In this episode, Metropolitan Neophytos of Morphou recounts the trials of Saint Polycarp and Saint Ignatius, creating parallels to today’s world of pandemics, migration, and moral confusion. He urges the faithful to reclaim authentic Christian compassion and duty—reminding both Cyprus and the world that the judgment of our era is already unfolding.
This English translation of the sermon of Metropolitan of Morphou Neophytos during the Archieratic Divine Liturgy on the Sunday of Meatfare (23 February 2020) that took place in the Holy Church of Apostle Andrew in the Nikitario municipality under the Metropolis of Morphou was provided by the ‘Metropolitan Neophytos of Morphou Homilies’ YouTube channel and was presented for otelders.org by Porphyrios from the ‘Orthodox Treasures YouTube Channel.’
Original video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BttCAr3wQo0
Greek with English subtitles: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_YJGAd6iRjY
Check out Orthodox Treasures’s YouTube channel, which generously recorded and shared this homily with us. They are doing a great mission by sharing inspiring Orthodox Christian books: https://www.youtube.com/@OrthodoxTreasures-m7p
Met. Neophytos:
Sunday Resurrection Apolytikion, third tone:
“Let the heavens sing for joy, and let everything on earth be glad.
For with His Arm the Lord has worked power.
He trampled death under foot by means of death;
and He became the firstborn from the dead.
From the maw of Hades He delivered us; and He granted the world His great mercy.”
“Now is the judgement of the world”, our world…
Today, my Fathers and brethren, we celebrate a great saint from the era of the First Church
who lived during the very first years and steps of the Church.
As you can see in the middle, there stands his icon,
with a candle lit from the very beginning of the Orthros,
as the [ecclesiastical] order of our Holy Church commands so.
The glorious Saint Hieromartyr Polykarpos (Polycarp).
He was the Bishop of Smyrna in Asia Minor, too.
Whose student [do you think] he was?
Who was the teacher of this saint?
Saint John the Theologian!
Saint John the Theologian crossed the 100-year age mark and before his passing
Polykarpos, a young lad, got to meet Saint John the Theologian.
Afterward, when the Romans had started the persecutions,
they called another great apostolic hierarch,
the first Bishop of Antioch, Saint Ignatios the God-bearer.
Bear in mind that they had Saint Ignatios walk all the way from Antioch to Rome in chains.
How many days or months did old man Ignatios have to walk, in chains and under guard, to reach Rome?
As if he could run away at his age…
Saint Ignatios, in every place he passed through,
with his chains still on,
had Christians flock to him to receive his blessing.
Because they knew that this Ignatios is not only a disciple of the Holy Apostles,
who had seen with their eyes and listened with their ears to the Lord of Life and Death.
But, according to the Holy Tradition of the Eastern Church,
Saint Ignatios was the child whom Christ took in His arms when he said to his disciples:
“Unless you be converted, and become as little children, you shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven” [Matthew 18:3].
[The Gospel says] that Christ took one of the children, hugged it and blessed it.
This child whom [Christ] hugged and blessed was he who later became Saint Ignatios the God-Bearer.
When the guards along with Saint Ignatios reached Smyrna of Asia Minor,
Saint Polykarpos was already the bishop of the city of Smyrna.
Saint Polykarpos was a middle-aged man at the time.
Saint Ignatios was an old man, a very old man.
[St. Ignatios] wrote a very beautiful letter addressed to him,
“To Polykarpos, …”
What do you think he wrote him?
“Brother Polykarpos,”
“You are a bishop yourself as I am.”
“You are in your middle years; I am in my very late ones.”
“However, I am in a great urgency…”
— “I am in great hurry,” he says —
“to become good grain in the teeth of the lions.”
“To get grinded by the lions’ teeth,”
“so as to become good ground grain”
“which the Christians will knead and make a prosphoron out of.”
“And thus become Body and Blood of Christ.”
He Who defeated death, Who defeated sin, Who defeated the devil.
When Polykarpos took the letter and read it,
he was astonished.
He thought to himself, “This old man…”
because [St. Ignatios] was well aware that he was walking to his martyrdom, to his death.
They told him, “You’ll be thrown to the lions!”
And St. Ignatios was glad.
He rejoiced because, [as he said],
“I will become nice ground grain by the teeth of lions”
“and then this grain would become flour for the Christians to knead.”
A single martyr with his martyrdom, his patience, his unwavering faith,…
How many of us, of feeble faith, the impatient and cowardly ones,
are taught by his example?
Not all people have as much faith as Polykarpos or Ignatios; let’s face it!
St. Paisios, St. Porphyrios, St. Iakovos,
they too lived in our time.
We saw them; we listened to them!
We ate together; we served liturgies together!
Just like these twins chant for us, I too chanted with the saints.
I was 19 years old [back then] while he was [around] 70 years old.
Can I possibly claim, however, that I have the faith of Iakovos?
That I have the bravery of Iakovos?
That I have the patience of Iakovos?
I don’t …
Saint Polykarpos, even though he was a student
— “a spiritual descendant,” to be more precise —
of Saint Ignatios the God-bearer,
he was feeling humbled when he saw that old man,
Ignatios the God-bearer almost “rushing” [to his martyrdom].
“As soon as possible”!
He then said some very nice words, which he wrote down.
“The Love of my life has been crucified.”
This is how much he loved Christ!
Saint Ignatios reached Rome eventually.
Everything happened as he said.
He was thrown to the lions
who devoured him,
and all that was left of him were his big bones,
that we have and venerate to this day.
The Christians heard of all this
and glorified God for the kind of martyrs [who come forth],
[driven by] their faith in the Crucified and Risen Jesus.
Years passed, and new persecutions started,
not in Antioch, not in Rome, but in Smyrna.
It was now the time for Polykarpos to follow in the footsteps of Ignatios.
An old man himself too, over 80 years old,
when he heard that there was a decree ordering his arrest,
for a brief moment he panicked.
What did he do?
He hid himself in a stable!
And when he heard that other Christians
who were arrested by the Roman soldiers,
were martyred [in the name of Christ],
he was embarrassed.
He then remembered the old man from Antioch, Ignatios.
How he rushed to his martyrdom in Rome.
Right away, he received the enlightenment of the Holy Spirit inside.
He was granted the boldness of the Holy Spirit
and went and surrendered himself to martyrdom.
For this reason, he was crowned a hieromartyr.
Similarly, in the same region, a few years later, Saint Charalambos was crowned a hieromartyr.
Saint Charalambos came from the same region as Saint Polykarpos.
These are lessons for us!
A time comes when the life of the saints becomes our life.
This is why I advise you:
Instead of spending your time by reading every other nonsense,
it’s better to start reading the Lives of the Saints.
Nowadays, there are websites at the reach of our hands — [available to] both younger and older ones.
The younger generation, especially, are clueless about how to read a book.
Still, they are most familiar with browsing through websites.
Have you, the older ones, ever thought what would happen
if your children were to see you every day, for a mere 20 minutes,
devoting time to read the life of the saint who is celebrated on that day from a website?
If you merely type, “life of Saint Polykarpos,” you’ll get it right away.
Actually, you’ll get so many results that you will have a hard time choosing which one to read.
The Internet doesn’t just have bad and wicked things; it has good things too.
You listened to the Gospel today!
The deacon read it very clearly.
When men will stand in front of Christ to be judged,
we will be asked very simple questions:
“Who did you give a drink to?”
“Did you give Me any water?”
“Did you give Me any food?”
“Did you give Me any clothes when I was naked?”
“Did you visit Me while I was in prison?”
“Did you allow Me to rest in your house for a little while when I came to you as a stranger?”
And they turn to Him and ask:
“When did you ever come to us, my Christ?”
Christ then responds, “If you didn’t do it for your neighbor,”
“for every person next to you, your fellow man,”
“you wouldn’t have done it for me, either, if I had ever appeared before you.”
Do you comprehend what is the criterion by which Christ will judge us?
Whether we gave food to the hungry,
water to the thirsty,
visited the ones in prison, …
People who fell from our grace, but we didn’t reject them,
[instead] we went and visited them.
Did we ever visit a sick person?
These simple things that all of us can do.
I can assure you that for our generation, “the electronic one”, we will be asked:
“What kind of websites did you browse?”
And don’t shrug it off as a joke,
because whatever you browse [on the web] is who you are.
What did Saint Syncletica say?
“From the sight comes forth desire.”
By looking at something, one gets the desire for it.
It is very crucial to choose carefully what we gaze upon!
We won’t turn a blind eye to technology.
Everything that God allows is [destined] to be used for His glorification and the benefit of people.
It’s up to us to decide how to use them.
I’m telling you that a time comes when we will be asked to give a confession [of faith].
It doesn’t have to be the persecutions of Saint Ignatios and Saint Polykarpos, I described before.
It may be a disease.
You see what’s going on currently in China [with Covid-19],
which is on the verge of becoming a pandemic
and the scientists have yet to find an antidote for it.
And they will have great difficulty finding it,
because this disease is the product of sin and malice between the Great Powers.
But it’s the product of our sins, too, our own unrepented sins and malice.
If it takes two years for the antidote to be found
and it spreads to the entire world,
as it seems to be the case in a few days — not weeks, but days!
There won’t be any medication.
The doctors and nurses will find themselves on the front lines,
facing the greatest danger to get sick from it.
Will they carry out their duty
— just like St. Polykarpos and just St. Ignatios did —
or will they get scared?
Will they go and give a glass of water to our dying brethren?
Or will the first thought that comes to our mind be:
“Where shall we isolate and abandon them?”
As is the case in China, unfortunately.
That’s what it means to be Christian!
A Christian is ready to sacrifice himself for his God
—and for his brother, too, for his neighbor.
In case he dies for his country, he becomes a hero.
But in case he dies for Christ and for his neighbor, he becomes a saint!
Are you listening?
My neighbor [whoever he might be] is placed higher than my country.
Dying for my country will make me a hero
and I’ll be remembered for two or three generations the most.
After that, most people will ask,
“Who is this man that gets to have a wreath laid upon his grave?”
“What did he do to deserve a wreath [on his grave]?”
But a saint is never forgotten!
One generation comes after another, but everybody gets to know who St. Andrew is!
And to those who don’t know him, …
He appears to them and makes himself known.
Therefore, sainthood is something we will definitely encounter.
Both in this life, depending on how we behave to our neighbor, to our fellow man,
but also in the eternal life,
which one day we will all experience and be judged by our God.
Depending on whom we gave water to,
whom we gave food to,
whom we showed sympathy to,
either in prison or in his sickness,
either in the hospital or when he was an immigrant.
Keep this in mind!
Cyprus is now full of Chinese people, Filipinos, Sri Lankans, Vietnamese, Romanians, Pakistani…
We call them “the foreigners!”
But these “foreigners” are the ones who cultivate our lands,
they offer bathing assistance and keep company to our old mother and father.
They take care of them, which is our job…
And their salary is nowhere near enough [what it should be].
On many occasions, we even exploit them in the worst ways possible!
Do you think that Christ will only ask our own generation
whether we gave that one glass of water and that one plate of food?
I already told you that since our generation is “an electronic one,”
we will be asked about the websites we visited.
Not only the bad ones, but the good ones as well.
And there are [indeed] many good ones.
He shall ask, “How much time did you spend reading the lives of the saints”
“which you could find on your mobile phone or your PC?”
Then He shall ask,
“How much time did you devote to the Filipino?”
“To the Pakistani? To the Romanian? To the Sri Lankan?”
“How did you respond when he knocked on your door?”
“How much did you love him,
or how much did you exploit him?”
Exploitation isn’t the only way;
one can help in many proper ways.
I remember when my mother fell sick
and my sister [Stella] couldn’t handle all her care by herself.
Neither could we.
So we, “the good family of the bishop”
also employed a foreign woman from Sri Lanka, if I recall correctly.
I was very impressed by my sister’s two children.
I, who am a bishop and preach the word of God,
never thought of it [i.e. what follows] — but they did.
So I asked that foreign woman,
— her name was “Ashoka” —
“Are you married?”
“Yes, I have a husband back in Sri Lanka.”
“And I came here to help him financially so that our son can attend school.”
“When will you be going back to your husband?”
“Whenever you lay me off,” she answered.
Now, what did the good children of my sister come up with?
They went ahead and bought with their very own money
— and not the money of their uncle —
an electronic system.
What’s its name? Skype?
[Skype] was a new technology back then.
So that Ashoka can see her husband and her child and chat with them every day.
When I visited and saw it, I asked, “What is this?”
“It’s for Ashoka [to be able] to see her husband and child every day,” they said.
“She bought it herself?”
That’s what I thought.
“No, uncle, we went ahead and bought it for her.”
“With whose money?”
“Our own.”
“We want the best care [possible] for our grandma [Milia].”
“Shouldn’t she also receive good care
and be in contact with her husband and her son?”
When her service finally came to an end,
they [the nieces] went ahead and bought all the furniture she needed for her home back in Sri Lanka.
I then told my sister, “Stella, now you can die in peace.”
“Why?” she asked.
“Because you raised good children!”
Children with Christian feelings!
So that, if you stand tomorrow in front of Christ and He asks you,
“What did you teach your children to do: exploit the foreigners or assist them?”
Right?
Therefore, there are “modern ways” to express love and conquer the mercy of God.
Our time provides us with very easy ways to do so.
Whoever behaved rightly [on similar occasions]
in the hard times that are coming — which have already crashed down in some countries.
We are still being protected by the Liturgies of the simple priests,
as well as by the Panagia, our saints and most of all, the Archangel Michael!
A time is coming when our faith and patience will be tested.
All those who have given a glass of water,
all those who have taken a look at the life of whoever saint,
all those who have loved attending the Divine Liturgy,
drinking Holy Water,
eating the antidoron,
receiving Holy Communion on a regular basis,
repenting on a daily basis
and confessing their sins [to a spiritual father] when they need to do so.
In other words, participating in the Holy Mysteries of our Christ
and keeping the commandments of our Lord,
which we should always keep in mind… [whoever does all this will receive the love and mercy of God].
And whenever we fail to succeed in all this, we should at least repent and ask for forgiveness.
We are only human.
Christ knows all too well
that we cannot live our lives without committing sin,
but we shouldn’t leave this life unrepentant and without having confessed our sins.
On the other hand, for all those who don’t act likewise,
— in the following days, months or years —
their immortal soul and their eternal life are in grave danger!
This is what today’s gospel reading teaches us.
Our life does not end in a grave.
The soul is immortal; she doesn’t die that is.
Even our body will be resurrected
and unite with our soul once again [at the Second Coming].
Therefore, the Filipino or the Romanian that I have in my fields or in my house,
may be the reason I end up either in paradise or in hell [depending on how I treat them].
The computer, one uses,
can get him either to paradise or hell.
The prisoner from my village [or] from my generation,
who insulted me and spread rumors about me,
if I don’t visit him in prison, I will end up in hell!
Whereas, if he confesses his sins [truthfully] while [he is] in prison,
he will end up in paradise.
Can you grasp how situations can be reversed?
Let’s keep this in mind!
You should also keep in mind to pray for us
who talk big talk,
as we [pray] for you, too.
Because, as you see, most occupy themselves with the prophecies:
“When will the Turks attack us?”
God might not allow them to strike us.
Or, if they do, they will strike us “lightly,”
while they will be hit so hard by Russia,
that we will begin praying
and pleading for God’s mercy for their sake, [in the end].
This is where things are headed.
The more sham friendships they’ve made with Russia,
the greater the magnitude of the war between them.
This was and still is the plan of God for our region.
Still, we ourselves will also be tested with trials, albeit not war-related ones, as it seems.
Do you understand?
There might be an earthquake out of the blue!
An epidemic might hit us,
or some volcano in our neighborhood might erupt…
The unexpected is always a part of our lives.
So you know, Europe, in order to face the unexpected,
since the 11th century, since 1054 AD, when the Schism took place,
[Europe] filled all her states with institutions.
In other words, [she founded] grand universities, grand hospitals;
she advanced the sciences; she came up with drugs for trees, birds and humans!
Scientific breakthroughs and inventions one after the other!
Enlightenments; Renaissances; French Revolutions.
Yet all of these without a trace of Christ!
Without the light of Christ!
Do you know why they organized and “carried out” the Enlightenment?
“To kill” and extinguish the light of Christ!
In the same manner, the European Union came together to create a life without Christ!
“We have no need for Christ. Even if He exists, let Him stay in heaven,” they say.
“We can manage on our own.”
“We’ll create ‘a paradise’ of our own liking.”
“As long as we eat, drink and [have a good time], we don’t care about death.”
“If we ever get sick, we will develop the greatest hospitals.”
We followed by saying, “Science performs miracles!”
As if God no longer performs miracles…
As if He is on vacation now…
Right?
But now comes the time
when science will not perform, unfortunately, any miracles…
[Due to the fact that] God will contract His grace!
For a while, not forever…
So that we kneel before Him and cry to Him,
“My Christ, grant me the patience and the faith of the saints!”
Both the satellites and the Internet will shut down.
People will not be able to find any psychiatric drugs, either.
The pharmacies won’t have any.
Without medicine, hospitals will close down.
Who will heal us then?
The Apostle Andrew!
Who will bring us food?
Definitely not the bakery on the corner.
The Apostle Andrew will — as long as I maintain a relationship with the Apostle Andrew.
It’s not just our relationship with the saints [that will help us],
let me dare say something that Saint John Chrysostom said:
“Have I helped a stranger in need?”
“Christ will then send me help [in return during my difficult time].”
“Have I given food to a hungry person and especially a hungry stranger?”
“He will send me, the hungry one,[during the difficult hour] tenfold the food I offered.”
Right?
Have I given clothes to a stranger?
He will send me the best clothes to wear!
Thus, our neighbor will be present in our difficult hour.
One reaps what one sows.
We are not alone!
We have our God,
the Mother of God, Panagia.
We have the Honorable Forerunner [John]
and the Holy Apostles
and the Martyrs,
along with the rest of the saints and the righteous.
Even our reposed, who are in heaven and led a righteous life, [now] pray for us.
Every time I came here…
Just once I got to meet Agathe [or Agatha] who donated the land [for the church to be built].
Just once!
But she pierced through my heart.
So, every time I go to the cemetery to commemorate my father, my mother, my brother,
I “listen” to Agathe, asking of me,
“My bishop, commemorate your servant Agathe, too.”
“Are you listening?”
Agathe lives on!
Sotira lives on!
Theodolous!
Hieronymos [or Jerome]!
I hear their callings within me, “Our bishop, commemorate us!”
There are no dead people.
I repeat: when the reposed led a righteous life,
they pray for us and assist us from up above.
But if they didn’t, it’s they who need our help.
Thus, we should perform all these good deeds for our close ones,
but, even more importantly, we should do them for the strangers,
for the persecuted, for the slandered,
in order to get help ourselves in the difficult hour,
and the difficult ones, as it looks, have begun.
Still, the faithful are not permitted to be frightened!
Even Saint Polykarpos got scared, but only for a moment!
He then came to his senses and said [to himself],
“Hey! Christians look up to me!”
Have you ever thought if our own ethnomartyr [Archbishop] Kyprianos [of Cyprus],
had succumbed when the Turks told him to become a Muslim in 1821?
[Imagine] the Archbishop of Cyprus becoming a Muslim?
[Had it been so], the whole of Cyprus would have become Muslim.
Instead he said, “No! Better kill the bishop than the rest!”
(Παρά το γαίμαν τους πολλούς εν’ κάλλιον του πισκόπου.)
St. Cyprianos is not merely an ethnomartyr of our country,
but also a grand hieromartyr alongside St. Polykarpos in heaven!
And he serves in the [Heavenly] Divine Liturgy alongside Christ.
See?
This is the eternal life you hear of!
One participates in a Divine Liturgy like today’s
that is not performed by Neophytos but by Christ Himself!
All saints concelebrate with Christ, too.
All righteous now receive Communion from Christ’s very own hand!
If you love the earthly Divine Liturgy,
then you will also enjoy the heavenly one!
May God grant us this love, [first and foremost], towards Christ
[and] then to the image of God,
— our fellowmen, our reposed.
This way we will be worthy of receiving help in the difficult times [that lie] ahead of us,
and, afterward, afterward, we will [be worthy]
of taking part in the very good times to come;
the good times of peace and freedom.
Before that, however, we will have to take our exams and undergo the necessary surgery!
May God grant you His power!
May we reach Pascha [uneventfully]!
“By the prayers of our holy Fathers, Lord Jesus Christ, our God, have mercy upon us and save us.”
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