Don't Be Without Weapons

 

by Metropolitan Augustinos Kantiotes

Don't be without weapons. My beloved, those are the weapons of a Christian. But unfortunately today's Christians are without weapons. The devil has disarmed us. Imagine an army that is without arms. What weakness!... But although much endeavour and huge expenses are incurred in outfitting an army, nothing is spent on acquiring spiritual arms. We are exposed.

This lack of arms is very serious. We don't have spiritual armour. What's the point of pretending to be made of steel when the soldiers don't have a high morale, when they aren't enthusiastic, when they don't have faith in their ideals, when they don't have spiritual weapons? With the first "bang" they will become frightened rabbits.

So spiritual armour is needed. We need to acquire spiritual weapons. The magnificence of a person is revealed in his soul. Shakespeare once said that the heart of a person is the battleground where the greatest battles against sin and evil occur.

We should not be without weapons. To arms, to the holy arms. And when we have those weapons, who can be against us? (see Rom. 8:31). The Holy Bible says that one person can even chase a thousand (Josh. 23:10, Deut. 32:30).

The Greek Revolution of 1821 proves this. Those few people brought a whole empire to it's knees, because they had spirit, while in 1922, the 300,000 Greeks fighting in Asia Minor didn't have spirit, and that's how the [Greek] genocide came about.

To arms, therefore, the armour of light (Rom. 13:12). These weapons are bright, shining, glorious, proven weapons. The saints and martyrs used them, and they won and were victorious.

To arms, you men. To arms, you women. To arms, you children. To arms, everybody! We should not be without weapons, especially during these difficult years. And we need the word of God, faith, attention, prayer, fasting, charity and forcing ourselves to do the will of God, and Holy Communion and confession and whatever else the Gospel suggests, so that we can acquire spiritual armour. If we have that armour, even if the earth is filled with demons, we will beat them, no matter how many there are.

They say that the atomic bomb is the greatest weapon. But even greater than the atomic bomb is the weapon which dissolves every bad thing - it is the love of God! That is the atomic bomb which will destroy the devil's strongholds and create a new paradise in this world, a real society.

To arms, therefore, my brethren! Let all of us, young and old, examine ourselves. Do we have these weapons? Do we listen to the word of God? Do we read the Holy Bible? Do we pray? Are we careful? Do we use the transmitter which is called prayer? Do we kneel each night? Do we entreat God? Do we believe? Or are we disbelievers and simply come to church so we can leave as black as when we entered?

Not like that, my brethren. Let us live Christianity with consistency. Let us arm ourselves! Then the Lord will grant us the crown of Life (Rev. 2:10), the crown of glory that does not fade away (1 Pet. 5:4) to those who are armed with the armour of light (Rom. 13:12). They will beat the world, the flesh, the devil. To Him be the glory and the power unto the ages of ages Amen.