At St. George Church in Agios Dometios, Nicosia, Archbishop Chrysostomos of Cyprus performed the Divine Liturgy on Sunday, July 21, in the presence of the Primate of the Holy Monastery of Apostle Barnabas Archimandrite Ioannis and priests of the parish and the Holy Archdiocese.
In his sermon, the Archbishop of Cyprus referred to the present evangelical passage, according to which the Gadarenes (the people of the Gadara, which was located east of the Jordan River), after the miraculous healing of the two Demoniacs (demon-possessed men), they begged Jesus Christ to leave their region.
“Man feels really happy, full and calm only if he is close to God. In our time, we are constantly hearing so many hostilities, hatreds, wars. And all that, because we do not have God in us. Man is wrong if he thinks that with money and prosperity he will find happiness. We also saw the fall in bank stock exchanges and lost value of bank assets; many people were disorientated because they did not cherish God in their souls. While those who had God, endured. I have said it many times, the one who constantly loves and follows God, is rich in his seeming poverty. But we often become like the Gadarenes: while God wants to enter into our hearts, we expel him because we prefer the fake happiness of wealth and riches”, preached Archbishop Chrysostomos.
Shortly before the end of the Divine Liturgy, the Archbishop performed the exequies of all the victims of the cruel and barbaric Turkish invasion of Cyprus in 1974, who sacrificed their life for their faith and country.
Source: Church of Cyprus
