“In the name of the Father, of the Son and of the Holy Spirit!”
The Apostle Paul, from the prison, writes an epistle(a message- послание) to the Ephesians in which he says: “I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace”.( Ephesians 4:1-3)
How important these words are, because among the Orthodox Christians, and this is greatly a shame for us, often happens to be a division, separation, opposition, when some Christians quarrel with other Christians, saying something wrong, this is bad. But Apostle Paul says: “bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace”(Ephesians 4:3), strive yourselves to do it, strive to be among and with the people, to love one another even though some has sinned against you- strive to be kind to him for love, for it is God Who has first loved us in Christ. Imagine yourselves, if God didn’t condescend to us? What would it be with us? Nothing good would be of us. And we forget about this, we divide ourselves in parties, we start some quarrels in the churches, separation and opposition. The Apostle says: There is one body and one Spirit in the Orthodox Church of Christ. There is One Holy Spirit, Who revived it in the day of the Pentecost, Who lives in it so far. There are not two holy spirits but One, One Body of Christ and a belief that we adhere to, we all have a “Symbol of faith”. We do not know two, three creeds; we all have the same faith in the Holy Trinity. In a belief (faith) we were baptized, we keep one faith in all the churches of the world and the one hope of our calling. And we have one goal – the kingdom of heaven. What do we all have (share) if we go in the Kingdom of Heaven? One Lord Jesus Christ, who has made all the many nations a single entity – the body of Christ, in which “ there is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus”( Galatians, 3:28), as the Apostle says. There is no separation on a territorial basis, or on nationality or on social grounds (points of view), all of us are one in Christ. In Christ the Lord has been done that the gifts of the Holy Spirit to be given to the rich as well as to the poor, to the ordinary as well as to the clever ones, to the weak as well as to the strong, to men and women the same. If only there was the Orthodox faith, if only it were love and desire to serve the Lord God, only these and it is already enough. Therefore, the Apostle says that there is “one God – and Father of all, who is over all, and through all and in all” (Eph 4: 6.). One God Who is above all, watching over all, so people should not think that they could divide into churches, and get out of God’s control. God is looking to His churches and He will never divide the Church. He acts through all of us, so He gives us all the same strength of His strength. All the priests, all the laity, all bishops are acting with a power – that of God the Father, and He is in all of us, He is inside us as our Father. And if his children oppose to Him, He will behave with them as we do with their children when they are arguing – we will punish them, so they do not misbehave. So, if we will separate, God will punish us. Preach the unity and teach it in unanimity. Remember that all your churches are the Church of God, that all the Christians are your brothers and sisters, that all the priests are your spiritual fathers, that all the bishops are our pastors. There should be no division to us except in the sense that there is any division of faith or hope or love. But in all the other cases could not be any separation. Fear of the division, fear of the separation, do not listen to those people who say that the Church fell into heresy or distorted itself or deteriorated itself. No, the Holy Spirit watches over the Church, the Heavenly Father sees everything, hears everything. And Christ the Savior still intercedes for us before His Father in Heaven. Therefore, the Church has remained the same as it was, and we must be worthy of what we are called to. Do not separate yourselves, do not oppose, do not create any parties, but together in love forbearing one another, humiliating yourselves, abiding in meekness, in patience going towards the salvation, so as to reach the kingdom of Heaven. It is this we are called to and I hope it will be so. Let the grace of Almighty God be with you all. May the Almighty God bless you!”
Source: http://mission-center.com/2013-07-01-05-26-11/17859-dan-prop-edinenie
Translated into the Spanish language: https://laortodoxia.wordpress.com/2017/02/14/hieromartir-daniel-sisoev-sermon-sobre-la-union-de-los-cristianos-ortodoxos/
Translated by Anda Maria
Lord Jesus Christ have mercy on me 