"Pandemics are a symptom of human mortality, that went down in history when we broke off our relationship with God and made ourselves the center of our lives. Since, we focus unilaterally on the relief of the respective problems and we miss the essential: even if this virus is defeated, another will appear later, as always in human history………
Αλλά και πέρα από αυτό υπάρχει ο μόνιμος “virus”, The “έσχατος εχθρός” Death. The cause of human problems is spiritual: is human affluence ", points out, including, in his Easter message the Archbishop of Athens and All Greece Ieronymos.
Follows, in more detail, the message of the leader of the Greek Church:
The Resurrection of the Godman finds us injured for the second year. The universe is humiliated by an invisible enemy, is forced into the isolation of societies. Many people died within a year. At this moment I want to remind us of the loss of these fellow human beings, as well as the bishops, priests, monks, monks and believers of our Church.
Experts and scientists are trying to stop the transmission of the virus, with our fellow human beings, to contribute responsibly. Nevertheless, some deny the existence of the virus and others link it to conspiracy theories. In these conditions, I would like to personally thank all the doctors and health staff for their daily self-sacrifice.
Pandemics are eroding the existing way of life and promoting a new one. The current pandemic digitally regulates our lives in an almost universal way. Everything is done from afar: distance learning, video conference, teleworking. We experience the culmination of the tragedy at the terrible hour of death. It is not possible to see, nor to touch our beloved dead for the last time.
Many of these new changes came with the ambition of staying permanent and are characterized by a paradox: new, which emerges as a solution, at the same time it enslaves us. What makes it easier for us, at the same time it depends on us, restricts our freedom. At the same time, digital technology is making life easier for the planet, at the same time it alienates us.
Pandemics are a symptom of human mortality, that went down in history when we broke off our relationship with God and made ourselves the center of our lives. Since, we focus unilaterally on the relief of the respective problems and we miss the essential: even if this virus is defeated, another will appear later, as always in human history. But beyond that there is the permanent "virus", the "last enemy" is death. The cause of human problems is spiritual: is human affluence.
The Resurrection of the Godman overturned the hitherto human, and introduced new data into history, mysteriously, eschatological data. With all the events of the divine Economy, with His Incarnation and Resurrection, reshaped human nature: "From death to life, …we sent ". Cosmic reality is already tasting its renewal in Christ: "It simply came to our notice then, heaven and earth and the depths ". Against the wear and tear, the Grace of the Resurrection is enlightened.
The center of history is no longer the dying Adamic humanity, but the resurrected humanity in Christ, that we meet in the Church. The church, as another dough, by the Godman, prepares decisively, tacitly, through extreme humiliation and ignorance, the reception of His Coming Kingdom.
My brothers,
The pandemic once again brought us to our limits. It brought to the fore the death that we repel in the background. The unnatural death that the Godman overcame with His Resurrection. For that reason, we do not live like "the rest without hope", for through the Mysteries of the Church we taste the Kingdom of God, the beginning of "another life of eternity".
I wish the joy of the glorious Resurrection to illuminate our lives.
Truly the Lord is risen!