H.G. Bishop Serapion on Protestant-Style Sermons

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“Sometimes with a congregation who has been served well, and even a [new] priest arrives, they tell you “His style is not Orthodox”. The congregation themselves [say this], and we’re talking about a priest who is preaching to them in the church. We ask, “What did he say?”
Interviewer: He hasn’t said anything wrong.
HG: No, no, his ‘style’, they say that his ‘style’ [is the issue]. Just like someone, for example, who is accustomed to a certain food - they recognise it when they are presented with something different. But if someone is accustomed to eating all different kinds of foods, it doesn’t make a difference to him. When a person and a congregation have been built on a solid foundation - I always like to give the example of St Athanasius, sometimes we focus on the role of St Athanasius in defending the faith, and that’s true, but we forget the role of the people. As for the Alexandrian people, the people of the Church, who were ready to be martyred because of a single letter [homoousios vs homoiousios], what theological awareness did they possess? Today when we begin talking about such things, people say “It doesn’t make a difference, etc, etc, these things are not a big deal”, but this was about just one letter. If these contemporary people were living at the time of St Athanasius, they would have said what kind of narrow minded [approach is this]? But this was a people who possessed theological awareness, because they were brought up well and served well. That’s why, as long as we serve our people, they are the ones who will protect the Church. They’re not waiting for me [the bishop] to speak, they themselves will protect the Church. They are the ones who will say “No. This is a spirit that is not correct.””
- H.G. Bishop Serapion of Los Angeles
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