Orthodoxy-in prison in the mountains

Orthodoxy-in prison in the mountains

Which act of the State prevents me from functioning and being a Christian and living correctly? Tell me which act? Apart from the dirty things that they market to us and the lies, but this does not prevent me from having a clear mind and overcoming. To understand where is the lie and the truth. What act of any state, even if it is anti-Christian, even if it persecutes Christ, it is not here now, outwardly it is not, would dare to stop the Liturgy of the Church in the hearts of the faithful? None!
Because the Church is that "gates of hell shall not prevail against it", no hell, no State, no harsh measures can stop the Church. It is impossible to do, unless we allow it due to fear, weakness and distrust. There is no such thing as "the gates of hell shall not prevail against it"
We continue our Christian life beyond any abnormal, anti-Christian decisions they make. Nothing prevents us and nothing will make the Christian surrender in times of persecution.

Here, when you enter a church, you always see a Holy Altar in the center. This is how the Holy Altar of any church, you see, is structured today. If tomorrow a state authority forbids the Liturgy and says "all Christians are persecuted, no one will go to Liturgy, Liturgies are forbidden" and they send in military personnel. It is structured like this (the Church / the temple), the priest who knows how to take the Holy Table in his pocket, as I say, the Antimensio. There is a cloth called Antimensio, Latin anti mensa = against the table, which is sanctified and replaces the Holy Table.

Let me know that tomorrow morning an order was issued not to perform Liturgy, I will take the Antimensio that is made and sewn in this way, I fold it and it goes into my little pocket. And I go to the mountains and celebrate Mass with you if you have the courage.

And if they even put me in prison and say "you're mad, you won't perform Liturgy", and they also take the Antimensio, then in prison if we're imprisoned together, I'll tell you "lie down". You will lie down and I will perform Liturgy on your chest without Antimensio! Every believer is an image of God. And because it is an image of God, every believer is a Holy Table. I will put a plastic cup on your chest, some bread that I will find from the food of the prisoners and a plate of any kind and I will perform Liturgy! Nothing stops us, we are determined for everything! In the mountains or in prisons, nothing stops us!

So what authority?

How was Liturgy held during so many years of persecution? Have you ever thought of these? Father Virgil Georgiou describes these events beautifully, very beautifully, these extreme cases. Because he lived in a regime that persecuted Christians. And in fact he was the one who lived and did, in the sense that before he became a clergyman he was the General Secretary of the Communist Party of Romania, he was not an accidental personality. And he knows the reality of the events when he describes them.

The Church is Communion and without Communion nothing happens! I have nothing else to say.

04-04-2013
Father Konstantinos Stratigopoulos

Recorded excerpt of a speech from the "Roman Pilgrimage", by the archpriest Father Konstantinos Stratigopoulos, on the topic "The First Epistle of the Apostle Paul to Timothy", delivered on 04-04-2013.
http://www.orthodoxyia-ellhnismos.gr/2020/10/blog-post_63.html