Archpriest Boris Ustimenko’s sermon, November 15, 2020

You can find the word “enemy” in the Bible. Who is our enemy In the Old Testament, this is mostly a foreigner. But when Moses went up on the mountain for the commandments, the people began to worship the golden calf. And then you had to look for enemies not among other peoples but among your own. And belief in one God alone did not save the Israeli state, which collapsed in its time and did not exist for 2000 years. During the revolution, the forces of the Reds prevailed against the believers at one point. The conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh has been going on for many years. And people on both sides are brutally murdered, even though some are Christians and others are Muslim.

Therefore it is not the task of the church to judge who is right and who is wrong. In a military confrontation, both sides are often equally guilty. So it is not the job of Christianity to fight for the purity of an idea or a nation. Because the Lord came and said, “Love your enemies and bless those who curse”. So you shouldn’t look for enemies among other nations. The main enemy is yourself and your lazy soul, which can accommodate a thousand demons. Each of us, regardless of whether Muslims or Christians, whether believers or unbelievers, whether we take communion regularly or not, will expect a thousand demons. They are ready to colonize our souls at any time.

Our Lord distributes all resources wisely among all people. He gives people plenty to eat and drink. But it is always not enough for people, they are constantly trying to conquer new countries. And the food that we have in abundance is thrown away in trash cans in large quantities. In doing so, people say that food shortages are due to overpopulation. But first you have to learn to behave rationally on this earth. And it seems to us that we are always right just because the demons tell us.

Therefore, first of all, a person must get rid of their sin. For the Lord sows, but the Devil comes and steals these seeds. And if we don’t do the right thing and can’t forgive our neighbors up to 490 times (seventy times seven), we cannot improve. Because how much can we forgive? One or two times? And then we say no, brother, goodbye, I will have nothing more to do with you. And that happens even among relatives, not to mention foreigners. Therefore, our main task is not to develop hostility in our hearts towards anyone else. One can only see with a pure heart what is really happening on our earth. Therefore, we would not have to spread prejudice and argue about what is not open to our impure hearts, such as the structure of the state, how we should organize ourselves on this earth, etc. We must first purify our hearts. Without this we can neither understand God nor our neighbor nor understand how we must act.

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