St. Paisios ~ Courage and the Hero

... Those who die heroically don’t really die. And where there’s no heroism nothing worthwhile can be expected.
...Death in battle adds greatly to God’s mercy, for a person who dies the death of the brave sacrifices himself to defend others. Those who give up their lives out of pure love in order to defend their neighbor are imitating Christ. These people are supreme heroes. They arouse fear in our enemies. Death herself trembles before them, because they scorn her due to their great love, and attain immortality in this fashion, finding the key to eternity under the gravestone. They enter into eternal blessedness without difficulty.... The warrior takes joy in
the fact that he’s dying so that others won’t have to... Courage is born from much love, kindness and self-sacrifice... A spiritual person can hold back evil and help others. In the spiritual life the biggest coward can attain great courage by entrusting himself to Christ and His divine help. He can go to the front lines, do battle with the enemy, and win! So therefore we will fear God alone, not people, no matter how evil they may be. The fear of God makes any coward into a hero! A person becomes fearless to the extent he unites with God....


St. Paisios



May we all pray for a good account before the awesome judgment seat of Christ, to the eternal reward granted to the saints and martyrs. With the intercession prayers of the Theotokos, St. Gregory the Theologian, St. Demetrios myrrh streaming, St. Paisios of Mt. Athos and all the saints. In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit to the ages of ages.

(Red letters are my own)