In this episode, Metropolitan Neophytos of Morphou talks about the profound life of St. Mary of Egypt, using her journey from deep sin to extreme holiness as the ultimate model of true repentance. Preaching behind closed doors during the 2020 pandemic restrictions, His Eminence connects her spiritual struggle to our modern trials. He addresses the global fear surrounding the virus and agendas pushed by figures like Henry Kissinger, and the fulfillment of contemporary Orthodox prophecies.
This English translation of the sermon of His Eminence Metropolitan Neophytos of Morphou was presented for otelders.org by Porphyrios. This is a sermon behind closed doors on the Fifth Sunday of the Great Lent (Sunday of St. Mary of Egypt), held at the Holy Church of the Venerable Cross in the community of Pedoulas under the Metropolis of Morphou (April 5, 2020).
Original video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QeTD9iF_vVM
Video on English Morphou channel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_7KQ7JT6BuM
Transcript:
“Though the stone was sealed by the Jews, and soldiers guarded Your most pure Body, You arose on the third day, O Savior, granting life to the world. Therefore, the powers of heaven cried out to You, O Giver of Life: Glory to Your Resurrection, O Christ! Glory to Your Kingdom! Glory to Your divine plan, O only Lover of mankind.”
[His Eminence Metropolitan Neophytos of Morphou]:
Many blessed years, my brethren. We’ve been made worthy to be here by the grace of the Precious and Life-Giving Cross, which is found here in the preeminent village of Pedoulas, so it can radiate its sanctifying energy throughout the whole land of Marathasa, throughout the entire Metropolis of Morphou and across the entire blessed holy island of Cyprus and unto the whole world, unto the whole world!
If there’s something we need in our days, it’s the sanctifying power. Every age has need for the holiness of the Triune Holy God. Every age. “In every time and place.” In every age, time and place, the thing that we mortal people need is the sanctifying power, [the divine] energy, the Body and Blood of Him who triumphed over the devil, death, and sin. Our Lord Jesus Christ, His Divine Father and the Holy Spirit — the Holy Trinity. This is the only truth: the Trinitarian Truth.
And the saint we commemorate today, our Venerable Mother Mary of Egypt reminds us exactly of this truth. St. Mary experienced the [sensual] pleasures of this world to the extreme, as few people did in her time, in the most sinful manner one can experience the pleasures of the flesh. St. Mary of Egypt did so. If she had wanted wealth, she could have had it with so many lovers [she had], there in Egypt where she was. I don’t think she could have had glory. What kind of glory could a fornicator, a nymphomaniac fornicator have?
Yet, she renounced the pleasures of the flesh, the wealth and every [fleeting] glory of this world. And when did she renounce them? When she remembered that, beyond a body, she also has a soul! In other words, she remembered that she was human, not an animal! And she has a soul that is immortal, that does not perish! And then she went to Jerusalem, [the place] where death was conquered, where sin was conquered, where the devil was conquered — where “The Battle of Battles” took place.
And we celebrate this “Battle of Battles,” once a year, on Holy Pascha. The Church prepares us through the long fast that we are undergoing, through countless services and prayers and Liturgies and through the Great and Holy Week, which we all long for and await, so that we can triumph — together with the Victor over death — over our own death. So that we can triumph — together with the Victor over sin — over our own sin. So that we can triumph — together with the Victor over the devil — over the many demons and temptations that besiege us and often lead us into serious falls.
St. Mary of Egypt, even though she was a fornicator, she remembered that she has an immortal soul that desires all these things we just mentioned. So she went to Jerusalem. But in order to acquire holiness of life, there are certain conditions. And they aren’t too many. God asks only one simple thing in order to accomplish His own great works: one small action from us within our hearts. This is where the actions of the Holy Spirit take place. He seeks our repentance: to repent of our passions and flaws, of our sins — whether they are inherited or acquired.
What did our Triune God do to demonstrate this truth to St. Mary of Egypt? Whereas everyone was passing freely through the great entrance of the Church of the Holy Resurrection [also known as the Church of the Holy Sepulchre], an angel of the Lord prevented Mary of Egypt from entering the church. Three times she attempted [to enter] and each time she felt an invisible power pushing her back. She then came to her senses and realized: “If God allows all these people to enter and worship, but doesn’t allow me, — it’s because of my great sins.”
Where did she go then? To the Mother of Mercy, to our Panagia. It is said that there was an icon, a mosaic, outside the church in the courtyard; and she stood before Panagia and told her: “Please forgive me, and beg Your Son to forgive me. To allow me to enter and venerate His All-Holy Sepulchre, His Precious Cross, His Holy Resurrection.” In other words, what was she begging for? To observe the Holy Week. To observe the Resurrection. To observe the Holy Pascha.
“And I, my Panagia,” she said to her, “Once you allow me to observe the Holy Week, to observe the Pascha, by venerating the Holy Passion [of Your Son], the Cross, the lance, the tomb, [all] these symbols of victory… I will go to the desert. And there I will devote my whole youth, all the rest of my life, to repentance, to repenting for every single sin I’ve committed.” Within her heart, Panagia made known to her that this first repentance of hers was accepted.
And Mary of Egypt entered the Holy Place and venerated the Precious Cross, the All-Holy Tomb, the Church of the Resurrection. She exited the church and she went to attend to the needs of the flesh — not to sinful desires, but to the basic necessities of life. She went to a baker in Jerusalem and bought a couple of loaves of bread. And with those loaves, she crossed over the Jordan river, into the depths of the desert, where the lions were — or rather, to be more precise, the hyenas — and she lived there for more than forty years.
Until St. Zosimas came, whose memory we celebrated yesterday and made her acquaintance. She said to him, “Abba Zosimas, when you return next year, I ask only one thing of you” — after she had confessed her entire life to him — “I want to receive the Body and the Blood of Christ, He who conquered sin, death and the devil.” And the saint went and communed her and God granted him the honor of burying her. Because she fell asleep. And thus she became the Great Venerable Saint Mary of Egypt and the Church dedicated an entire Sunday to her, so we can honor her exceptionally.
She also has her own day of commemoration: April 1st. But she also has an [entire] Sunday devoted to her. Why? Because she became a paradigm: Mary of Egypt, the former prostitute from Alexandria, Egypt; she became a paradigm, not of fornication, not of sin, but of repentance. Indeed, when a person repents, as we have said, Christ is open-handed [generous], abounding in mercy. At first, He sends the Holy Spirit [who] cleanses the person, the heart and enlightens the nous.
Then He Himself comes into that cleansed heart and dwells there as Light. “Light is the Father, Light is the Word, and Light is the Holy Spirit, […]” And then, together with the Holy Spirit, Christ leads the person into the holiness of God the Father. That’s is how every repentant soul comes to know the Holy Trinity. St. Mary is a shining example of a person who experienced sin, but also experienced repentance; who understood what was truly beneficial for her: to live forever, not just to spend a few [fleeting] years carelessly in this temporary life; that man is an immortal citizen of heaven.
And Heaven is not merely a place above the visible firmament, [which is] star-studded at night and bright blue in the morning. No, heaven is another “place,” or rather, another mode of existence; an immortal existence, that has no death, that has no temptations, that has no toil, that has no sorrow. But [has] life, joy, peace, endless delight of the Triune Light, which has no end. Wise Mary understood all of this. What about us? What do we make from all this? Even we who are immersed in the life of the Church. Only God knows.
The question is not what our little minds can grasp; our intellect has finite limits. The question is: Does our heart ache? Does it ache for its own passions, for its own mistakes? Does it truly ache? For God cannot ignore a suffering heart! “God will not despise a broken and humbled heart” [Psalm 50]. He [Himself] said it. And Christ does not lie! Today there is much pain and much fear in our world. Empty churches, with only a few faithful [attending], because this is “the decree of Caesar” [i.e. the worldly authorities] concerning a virus, which, in the worst cases, can bring physical death.
But Christ is coming in a few days [i.e. the approaching 2020 Holy Week], amid mockery, amid slanders, betrayals, spitting and whipping, beatings and many betrayals, even by His own disciples. And He says, “I am coming for you; to teach you that through the Cross, we reach the Resurrection.” “Crucify yourselves, crucify your desires, crucify your [sinful] thoughts.” This is what the Cross means! And if some illness comes, have patience; it is for your benefit — both eternal, and immortal.
And if exile comes or if you become a refugee, if poverty comes, if slander comes, endure it patiently. But patience for the sake of patience is very difficult; it cannot be borne. Yet when you have patience out of longing for Christ, then it becomes possible! Christ Himself gives strength; He sends the Holy Spirit who empowers us. And He [the Holy Spirit] teaches us patience: to wait for Christ to come in glory “to judge the living and the dead” [quoting the Creed].
Look at what we heard in today’s Gospel [reading]. He began telling His disciples about the events that were to come. And yet, some of us, when we hear some of our brethren talking about what will happen in the near or distant future, wonder: “Is it right to speak of [Orthodox] prophecies?” As if prophecies ended with the prophets of the Old Testament. Christ Himself possesses the prophetic gift and He shares it with the people of repentance. And through His saints, [both] recent and past ones, He has left us knowledge of future events.
Not in detail, but in broad outline; only what is necessary. Did we not know that there would be a great and prolonged war in Syria? The contemporary saints told us so. Do we not know that after this war, Greece will suffer hunger for a time? And this trial has already begun. Did we not know that the Soviet Union would dissolve? And so it did. That Yugoslavia would dissolve? St. Paisios said these things to us and to many others. He even provided details. Do we not know that the European Union itself will be dissolved? And then Turkey … Turkey will be partitioned to be more precise … shrunk.
Who said [prophesied] these things? Those who imitated Christ. They spoke to us about future events so that we wouldn’t act like blind puppies amid the many events — both the coming ones and the ones already here. Did they not speak about diseases? One of which we are already experiencing. What we are going through now [COVID-19] is something created by men and amplified by the great powers, so they can exercise control over fearful and powerless people.
We read yesterday that Henry Kissinger, this “dinosaur of diplomacy”… [We] Cypriots can’t forget him, nor do we have the right to — and we should never forget him — this “fox of diplomacy.” Because of him and others, we remain refugees to this day! But we won’t remain so for much longer. He said yesterday, “The problem the pandemic has demonstrated is that nations can’t solve it individually.” “Governments must relinquish their authority, and a global government must be established.”
Now that they turned global immorality into “morality” through laws, through legislation enacted [by national parliaments]. Now that they have corrupted the majority of the youth, now that they have sown fear among the elderly, and left the middle-aged, namely our generation, weak and in a very dark spiritual state, now all of a sudden they will come forward as saviors, acting as “enlighteners.” “I built the oven and I’ll destroy it [whenever I want],” that’s what they’re telling us.
They built this oven for us, so that we would be burned [consumed] by the temptations that they put before us — and sadly, we accepted them; that is our mistake! [In this way], we abandoned the tradition of St. Mary of Egypt — the tradition of repentance, that is! We abandoned the longing of St. Mary of Egypt, which was a longing for immortality, for holiness! Finding us in [such a] weakened [spiritual] state, they served the virus, but it seems that it escaped their control.
And now, amid this panic, they seek to establish a global government, with electronic [digital] IDs, with their own currency, one entirely unrelated to the currencies we use today and create a world with no freedom. One governed by electronic oversight. So that man may descend into the state of a slave and an animal. “And man being in honor did not understand; He was compared to the senseless cattle, and became like them” [Psalm 48:13]. That’s where the New World Order wants to lead us, although it has [actually] devolved into a disorder: New [World] Disorder.
But, even today’s Gospel reading [from the Fifth Sunday of Great Lent: Mark 10:32 – 45] says that they will not succeed. They’re not the only ones with plans. He Who created the world also has plans. And today’s Gospel proclaims this plan. Christ doesn’t have secrets. He has Mysteries, but He doesn’t want to hide the truth. He said: “And the third day He will rise again” [Mark 10:34]. This is our future! The Resurrection is our future! What do we proclaim in the Creed? “I look for the resurrection of the dead and the life of the age to come.”
Do we believe this? Do we await it? Do we want it? Do we long for it? If we [truly] want it, if we await it, if we long for it, if we believe in it, then be assured that all these plans of “the New World Disorder,” of Henry Kissinger and his other disciples, will all collapse. Christ has a plan, when He sees repentance in the hearts of people, all the well-intentioned people of the world and a longing for holiness — especially among the Orthodox who possess the fullness of the truth.
When He sees a longing for holiness and repentance, many of the prophecies will not come to pass; only a few will. Only those that are absolutely necessary for the cycle of earthly history to be completed. Panagia and the saints are roaming the earth now, and like beggars, they ask of us a longing for holiness, a longing for repentance, so that they may present this longing to the Lord of life and death, the Risen Jesus! He is the future. He is the certain Victor. Everything else is temporary, short-lived, trivial adventures that must take place “For all these things must come to pass” [Matthew 24:6] — so the victory of the Resurrection may come.
With these thoughts, with these feelings inspired by today’s Gospel reading and by Venerable Mary of Egypt, whom the Church commemorates today, I share with you, the few who see me, and the many, many more who will hear us, this small concern. But also, the great joy and expectation of the Risen Jesus! Another thing that today’s Gospel also teaches us, is that we must be careful not to exalt ourselves. Of the disciples, the sons of Zebedee, came to Him — two of the Twelve: James and John, the sons of Zebedee. John is the one depicted there, John the Theologian.
They approached Him and said: “Please,” they said. “We ask a favor of You, a small favor.” “What do you want?” He replied. “When You are glorified, let one of us sit, at Your right hand and the other at Your left.” In other words, they desired glory. And Christ said to them, probably shaking His head, “You don’t know what you’re asking.” “It is not given simply to whoever desires it, but to the one who has prepared his heart, for such a gift to be granted.” “[It is for those] for whom it has been prepared” [Mark 10:40].
Therefore, now is not the time for us to seek privileges. Neither nations, nor states, nor the so-called great powers, nor the secondary powers, nor the smaller nations [should seek privileges]. Now is the time for repentance. Now is the time for us to open our hearts and for each person to examine his own life. And when we surrender our heart to repentance, then what Christ Himself says will come to pass: “My son, give Me your heart” [Proverbs 23:26]. He desires our heart. And after that, He has glory to give us as well. That’s why He says, “for whom it has been prepared.”
Prepare your hearts so that you can endure the glory. Because when a heart is filled with love for [sensual] pleasures, love for money, love for glory, [a heart which is full of] hatred, [a heart that] doesn’t forgive while our nous is constantly focused on how we can live for a hundred years or more, instead of focusing on how we may live eternally … Can such a heart ever be “prepared” [Mark 10:40] for the glory of the Triune God? Even if we do manage to approach the glory of God — without “a prepared heart,” we’ll be consumed by it. Right!
Can anyone approach the sun without being burned? Therefore, now is the time for preparation. These diseases, these trials and the other diseases that are yet to come and the Third War that will take place no matter how much Christ lessens these things, — hopefully, as a result of our repentance — these events will still come to pass. We are living the events of the future; we have to understand that. The prophecies have become headlines! Even if we know that these things [are coming], unless we kneel, unless we pray, unless we repent, unless we confess, unless we long for the Holy Communion, then we won’t be glorified.
And this glory is not earthly, it’s heavenly. Even the glory of Orthodoxy, which will certainly follow the end of these trials — the diseases, the earthquakes, the natural disasters, the volcanoes. When all these things come to an end, there will come an age when Orthodoxy will be glorified and will be one faith throughout the world. After that, temptations will come again together with another generation of people. And that generation — Mr. Kissinger — will encounter the globalism of a one-world government and, eventually, the Antichrist.
[But that’s] not our generation. The fate of our generation is to experience these shocking events, and “the most shocking” of all will be the mission of Orthodoxy. “The sifting” is taking place now. Christ is choosing His disciples. But we must humble ourselves first. Even this fear is a part of humility. But we must not dwell in fear. If we remain in fear, we’re driven to panic. [And neither should we dwell] exclusively in patience.
My mother used to say, “I don’t practice plain patience [i.e. patience for the sake of patience].” “[Rather], I practice patience along with Christ.” Patience joined with longing for the beautiful things that are to come through the painful surgery that has begun. Cross and Resurrection. For St. Mary of Egypt to become a saint, she first had to suffer in the desert — to weep, to live alone, alone with herself and God. The only God! And what happened in the end? She became a saint. The former fornicator. The former sinner. She became a saint.
Generations come and go, the Sunday before Palm Sunday is the Sunday [in honor] of St. Mary of Egypt! That’s what glory means! The glory of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. I wish it for you; I ask that you wish it for us too. May we be granted a blessed Pascha, a blessed Resurrection. By the prayers of our Holy Fathers, Lord Jesus Christ our God, have mercy on us and save us.
Doxastikon of the Praises
Fifth Sunday of Great Lent
“Glory to the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.
The Kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking,
but of righteousness and asceticism with sanctification.
Therefore, it is not the rich who will enter into it,
but those who place their treasures in the hands of the poor.
The Prophet David also teaches these things, saying:
‘The righteous man shows mercy all the day long,
he delights in the Lord and walks in the light,
and he shall not stumble.’
All these things were written for our instruction,
so that through fasting we may also practice virtue,
and that the Lord may grant us heavenly things in exchange for earthly ones.”
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