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On June 13, 2025, the prophecy of the Orthodox saints became a reality when Israel struck Iran’s nuclear program. As the world edges closer to a global conflict, how should Christians handle the fear of catastrophic events and nuclear threats? In this sermon, Metropolitan Neophytos of Morphou shares his personal reaction to the unfolding prophecies. The Metropolitan explains why worldly peace has failed. For the times ahead, he reveals a prayer we could use to build an invisible, protective wall around ourselves and our families through the intercession of the Archangels and our Guardian Angels.
This English translation of the sermon of His Eminence Metropolitan Neophytos of Morphou was presented for otelders.org by Porphyrios. The sermon was delivered on 22 June 2025, the second Sunday of Matthew, at the Divine Liturgy held at the holy Church of Saint George located in the community of Saint George Kafkalou under the Metropolis of Morphou, Cyprus.
Original source: ΟΜΙΛΙΕΣ ΜΗΤΡΟΠΟΛΙΤΟΥ ΜΟΡΦΟΥ
Video on English Morphou channel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EbYHh2ydFlk
English Transcript:
[chanting Resurrection Troparion]:
“When the stone had been sealed by the Jews; while the soldiers were guarding Thy most pure Body; Thou didst rise on the third day, O Savior, granting life to the world. The powers of heaven therefore cried to Thee, O Giver of Life: Glory to Thy Resurrection, O Christ! Glory to Thy Kingdom! Glory to Thy dispensation, O Thou who lovest mankind.”
[His Eminence Metropolitan Neophytos of Morphou]:
My dear Fathers and brethren,
In the dismissal prayer that the priest recites at the end of the Divine Liturgy, the first One he commemorates is God: “Christ our true God.” The second in order, after God, is the Panagia [Most-holy Theotokos]. Then, “by the power of the precious and life-giving Cross.” We invoke the power of the Precious and Life-Giving Cross to protect us. Fourthly, before commemorating the Holy Forerunner [St. John the Baptist], the priest invokes as our protectors: “[b]y the protection of the heavenly bodiless hosts.” The holy Angels, that is.
It’s very, very important to develop our relationship with the holy Angels. First and foremost, with the great Archangel, the Archangel Michael. A prayer that our holy Fathers taught us to pray to the Archangel Michael is this: “Great Archangel of the Lord, Michael, protect me” or “protect us” — when we want to include more people under the protection of the Archangel Michael.
The second Archangel in order is the Archangel of our Panagia. He who told her, “Rejoice, Mary full of grace.” The Archangel Gabriel. Our holy Fathers taught us to pray to him: “Great Archangel of the Lord, Gabriel, enlighten me.” The Archangel Gabriel has great enlightening power. He is not merely the one who carried the Light of the Holy Spirit to Panagia at the Annunciation, but also the one who led the Magi, nine months later from the today’s long-suffering land of Persia to the also long-suffering land of Palestine, in Bethlehem. [Regarding] what we read about a star leading the Magi, it’s not a star of the heavenly firmament, but an angel, the Archangel Garbiel who led the Magi to the divine infant, our Lord Jesus Christ. Thus, let us also call upon the Archangel Gabriel. by saying regularly to him: “Great Archangel of the Lord, Gabriel enlighten us.”
Moreover, from the time we were baptized, — as soon as our body came out of the baptismal font, after the third emergence — when the priest said: “The servant of God, [name], is baptized in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.” After the third emergence [out of the baptismal font], we received a personal guardian angel. Our Church has made sure to dedicate a prayer to this guardian angel of ours, [which we find] at the end of the Small Compline, prayed at night. There is also a shorter prayer which our short memory and our troubled minds can also pray: “My holy guardian angel, protect me, cover me, help me.”
Let us talk in a personal tone to our guardian angel. It’s he who will accompany our body from the moment of our baptism up until the moment when our body descends into the grave and our soul ascends to its creator, our God. Thus, it’s very important to maintain a daily contact and relationship with our guardian angel. The best way is by praying to him, as we said before.
Why do you think the holy Angels came to mind, especially today? These past few days, when on the 13th of June , I witnessed [the fulfillment of] what our saints had been saying, “When Israel strikes the nuclear program of Persia [Iran], “the great, general World War will begin “and it will then slowly devolve into a Third World War …” When I saw the prophecies becoming headlines … Honestly, even though I had been studying them since 2011, I was frightened [realizing] how much man will be tested — wherever he is.
Can anyone say: “We Cypriots will be safe from it all?” Why should we be safe? Are we any better than the Persians [i.e. Iranians]? Are we any better than the Palestinians? Why should we be safe? Therefore, the question is not if the evils will reach us. The question is how our frightened heart will handle all these terrible, catastrophic events. The Church must prepare us for all of it. Not just with “prophetic news” and by waiting to hear from Morphou or any “Morphou” that dares to speak the prophetic words of the saints today. This is a purely “journalistic” approach.
We are not journalists or sports reporters who serve a certain boss, as indeed journalists often do. This boss tells them, “You’ll say what I want you to,” which, unfortunately, is not always the truth. We are people who serve the Truth — [who is] Christ. If Christ wants us to serve Him by relaying His prophetic word to the people — may it be blessed. We’ve done [exactly] that [for the past fourteen years] since 2011. Now, prophecies have become headlines. Whoever listened, listened.
How does our heart handle fear? Even I, who have read the prophecies, I confess that I was afraid when reality struck. It’s one thing to read [the Orthodox saints’ prophecies] and another to witness all these terrible events that can take place not with conventional weapons, but with nuclear ones. Meanwhile, you see, our God is a God of peace, of love, of joy. When the Liturgy begins, what does the priest or the deacon proclaim? “In peace, let us pray to the Lord.” “For the peace from on high.” But where is that peace? When the Church prays for peace, she means the inner peace of heart.
Τo forgive Kypros, Dimitris, Georgia [random names] who might have wronged or saddened me. This is the first peace that arrives after we’ve forgiven. Let me pray with my whole heart for the ones who have wronged me, again and again. In this manner, man acquires little by little, the peace of heart and he can pray, attend the services and commune. I was glad to see most of you receiving the Holy Communion today. I hope that you also seek this “peace of the heart” by striving against your passions and repenting quickly with a quick nous, so as not to let them take root inside me.
And when I see that some have taken root, I go to my spiritual father to help me uproot them. I shouldn’t allow them to become big trees that require “deforestation” … which is difficult to undertake nowadays. Besides, soon there won’t be any fuel left … This is how the peace of the heart arrives: when I forgive those who have saddened me, those who have wronged me; when I struggle against my passions, either hereditary or acquired through bad habit. I repeat: the spiritual father can help much in this. He can help very much! Rush to your spiritual father! Have a confessor.
Especially during these days, [let no one remain] who hasn’t cleansed himself from the “fundamentals,” from the heavy passions and mistakes of his heart. “Create in me a clean heart, O God. “And renew a right spirit within me” [Psalm 50:12]. Well, I was thinking … When the first [Israeli] strikes [on Iran’s nuclear program], took place on Friday morning [13th of June], I sat in my prayer chair and said: “My Christ, “what You have been telling us all these years, “have begun to happen.” We knew they would come. Now we are watching them [unfold].
“[My Christ], how do You want me to pray?” Christ Himself had revealed to the saints we’ve met that “this War must take place.” This is because the people of today have been proven unworthy of peace. We want peace in order to enjoy our passions [vices]. In other words, a perverted peace, a corrupted peace. [A peace] where our primary concern is for holidays, wealth and having fun. But not for the peace of the heart. It’s an outward peace that provides for [indulging] our passions and malice on all levels: social, personal, political and professional.
That’s not the kind of peace God wants. This is why, from time to time, He allows earthquakes in some places, volcanic eruptions elsewhere, floods out of nowhere, fires, poverty, [economic] defaults, wars and other such catastrophic events. [God wants] to wake us up from the lethargy of this corrupt peace we desire. Well, on that night [13th of June 2025], I was thinking and saying, “My Christ, we have all failed.” We didn’t use the good things You gave us as gifts in order to thank You, as the Divine Liturgy proclaims: “Let us give thanks unto the Lord.” And the chanter replies, “It is meet and right.”
Saints were praying for this War not to happen, such as our elder, Saint Iakovos of Evia. Back in 1990, the saints were seeing the things that have now come and are coming. [In 1990], Saint Iakovos went to Saint John the Russian and Saint John the Russian told him, “Much impiety, much immorality, Father Iakovos.” “There must be a War.” “There is no other way to bring this word to reason.”
Saint Iakovos, sensitive as he was, replied: “No more war, my Saint John. “I lived through the Second World War, “the Greek Civil War, “the poverty, “the exile from our homes as refugees because of the Asia Minor [catastrophe]. “No more war!” What did Saint John the Russian reply in a firm voice? Don’t forget that during his earthly life, Saint John the Russian was also a victim of war, having been taken from Russia to Turkey as a prisoner. Yet, he made good use of his capture and managed to become a saint by living inside a stable with the animals. His fast, his daily night vigil, his painful prayer made him a saint of the Church — and mind you, his body is an incorrupt relic!
What did Saint John answer to Saint Iakovos’ plea? “No, Father Iakovos. “It’s a decision of Heaven, there must be a war.” [Saint John the Russian] repeated it three times. We heard the same message from the contemporary saint, the Holy Gerondissa Galaktia. In fact, she saw Christ Himself commanding the Archangel Michael, whom I mentioned earlier [in the sermon]. “I understood that the world will be cleansed with blood,” [quoting Gerondissa Galaktia]. The same things were seen and were passed on to his disciples by the great saint of both Mount Athos and America: Holy Elder Ephraim of Philotheou and Arizona. The exact same things.
For this, I was much troubled during that night [13th of June] and asked, “My Christ, “it has been ten years now that You have had us speaking to people about the prophecies. “Some mocked us; others believed us. “And yet, “even though the prophecies were given in order to prevent war, “to make us repent, “we have all failed … “I and the rest. “Since we’ve failed in times of peace to avert [through repentance] “all these disasters which have come and will come, “what do You want us to pray now?”
I heard in my heart a word which is found in the Small Compline service. At one point, the hymnographer addresses Christ and says, “Surround us with Thy holy Angels,” — again the angels! — “that guided and guarded by their host, “we may attain to the unity of the Faith, […].” As soon as I heard this, I continued to pray with this prayer, which we will keep throughout all this time as the various phases of this World War unfold. “Lord Jesus Christ, surround us with Thy holy Angels.” I repeat, let us pray: “Lord Jesus Christ, surround us with Thy holy Angels.”
“Τείχισον” [surround] means to fortify, to build a wall. A wall made not of stones. But one made from the faith of the holy Angels, from the love of holy Angels, from the protection of the holy Angels around us. We who believe in You. [We] who want to have “the unity of faith” with the saints, with the angels. [Lord], have these angels “guarding and guiding us to the unity of the Faith.” Let them guard us, let them watch over us and lead us into faith. Because we’ve proven that on our own, we are not able — clergy and people alike.
With God’s providence, leading us to be at Saint George of Kafkalou today, I implore you and everyone who hears us to pray this prayer daily. Especially during quiet times, during the night, [the time] when the frequencies of heaven open up, when the frequencies of our heart open up. You might say, “But the evil has already arrived …” [My answer is]: “To arrive lesser.” [To arrive to a lesser degree] in Cyprus, in Greece, among Christians and in the whole world.
If there are people who pray this prayer painfully, you’ll see that, even if an earthquake strikes, Angels will be holding the walls to protect us. Even if radioactivity spreads … — Palestine and the Middle East aren’t far away [from Cyprus] — our guardian angel will protect us, as well as our food and water. Therefore, I implore you: trust the holy Angels. Develop a relationship with them. Our time is more critical than ever to demonstrate the kind of faith we have. With whom do we have “unity of the Faith?” With the saints and with the holy Angels! I pray this for you, I ask that you pray it for us, too. “By the prayers of our Holy Fathers, Lord Jesus Christ our God, have mercy upon us and save us.”
This English translation of the sermon of His Eminence Metropolitan Neophytos of Morphou was presented for otelders.org by Porphyrios. The sermon was delivered on 22 June 2025, the second Sunday of Matthew, at the Divine Liturgy held at the holy Church of Saint George located in the community of Saint George Kafkalou under the Metropolis of Morphou, Cyprus.
