Bishop Augoustinos Kantiotes: Keep the Faith of Our Fathers Deep in Your Soul
A short exhortation from the late Bishop Augoustinos Kantiotes of Florina, Prespes and Eordaia, written for the times he calls cursed, when the devil has used all his power to uproot faith from human hearts. He warns readers to be very watchful, because salvation requires faith: faith in God, faith in Christ, and faith in what the Church teaches.
He urges believers to hold the faith of Christ, the faith of their fathers, deep in their souls, so that no force can tear it out, and to listen to the Church. He then turns to the end of life, contrasting two deaths from the Gospel. The first is the end of Herod, who was rejected by the almighty God.
The second is the end of the thief on the cross, who prayed: 'Remember me, Lord, when You come in Your kingdom' (Luke 23:42). Kantiotes asks that our own end be like the thief's, marked by that same prayer, rather than like Herod's. The text closes with his name and title, remembered as Bishop of Florina, Prespes and Eordaia.
Main points
- Bishop Augoustinos Kantiotes warns that the devil works to uproot faith from human hearts in the present age.
- Salvation requires faith in God, in Christ, and in the teaching of the Church.
- He urges readers to keep the faith of their fathers deep in their souls so no force can remove it, and to listen to the Church.
- He contrasts Herod's end, rejected by God, with the thief on the cross, who prayed 'Remember me, Lord, when You come in Your kingdom' (Luke 23:42).
- He asks that our own end of life be like the thief's.