On the Fight Against Sinful Viruses and More
(A sermon by Fr. Vasily Andronikov)
The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear?
The Lord is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?
(Psalm 26:1)
Lately, the whole world has been confronted with a new trial — the struggle against a strange and unprecedented disease! From nearly every country on earth, we hear of multitudes infected, and of some number who have died…
Numerous directives are being issued that affect ordinary human life. These include, first and foremost, either a direct prohibition against going outside or recommendations to avoid attending mass events and places of large gatherings.
Against the backdrop of all these events, people are beginning to wonder how to escape this condition. Some predict the epidemic will end soon, others foresee an unprecedented crisis descending upon the global economy… What is to be done? Where can one run?
But there is nowhere to run, and nothing to be done — for you cannot hide from a plague. The whole world is sick!
Yet for the believer, there is always a way out! There always has been, is, and shall be — and that is, first of all, the prayer of the whole Church and all the Sacraments!
“But we can’t go to church! That’s a mass gathering of people!”
That’s true. However, the Church of Christ has a most rich history of existence. Anyone sincerely seeking, upon reading the chronicles of Church history, will find numerous examples in which believers not only overcame various diseases, but even delivered entire nations and cities from inevitable physical destruction. Let us give a few vivid examples from the history of the Israelite people:
- Let us recall how, after the divine punishment of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram, the whole congregation of the children of Israel murmured against Moses and Aaron (Numbers 16:41) and wanted to kill them. But the Lord defended His faithful servants. A severe plague broke out among the entire congregation. In a single day, fourteen thousand seven hundred people died (Numbers 16:49). And only Aaron, following his brother Moses’ counsel, overcame the unknown virus by offering incense.
Thus we see that, through the faith of Moses and Aaron, the plague that was taking lives was stopped.
- Another vivid episode occurred during the reign of the aged King David. He decided to conduct a census of the population — naturally, in order to know how many warriors he could summon in case of war and to calculate how much tax he could collect.
But because God had always helped David in the past on account of his faith, it was now evident that the king had wavered and begun to rely on cold calculation. To call David to repentance, the Lord — through the prophet — offered him a choice of three punishments: Seven years of famine in the land, or fleeing from his enemies for three months while they pursued him, or three days of pestilence in the land. David chose the pestilence. And the Lord sent a plague upon Israel from morning to the appointed time; and seventy thousand people died from Dan to Beersheba (2 Samuel 24:13–15).
Only David’s sincere faith in the mercy of God brought an end to the deaths, for the Angel of the Lord was about to strike Jerusalem as well. In gratitude for the cessation of the plague, David not only repented but also offered burnt offerings and peace offerings (2 Samuel 24:25).
- Among the many examples of unwavering faith in God’s help, shown in the seemingly hopeless circumstances of the people of God, we must recall a most striking case: during the reign of the pious King Hezekiah of Judah, in the days of the Prophet Isaiah, Jerusalem was surrounded by the vast hordes of Sennacherib, king of Assyria. The king of Judah had no way to mount a worthy defense, for the enemy forces vastly outnumbered his. But thanks to the faith of the king and the people, during the night, an invisible plague (the Angel of Death) struck down one hundred eighty-five thousand enemy soldiers (2 Kings 19:35).
Many such stories could be recalled. But rather than burden this article with a long list of biblical facts, we would like to reflect on the importance of Christian faith also through other sources.
Thus, in the Gospel there are examples that show, on the one hand, the hiddenness of faith, and on the other, the extraordinary power that faith possesses. Christ expresses this meaning through the image of the smallest seed: “If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, ‘Remove hence to yonder place,’ and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you” (Matthew 17:20).
If such power is given to the believer—to heal lepers, raise the dead, and cast out evil spirits—then is it really possible that a believer today would be helpless before some epidemic?
But someone may say to us, “You Christians heal every disease with prayer?!” Of course, in addition to prayer, we turn also to ordinary doctors, for we know that the Apostle Luke was a physician, and many other saints possessed medical knowledge—such as the holy wonderworkers Cosmas and Damian, the great martyr Panteleimon, and others. Likewise, St. Nilus of Sinai did not reject the help of ordinary doctors but, incidentally, reminded us: “In illness, before doctors and medicines, make use of prayer.”
Thus, “Render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar’s; and unto God the things that are God’s” (Matthew 22:21)—that is, the first and most important thing for a believer is faith, and the second is care for worldly matters. The same applies to illness.
Again, the tireless questioner might say: “But your faith doesn’t save people—more and more are getting infected around the world!”
But do all those who are infected truly have faith? Why do the governments of many countries, as well as the leaders of religious organizations, urge people not to go to church—or even go so far as to forbid praying in churches by official decree?
Yes, this is a true test of our faith! Even many ordinary Christians are voicing full agreement with the call to avoid going to church! Supposedly, the Holy Scripture says: “Ye shall not tempt the Lord your God” (Deuteronomy 6:16).
But it is interesting to ask—have those who quote this verse actually read its continuation? Let us quote the full verse: “Ye shall not tempt the Lord your God, as ye tempted him in Massah” (Deuteronomy 6:16). The Lord Himself gives an example—how not to tempt Him. What is Massah? Massah is the name of a place in the wilderness where the people of Israel, fainting from thirst, wanted to stone Moses and said: “Is the Lord among us, or not?” (Exodus 17:7).
In other words, the chosen people lost their faith. And yet, the trials they endured were extremely severe—comparable to today’s trials. Yes, today there is a virus, there are deaths, but all the more so we must cry out to the Lord, we must beg Him to forgive our sins (incidentally, the theme of repentance is central in the service of supplication for deliverance from a deadly plague!).
If we do not understand this passage of Scripture about temptation, then how can we understand the Gospel episode of Christ and the Apostle Peter walking on the water? Are we to conclude that Peter was tempting the Lord? When Peter asked, “Bid me come unto thee on the water,” what did Christ reply? “Do not tempt Me?” No—He said: “Come.” And when Peter began to sink, the Lord healed his faith: “O thou of little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt?” (Matthew 14:27–31).
So then, dear readers, let us ask ourselves—do we have the faith that Christ teaches us to have? “The just shall live by faith: but if any man draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him” (Hebrews 10:38), says the Lord.
Let us beg the Lord with tears: “Lord, I believe; help thou mine unbelief” (Mark 9:24). Let us fill the churches with those in prayer, for we go to Christ like Peter, not away from Him, as Judas did—and all those who do not believe His words! Let us turn to repentance for our sins, and partake of His Body and Blood! If we are able, let us not neglect to help the sick, just as the saints of old once did.
Thus, St. Diomedes the Unmercenary, as his life recounts, made the sign of the Cross over those marked for death—and they were healed. St. Athanasius of Athos, one of the founders of monastic life on Mount Athos, considered the lepers to be “a great treasure of the Lavra,” and entrusted their care to his most tested disciples. St. Zotikos fed lepers, ransoming them from soldiers who would otherwise drown them. St. Sampson the Hospitable healed them by touching their wounds with his hand. St. Anastasia the Deliverer from Bonds would with her own hands “place food in the mouths of the sick” and personally “clean their wounds and bandage their sores.”
We should also remember those Old Believer Christians who were not afraid to bury people dying from the plague. For this care, in 1771 Empress Catherine II granted the land of the Rogozhskaya Sloboda for the establishment of an Old Orthodox spiritual center and cemetery.
But if we do not yet have such faith, at least let us not murmur against the Lord like the hard-hearted Israelites, who in their thirst sought to stone their great prophet… Rather, let us cultivate faith within ourselves, so that when open persecution comes upon the Church of Christ, we may stand firm and not betray Christ. And instead cry out with the Apostle Paul: “For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain” (Philippians 1:21)!
Priest Vasily Andronikov
(Moscow, Rogozhskoye)