Freedom was proclaimed nearly 2000 years ago —freedom from the fear of death and bondage to the devil which results from it. Christ preached deliverance to the captives, making His Body, the Church, the Kingdom of freemen—kings, priests and prophets. In 2020 humanity was targeted again by the tyrannical fear of death. Christians witnessed a new spirit animate the world and some heeded its call to “love” through closing down, distancing, isolating—through fear of death rather than God.
In this collection of essays the reader has an Orthodox Christian analysis of this new spirit, of the challenge, methodology, trauma, and distortion of the “covid narrative,” and the Orthodox Christian response, or lack thereof, to it. The current manifestation of the perennial struggle of the “principalities and powers” against the Lord and His Christ is herein discerned for the faithful, that, strengthened for the battle, they may stand and say with St. John Chrysostom: “Let no one fear death, for the death of the Savior has set us free."
An excellent compilation of essays covering different aspects of the coronavirus “pandemic” and how it affected people, both Christian and non-Christian, while bearing witness to the patristic tradition of Orthodoxy. Essential and edifying reading for those who found themselves dismayed at the kowtowing to the secular, fearful narrative from some hierarchs of the Church. A particular highlight is Fr Deacon Ananias’ essay on the philosophy of “covid science” and also Fr. Heers essay on the Demonic Methodology of the Pandemic.