FLEE FORNICATION

St. Paul conveys to the Corinthians a stern warning, "Flee fornication.  Every sin that a man doeth is without the body; but he that committeth fornication sinneth against his own body."  Now fornication is defined as engaging in sexual relations outside the bounds of legitimate marriage... period!  (And no, I do not include so-called "gay marriage" in this definition!) Nor can there be any exceptions.  Jesus does not  say fornication is sort of all right if the couple really and truly love each other, or if they are engaged to be married.  But why, it may be asked, does the Church consider fornication to be such a serious sin?  It is, after all, my body, so why should I not be free to indulge its purely "natural" desires?

It is to such apparent reasoning that the Holy Apostle replies (as though astonished by their ignorance) "What?  Know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?  For ye were bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's."  But surely you and I, who strive to be faithful Orthodox Christians, already know these things.  So why, then, do I bring it up?....  It is because we live in a godless culture in which the sin of fornication has in many ways been normalized, and even glorified.  It is being promoted in the mass media, on billboards, on the internet, in literature and pop culture... virtually everywhere!  Our souls are being inundated by the spirit of the times, which is the spirit of antichrist, so that even we the faithful are in danger of being infected by the deadly disease of godlessness.

It was this same spirit of godlessness, in accordance with its various forms and manifestations, that injected its deadly venom into the soul of Holy Russia during the eighty year reign of the satanic Soviet regime.  Yet though the authorities sought by every conceivable means  to eliminate the very thought of God from the minds of the people, the gates of hell could not prevail against the true Church of God.  A vast cloud of witnesses--the Holy Martyrs and Confessors of Russia--was revealed.  Faithful unto the end, they gladly suffered persecution, grievous tortures, and death itself for the sake of their love of Christ, thereby proving that "all things work together for the good for those who love God, and are called according to His purpose."  But lest we become complacent, let us recall the words of Fr. Seraphim Rose: "That which began in Russia will end in America."  So let us examine ourselves to determine whether or not we are spiritually prepared for the coming trials and temptations.

And finally, let us consider the Prodigal, who having received his inheritance from his father, "took his journey into a far country, and there wasted his substance with riotous living."  Indeed, as the elder brother later complains to their father, he "hath devoured thy living with harlots."  So yes, the Prodigal's "riotous living" involved, among other things--a good deal of fornication.  And surely each and every one of us can identify with the Prodigal's plight, for have we not all, from time to time, wandered into a far country, squandering the grace and talents God has bestowed upon us?  But the Good News is--as often as we go astray--the way of return to our heavenly Father is always open through sincere repentance and heartfelt humility.  It is for this very reason that we must gird our loins and prepare ourselves for the rigors of the approaching Great Fast.