I have been reading a few articles by Christians on the terrible natural disaster in Haiti.
The whole question of natural disasters and God is too complex an issue to discuss here and I don’t intend to.
However, I have just read the following words of the late Fr. Seraphim Rose, and I have not seen anyone else speak quite so bluntly about our response to natural disasters such as the one in Haiti.
Yes, we must help if we can. Yes, we must pray for all caught up in the disaster. But disasters like this should also spur us on to live our Orthodox lives more intensely.
“It is obvious to any Orthodox Christian who is aware of what is going on around him today that the world is coming to its end. There are wars and rumours of wars, widespread natural disasters, the multiplication of false Christs, the increasing centralization of information in preparation for a single world ruler–It is truly later than we think; the Apocalypse is now. While there is still time, let us tear ourselves away from this “fool’s paradise” and begin to heed the call of Christ.
Outward membership in the Orthodox Church is not enough. In the words of (the late) Fr. George Calciu, an imprisoned Orthodox priest behind the Iron Curtain, “Let us build churches with our faith, churches which no human power can pull down. A church whose foundation is Christ.” This is possible if we have the courage to be different from the world around us, if we develop and nourish an Orthodox world-view, penetrated by a living, normal attitude, loving and forgiving, not self-centred, preserving our innocence and unworldliness. Then, in spite of our sinfulness and inadequacy, our Faith will survive the shocks ahead of us and be a source of inspiration and salvation for those who will still be seeking Christ even amidst the shipwreck of humanity which has already begun today.”
Fr. Seraphim Rose
http://www.serbianorthodoxchristian.com/Fr.SeraphimRose.html
