My beloved Brothers and Sisters in Christ Jesus,
On December 29th, our Holy Orthodox Church commemorates the 14,000 Holy Innocents, and many of their mothers, who were slaughtered by Herod’s soldiers in one day. In the United States, because of a disgusting, satanic “law”, we “legally” slaughter an average of over 3,300 pre-born – and occasionally born – babies every year; but we have been doing this ungodly infanticide for the past 42 years, 11 months and 29 days. Therefore we have “legally” killed over 57 MILLION more babies than Herod.
What has happened to our Nation, my dear brothers and sisters in Christ? How can we continue to ignore the silent screams of God’s innocent ones, who are being brutally murdered at an average of one baby every 15 seconds? How can we waste time talking about “global warming” (recently renamed, “climate change”), when so many of our citizens – especially doctors, lawyers, judges, politicians, and not a few “clergy” – are preparing to spend eternity in the lake of fire, prepared for the devil and his demons? Why are we failing to realize that with the murder of every pre-born child, in addition to the demonic ‘hit man’ (the abortionist) and his/her assistants, there are a number of other souls that are committing spiritual suicide: the baby’s parents, the family members and friends who urged the mother to have the abortion, the psychiatrist, psychologist, counselor and/or clergy who supported the decision to have the child offered as a living sacrifice upon the demonic altar of privacy, profit and choice. Do you not see how many souls “die” with every single abortion?
Our Most Sweet Lord Jesus is All-Merciful; and whenever a woman comes to Him with tears of repentance for having allowed herself to abort her child, whenever a doctor repents of his evil actions, whenever a politician comes to himself and changes from being pro-choice to pro-life, such people can receive forgiveness and healing. For our God’s love for each one of us is limitless, unconditional and never-ending. Orthodox Christians are blessed with the Sacrament of Holy Confession, during which God, through His priests, grants His forgiveness of this terrible sin to those who come in repentance.
However, as St.Paul reminds us in his Epistle to the Galatians: “Cease being led astray, God is not mocked; what a man soweth, that also shall he reap.” [Eph. 6:7] And those who perform and/or support abortion are mocking God; and a Nation that legalizes this horrific infanticide is mocking God! As a Nation we have “sowed” the blood of 57 million innocent babies. What will we “reap” as a Nation? What will those unrepentant abortionists and supporters of abortion be reaping on that terrible Day?
As a priest of the Holy Orthodox Church, the Bride of Christ, I am compelled to make the following statements to all Orthodox Christians: If you are: an abortionist, one who assists in abortions, counsels women to have abortions; a woman who has had an abortion(s); a father who has either demanded his wife/girl friend to abort their child, or supported her decision to do so; a family member, or friends, who either approved of – or were indifferent to – a family member’s/friend’s decision to have an abortion; a politician who votes in favor of abortion; a lawyer or judge who has defended the ungodly “right to choose” abortion, then you need to beg God for tears of repentance, change your evil ways and seek God’s forgiveness through the Sacrament of Holy Confession. And you should not receive Holy Communion until you repent and undergo a soul-healing penance after your confession. If you simply believe that abortion is a woman’s “right”, and/or consistently vote for people who support abortion, then I strongly urge you not to receive Holy Communion until you can repent of this immoral philosophy, and seek God’s forgiveness through Holy Confession.
I know that you hear all kinds of pleasantly phrased statements in which the child in the womb is regarded as a woman’s property, or is dehumanized — treated as a non entity. They are all lies! They are all born from the “father of lies”: the evil one. Here is the one FACT that all Christians need to believe and proclaim: Every abortion kills a human being who is created in the image of God! I was told several years ago that the great and powerful Roman Empire fell 50 years after legalizing abortion. In just 7 more years, the USA will reach the 50 year mark. Will history repeat itself? Will we daily bend the knee of our hearts before Jesus, and beg Him to intervene and deliver us from this demonic slaughter of His babies? Or will we continue to ignore the millions of silent screams that our Lord DOES hear. And how many more of those screams will it take before He replaces His mercy with His righteous judgment? “He who has ears to hear, let him hear!”
Archimandrite Demetrios Carellas
