Overcoming Spiritual Laziness: The One Talent That Truly Matters | Metropolitan Neophytos of Morphou

In this episode, Metropolitan Neophytos of Morphou reflects on the Parable of the Talents and addresses a great affliction of our time: spiritual laziness. Sharing a humble personal story of stubbornness and reconciliation, Metropolitan Neophytos reveals the single most important “talent” Christ expects us to multiply—the sincere desire to know and love Him.
This English translation of the sermon of His Eminence Metropolitan Neophytos of Morphou was presented for otelders.org by Porphyrios. This is a sermon of His Eminence Metropolitan Neophytos of Morphou at the Hierarchical Divine Liturgy on the 16th Sunday of Matthew, held at the Holy Church of St. Paraskevi in the community of Leivadia (Pitsilia) under the Metropolis of Morphou which took place on 7 February 2021.

Original video source: https://youtu.be/XL7jNuy1OZY
Morphou English YT channel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DKDPguUFW5I

Metropolitan Neophytos:

“When You descended unto death,
O Immortal Life,
You mortified Hades by the brilliance of Your divinity.
And when You raised the dead from the depths,
all the powers of the heavens cried out:
O Giver of Life, Christ our God, glory to You!”

[His Eminence Metropolitan Neophytos]: Many blessed years to you, as well. Years in which we’ll make good use of the “talents” [referring to currency; as in the parable of the talents] God gave us in this temporary life so that we may reap our reward in the eternal life. Regarding today’s Gospel reading [Matthew 25: 14-30], let me say just one thing.

In the parable, the master, the lord — who represents Christ our God — handed the talents [to his servants]. He gave five talents to one, two to another, one to another and He departed. And He told them, “Labor with the talents I’ve given you.” After a long time had passed, the master, the lord, came back. He went looking for the servants to see how they had used the talents, he had entrusted to them.

I won’t make an analysis of the parable of the talents today. We’ve spoken about it many times in the past. I will speak about the opportunity Christ grants all of us. He brings us to life. Every person comes [to this world] from the blood and seed of their father and mother. Every one of us inherits some talents from his ancestors along with those we acquire little by little over the years as we grow. And Christ waits. And waits, and waits … [For what?] He waits for each one of us to make good use of these talents for as many years as He has granted us to live.

And the hour will come, the moment will come, when He’ll return. What is that hour? [Remember that] the hour He departed was the hour of His Ascension. “He ascended in glory” [Troparion of the feast of the Ascension of our Lord]. The hour He’ll come again is the hour of the Second Coming.

This long period of time, between the Ascension of our Lord Jesus Christ into heaven until His Second Coming when He’ll return to judge the living and the dead, — “and He shall come again with glory to judge the living and the dead” [quoting the Creed] — [this long period of time] is the great opportunity for us all to make good use of our talents.

The talents, as we’ve said, are various. They are not the same for everyone. [Suppose] God gave me ten talents. He’ll ask from me twenty in return. To Father Panagiotis, here, He gave fewer. He gave him five. He will ask ten from Him in return.

If I was lazy and turned the ten talents He gave me into just fifteen instead of twenty … And if Father Panagiotis, with a little effort, with a little bit of struggle, with many mistakes, but also with many tears and much repentance, little by little, and little by little, managed to turn his five talents into ten … His ten is perfect, whereas my fifteen is not, even if it’s a larger number, even if in the eyes of the world: “Ah, the bishop has many talents and works with them!” Yet God expected more from me.

Unfortunately, a great problem of us Orthodox is laziness, sloth, as Saint Porphyrios used to say. Sloth is an affliction. That’s why we must always bear in mind: “How do we make use of our years?” “How do we put our talents to work?” And let us be concerned about our [personal] laziness.

Most Cypriots are not lazy people. They are hardworking, practical people. Even the proverb says so: “Go, trade (do business), and [only] then leave Cyprus.” But what do we do? That’s the question. By giving us talents — two to one [person], ten to me, five to someone else — is Christ expecting from us to become “good traders” and rich? [No]. There is one talent that Christ will ask from all of us. He’ll ask it from the one who received ten, as He’ll ask it from the one who received five, and from the one who received one.

I want to talk to you about this one talent and it’s the first time I’ve done so as only recently I myself realized it. If this one talent is missing from our pouch, it is as if we have none.

What is this one talent? To want to know and love Christ. [I repeat]: To want to know and love Christ. It’s the first commandment. “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength” [Matthew 22:37-40; Mark 12:30, Luke 10:27]

A woman came to see me the other day. She wanted us to forgive each other, because we had a falling out some years ago. I had been sending her messages, tokens of love, icons, books, but she didn’t feel the need to come and reconcile. For my part, “the proud bishop,” I did not go to reconcile either.

But lately, ever since I’ve begun seeking Christ’s love, I examined myself [by asking]: “How much do I love Christ?” I love learning, so I went on [to study and] acquire two [university] degrees. I love monasticism, so I built monasteries. I love my Metropolis for twenty-two years now, so I build and repair, I repair and build. I restore churches and holy icons everywhere. I ordain priests, “train” [new] chanters and readers.

Still, I came to realize: “It is one thing to do many good deeds, “and another to have as your first and foremost concern “to love your creator, your maker — our Christ.” I realized I had shortcomings in this area.

Because all these deeds [that I mentioned] can also be accomplished in pursuit of other purposes too: to fill our inner emptiness, for emotional highs we all experience, for the sake of being seen by people, for financial reasons, for earthly glory, for so many different reasons. Right? We can perform many good deeds, but there is one deed that only Christ and our heart know. It’s the one He’ll ask from us, when He comes back for the talents. “Did you love Me, Neophytos?” He’ll ask. “Did you value the fact “that I brought you into life “to become a man of God, let alone a bishop?” “You loved so many people [in your life], “but did you make an effort to come to know Me?”

The woman I had a falling-out with, finally came to see me the other day. I had been praying a lot on this issue. After I realized that neither would she come to reconcile with me, nor would I let go of my stubbornness, I started talking to Christ about this woman. Well, she came to see me. Christ brought her to me!

What do you think this kind woman told me? “Before anything, “I want you to read me an absolution prayer, “because my fault was greater than yours.” So, I read her the absolution (or forgiveness) prayer. Afterwards, once we had forgiven each other, we sat down and I asked her, “What have you been doing all these years we haven’t talked?” And she answered, “I’ve been listening to your talks.” See? If you love someone, you find a means of communication.

“What did you get out of all these talks?” I asked her. “Are you listening to the prophetic stuff?” “No,” she told me. “I realized that, unless you love Christ “and place Him first in your heart, “all other loves are fake.” “How do you talk to Him then?” I asked her.

And she told me a very simple prayer, one I had been looking to find myself — trust me. I really like short and simple prayers, ones even a small child can feel and understand. What did this nice old woman tell me? “I realised that I have trouble in my relationships [with others], “because my love for Christ isn’t complete. “So, I pray to Him and say: “‘My Christ, make me worthy to love you.’ “That’s the prayer I pray.”

“My Christ, make me worthy to love you.” For this reason, I am also urging you: Do not expect for problems in your relationships with others to come knocking at your door, for you to realize that at the root of the problem lies the lack of love toward our maker, our creator, our Christ. Take the wiser path. Learn from my own passions and mistakes. Learn from my temptations.

This is the reason I share them with you, so that you may not be trapped by stubbornness and pettiness. Be gracious, be lords! But for us to be gracious, the Big One must visit so we all get to know each other. For us to become lords, the Lord of lords, the King of kings, our Lord, Jesus Christ must come.

Say to Him: “My Christ, make me worthy to love You.” When you make this petition, with the help of some saints and angels for whom you foster a special love, wait until you see how Christ will make you worthy to come to know Him and love Him.

All your relationships with the images of God — our fellow human beings, that is — will begin to be restored, one by one, one by one. Why so? Because love with the One has begun, with the Master, with the Lord of life and death, with the victor over death, the devil, and sin. In this way, space is created to fit all. “Christ is all and in all.” [Colossians 3:11].

Here is the one talent He gave everyone and He’ll ask for it from everyone. Although it’s just one, it’s the most important, the principal one. Do not be deceived by other loves: love for your children, the wives, love for your husbands, the husbands, love for your wives, love for your parents, for your fields, for your homeland. Yes, love them, too, but first and foremost, love the Lord, love the One.

And when you see that something is wrong in your relationship with others, it means there is a problem with this One — with Jesus Christ. In this case, however you can — sitting, standing, kneeling — begin to pray. Read the Psalter, read the Akathist Hymn to the Most Holy Theotokos, and at the end say many, many, many times: “My Christ, my Lord, make me worthy to love You.” How beautiful!

And when we love Christ, this love is unto the ages of ages. It’s not temporary. It’s not a love that will only last fifty or sixty years and then death will come and we’ll be forgotten. No … Therefore, I pray that this one talent which we have been given, we will use it properly. Both you and I.

Know that Christ extends the years He offers us on earth and doesn’t take us, because He wants to give us opportunities in the span of many years to get to know Him better and to love Him more, more and yet even more than that. I am very happy today that Saint Paraskevi deemed me worthy to come here to her home in Livadia of Pitsilia.

I meet for the first time my beloved Father Panagiotis in the role as parish priest of Saint Paraskevi’s church. He came from Corinth a few years ago to be with us and offers much to our humble Metropolis, being with you every Sunday and more. He has loved you and you ought to love him, too.

Starting today, my Father, you have my blessing to fix some small matters that need attention, especially the electrical [of the church]. I saw many fluorescent lamps inside. The older priests liked those, but you haven’t grown old yet. When you grow old, you can get new fluorescents lamps. For now, do what you can to cut down on expenses.

And I’m glad you have good chanters. That’s very important. [Addressing the chanters]: Do you come every Sunday? [Chanter]: Yes, indeed. [His Eminence]: May God guard you and may St. Paraskevi bless you. I already knew about the lead chanter, but I only saw you now. [Chanter]: [inaudible] Now I remember you. What can I do … I’m growing old myself.

You have good chanters, you are also a priest with heart, [this means] you’ll serve beautiful Liturgies together. I’m also glad that Alithinou and Livadia [villages] don’t lack liturgical life. I’m also glad that I’ve been deemed worthy to commemorate, in addition to the blessed Fr. Chrysanthos, our Fr. Andreas as well, who served in these two villages for many years. He was an excellent priest, of the old school, and an upright man. I lived very well with him all those years. Two of his coworkers as well: Andreas Tsarouchas and Andreas Apseros. [chatting]

And I’m glad that God deems us worthy to commemorate them. We commemorate them everywhere we go, along with all those many names that you saw us commemorate on the prothesis. We are pleased that you keep the Divine Liturgy alive — Christ Himself alive, that is — so that He is offered in each of our communities. May you have long years, and in this way may your own talents increase for the glory of God.

“Through the prayers of our Holy Fathers, Lord Jesus Christ our God, have mercy on us and save us.”

“I will love You, O Lord, my strength. The Lord is my foundation, my refuge, my deliverer;” [Psalm 17:3].

This English translation of the sermon of His Eminence Metropolitan Neophytos of Morphou was presented for otelders.org by Porphyrios. This is a sermon of His Eminence Metropolitan Neophytos of Morphou at the Hierarchical Divine Liturgy on the 16th Sunday of Matthew, held at the Holy Church of St. Paraskevi in the community of Leivadia (Pitsilia) under the Metropolis of Morphou which took place on 7 February 2021.