We Have an Enemy

Years ago, when I was still a layman, I was speaking with a priest who said he would rather be a Christian in the former Soviet Union than in America today. He said those words just a few years after the fall of the USSR, but I never really appreciated them until recently. He explained, “At least in the Soviet Union, I know my enemy!”

Having never lived in a closed society such as the USSR, I always found it difficult to fully appreciate the depth of this priest’s feelings. In the years since, I’ve had the chance to speak with Orthodox Christians who left that part of the world, and I heard stories that would shake anyone’s faith. It is one of the reasons I feel so strongly about Be Transfigured Ministries, and our commitment to helping others Live A New Life In Christ.

Over the years I have watched many pious Orthodox Christians arrive in America thanking God they escaped the tyranny of the old world, only to fully embrace the laziness of American Christianity. In the old world, they risked ‘life and limb’ to attend Divine Liturgy or to have their home blessed by the priest. Now, in America, where ‘it is easy’ to attend Divine Liturgy, weeks and months pass before they enter the Church. What happened?

The Lord said to his disciples, “Beware of men who will lay their hands on you and persecute you, delivering you up to the synagogues and prisons, and you will be brought before kings and governors for my name’s sake. This will be a time for you to bear testimony. Settle it therefore in your minds, not to meditate beforehand how to answer; for I will give you a mouth and wisdom, which none of your adversaries will be able to withstand or contradict. You will be delivered up even by parents and brothers and kinsmen and friends, and some of you they will put to death; you will be hated by all for my name’s sake. But not a hair of your head will perish. By your endurance you will gain your lives.” – Luke 21.12-19

Then it occurred to me. While living under tyranny, this warning from Christ in the Gospel was real. People really were being hauled away and persecuted. In America, we are free to enter the Church, but instead of entering, we go to the beach or hiking or spend the day with friends at the park. My friend was correct all those years ago, I just never knew he meant America had a hidden enemy.

Our enemy isn’t America, nor is it our neighbor. Our enemy has always been the devil and our own laziness. As we focus on the Saints this year at Be Transfigured Ministries, consider the martyrdom of Saint Haralambos, who is commemorated today. He was martyred at the age of 103. Can you imagine making it that far, only the suffer a martyr’s death in old age? He lived before Christianity was free, so his story I think is exceptional for us today.

We can never let down our guard against the enemy. If we are free to attend Church, then we must be extra vigilant to the dangers the drag us away. Divine Liturgy is our life source. We cannot live without Holy Communion. Instead of soldiers dragging us away from the doors of the Church, our own friends and family create myriad excuses to avoid Church.

“I came to see you, and you’re going to Church?” “We only have so much time we can spend together, between work and children.” These are two of my favorites because they create guilt in attending Church. Why can’t the answer be, “You came to see me, so let’s go to Church together,” or “Our time together in Christ is just as important?” That doesn’t even touch the excuses of work schedules and sports practices.

Yes, we have an enemy, and that enemy is too often ourselves. The devil cannot stop us from attending Divine Liturgy. He can only suggest we have better things to do. WE are the ones keeping us from Church, and we are losing the war.