedral in Husi, His Grace Bishop Ignatie explained that the heresy of Arius set out to snatch God from Jesus Christ by denying His divinity, just as atheistic humanism wants God to disappear from humanity.

Arius’ heresy did not die

“This philosophy places at the centre of the whole ideological scaffolding the human being, who wants to be the measure of all things; everything in this universe to revolve around the human being, excluding God from this equation.”

The Bishop of Huși quoted Saint Justin Popovic, noting that “Arianism is not dead, it is still alive, it has not been buried.”

“It lives with vigour and with the attempt to evacuate and drive God out of this world, so that man may truly feel free from any kind of corset of moral norms, of a certain kind of conduct and a lifestyle which springs from the gospel,” Bishop Ignatie said on June 5.

“Humanism is the quintessential expression of division because it no longer has God at its core – the One who is the absolute Unity and gives man the state of unity,” the bishop continued.

We live in a Christophobic society

His Grace Bishop Ignatie emphasized that today we live in “a state of terrible division, which has behind man’s irrational desire to give up everything sacred.”

“We live in a Christophobic society, which hates Christ, which wants to give up icons and the presence of God in the public space, banishing Him into everyone’s private life. We hear many people say that whoever wants to experience God should experience Him in their intimacy without going to church. There is no need to see priests in public, at cultural events or of special importance in the history of the nation – there is too much presence of the sacred, and we should give it up. There is no need for God’s presence.”

“The time will come when talking about God, confessing what we believe, can become a crime, as long as society wants to be secular,” Bishop Ignatie said.

Photography courtesy of the Diocese of Huși