October 19, 2026
The Metropolitan of Beirut and its environs, Greek Orthodox Bishop Elias Odeh, affirmed that a true Christian rejects violence, killing, and all the atrocities witnessed in Lebanon and the region, in addition to his rejection of despising man and exploiting him for ungrateful ends, calling for the life of the believer to be an actual testimony to Christ through behavior, love, and humility.
While presiding over the Divine Liturgy service in St. George’s Cathedral, Odeh explained in his sermon that the Christian is called to live in the world without being a prisoner of its logic, and to carry the message of Christ through actions, not outward rituals alone, stressing that true faith is measured by actions and the embodiment of the light of Christ in the believer’s behavior, far from pursuing personal interests or people’s admiration.
Metropolitan Odeh warned of the dangers of success when it turns into a means of self-pride, stressing that a person’s true value is not measured by wealth, status, or the number of admirers, but by the sincerity of his relationship with God. In a related context, he warned of the danger of social media, indicating that a single word or comment may hurt a person’s dignity, destroy a home, or generate conflict, calling for words to be coupled with kindness, a commitment to forgiveness, and considering silence greater than hurtful words.
Odeh pointed out the paradox of the modern person who has thousands of virtual relationships and countless means of communication, while he lacks someone to listen to him or is unable to communicate with the people closest to him, in light of his feverish pursuit of money and fame.
Regarding public affairs, Bishop Odeh criticized the world’s habituation to the tragedy of wars and crises and talk about destructive weapons, missiles and nuclear weapons, in addition to the numbers of victims and displaced persons, as if they were mere numbers and not human beings whom God created in His image and granted them dignity. He wondered about the benefit of the huge amounts of money spent on armaments instead of feeding the hungry, spreading knowledge, fighting diseases, and improving people’s lives.
Metropolitan Elias Odeh concluded his sermon by emphasizing the necessity of remembering the humiliated and shackled and considering their suffering as personal, calling on believers to make their lives “a book for people to read” and an open Gospel, by guarding the tongue, serving others humbly and without personal glory, and seeking wisdom, purity, and patience in trials.
