Romanian hieromonk from Scotland on the current medical crisis: This is something we have all done

‘I just want to say a few words to hopefully help you stay sane through all of this. This feels like one of the main challenges of the moment’, said Father Serafim Aldea from a monastery located on Isle of Mull in Scotland.

‘It’s amazing how many messages are being forwarded in al sort of ways (…). I’ve received so many clips and quotes and everything you wish, I should not wish for, including priests and monks who claim that all of this is orchestrated to destroy Orthodoxy, to keep us away from churches, to keep us away from the Divine Liturgy so that we are no longer able to receive Communion.’

‘It feels like the only way we can go through a crisis is if we can identify someone to hate and then do what we are proficient at, which is hate them.’

“But that’s not the truth, that is not the reality, and even if nobody believes me, I don’t care. Because one has to speak the truth. Christ wants us to speak the truth and love, and not be concerned with the outcome of it.”

Hold on to your spiritual sanity, my dear, dear ones. This crisis is NOT a conspiracy against the Church, this is not directed against the Divine Liturgy or the Sacraments. The real danger is to allow the voices that tell you otherwise to influence your heart, so that your heart might harden and not love anymore. The real danger is that you might be pushed into separating from the rest of this fallen humanity which Christ SO loved that He gave His Life for its salvation. We all created this crisis by abusing our world – we are one in this sin, as we are one in the sin of our forefather Adam.The way forward is to not repeat the same mistake he did. The way forward it to ignore the one who tells your heart to bite of the fruit of hatred, and to obey the Voice of Him Who tells your heart to Love. There is no life in hatred. Life and Love and One and the same – Jesus Christ, our loving God on the Cross.

Posted by Mull Monastery of All Celtic Saints on Thursday, March 26, 2020

‘This is something we have all done. This virus, and viruses that were here in decades before, and many other viruses that will come in the future. This is something we have all done together by destroying our environment and not caring about the world God gave us to live in.’

‘It’s my fault, and it is your fault wherever you are, whoever you are because we have done nothing to protect ourselves, our environment and the future of this humankind we are part of.’

‘I know it’s much easier to go through a crisis when there is an enemy, but the enemy is always inside. The enemy is always within your heart. The real danger here is not that we are kept away from the divine Liturgy or from receiving the Divine Gifts. The real danger here is that we forget who we are and what we can do at this very moment.’

This is still Lent! We are still called to love one another, we are still called to look forward to the crucifixion and the resurrection that lies behind it.

‘We are still called to look at our God crucified on a Cross just because He loved us. He loved us for no reason. He loved us, who were the ones crucifying Him. Even there the enemy is from within. It’s the same story all over again. The only ones guilty for Christ’s crucifixion is me and you, and all of us and every human being from the beginning of the world till its end. Because without our sins that would have been no need for Christ to be crucified.’

‘And even if you go back to the first human being, Adam. It’s not the devil’s fault that he took that apple, is it? He could have said no, he could have chosen to listen to God and obey to His commandment, but he said yes. And it is by that thought of his that sin entered the world and Christ later had to be incarnate, to be crucified for us to be saved. It’s never anyone else’s fault except our own.’

‘So, my dear, dear wonderful lovely, lovely brothers and sisters creatures of God, hate no one! This is not directed against us, against the Church, against a certain nation.’

‘I’m not here to tell you anything else except the truth as I see it in my heart. The only way out of this is to keep your spirits up and do the best that you can to encourage everyone, to be kind to everyone, to love everyone, to forgive everyone, and, above all, to pray for everyone.’

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